Traditional school laboratory exercises on a system of moving objects connected by strings involve deriving expressions for the system acceleration, a = (?F)/m, and sketching a graph of acceleration vs. force. While being in the form of rational functions, these expressions present great opportunities for broadening the scope of the analysis by…

Students entering physics courses in high school have seen graphs for years in math and science classes, but often do not have a deep understanding of the physical meaning of the graphs. This introductory activity is designed to allow students to collect data for a real world or physical situation (the height versus volume of water held in…

Describes an easily-implemented experiment in which a moderately complex relation between dependent and independent variables is involved. (Author/GS)

Describes experiments that can be carried out by freshmen in general science courses. All experiments are prepared with inexpensive equipment and materials. Quantitative data are analyzed intuitively using graphical representations. (JP)

Presents a pre-lab exercise, an experimental setup, and discussion of computer-generated graphs that can be used to study the motion and energy of a bouncing ball. (WRM)

Describes some adaptations made in a university physics laboratory course to accommodate a student with total visual impairment. (WRM)