1. Reformation of Physics Lab Manual for Life-Science Students at USM
Bharath Kandula
Hiro Shimoyama
Department of Physics & Astronomy
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM)

2. Overview Previous lab system The process of investigation
Improvement & organization of labs
Conclusions
Future work

3. Previous lab system
Was challenging to life science students (complicated and ambiguous procedures).
Required advanced knowledge in Physics.
Ex: The period of spring motion:
Did not focus on an important concept (requiring several different apparatuses for a single activity.)
Made TAs more time explain procedures and how to use apparatuses rather than teaching concept and inquiry.

4. The process of investigation
Observed lab activities, student-TA interactions and analyzing quizzes and lab reports.
Constantly collected feed back from students about the equipment, manual, quizzes and understanding.
Had every-week discussions among TA’s and project manager about the feedback and observation data.
Reported problems which lead to students’ and TA’s confusion.

5. Improvements
Reduced the number of equipment used in each activity although raising the standard.
Clearly instructed using the computer software with diagrams.
Improved students’ understanding by including conceptual questions after each measurement.
Implemented warning notes to prevent students from making trivial mistakes.

6. Continued…
Innovated the very first lab of physics, “Before conducting Physics labs” as follows
Data analysis with types of errors
Explanation of data acquisition software
Units and conversions explained with daily life examples.
Graphs and analysis

7. Continued…
Provided insightful activities at the end of lab activities to enhance students’ understanding.
Ex:
Moment of inertia (test how hard it is to accelerate different objects)
Rotational K.E (the final velocity with different sizes of spheres)
Encouraged students to discuss conceptual questions during lab.
Promoted more interaction between students and TA.

8. Management of the labs
Prepare to revise the manual by considering all observation data, our discussions, and students’ feedback.
Aided by the website ( to access the information, such as schedules and other physics resources.
Post some animations related to “How to use some basic equipment” on the website.

9. Conclusions
Reduced unnecessary burden for life science students who have less/no physics background.
Concise set up of the experimentation (shown with pictures in the manual)
Fine explanation on the procedures
Accomplished students’ better results in quizzes and lab exam compared with previous years.
Improved students to write good quality of lab reports.
Better experimental results and analysis (<6% of error)
Better understanding of concepts

10. Continued…
Turned out that better results do not necessarily mean that students acquire better understanding of the concept.
Found that the some of problems could lie beyond manual.

11. Future work (Beyond the manual)
Improve students’ basic math skills for physics.
Implement a curriculum so students can learn the concept of experimentation. (Some students completely separate it from theories.)
Establish an integrated method to have effective interaction between TA-student.
Implement interactive demos and movie clips for students’ learning. (involving daily life activities)
Implement a method and guideline to stimulate after-lab discussion among students.

12. Thank you for listening.

13. Appendix I: List of experiments/activities of PHY111
Before conducting Physics labs
Introduction to Kinematics
Vector addition and its significance
Newton’s laws and the equations of motion
Work- Energy theorem
Conservation of linear momentum
Centripetal force
Equilibrium of torques
Moment of inertia
Rotational Kinetic energy
Physical properties of spring

14. Appendix II: List of experiments/activities of PHY112
Charging by Induction and Conduction
Electric Potentials and Fields
Electronics Primer
Ohm’s Law and Resistivity
Capacitance and the RC Circuit
Magnetic Fields
Electromagnetic Induction
RLC Series Circuit with AC Source
Geometrical Optics and Refractive Index
Thin Lenses and its Equations
Interference and Diffraction of Light