Physics lab with the move to online instruction

[Kassia]

Any ideas on how this can be done?  I may have missed it posted somewhere, but dd's physics (mechanics) class is being moved to online and I'm wondering what will happen with lab.

[regentrude]

While there is no way to replicate the actual hands-on lab experience, they can do virtual labs where students can at least analyze the data. The biggest learning goal in an intro physics lab is the data analysis - plotting, fitting, error analysis, all of which can be done with data provided. They might provide a video of the TA performing the actual experiment.

Or they may decide under the current emergency situation to lower the bar and consider whatever labs have been completed until now sufficient for the lab credit.

If you're talking upper level advanced physics lab where students spend 8+ hours a week designing and conductingresearch experiments: there is no way to approximate that online.

Edited March 11, 2020 by regentrude

[Kassia]

1 minute ago, regentrude said:

While there is no way to replicate the actual hands-on lab experience, they can do virtual labs where students can at least analyze the data. The biggest learning goal in a physics lab is the data analysis - plotting, fitting, error analysis, all of which can be done with data provided. They might provide a video of the TA performing the actual experiment.

Or they may decide under the current emergency situation to lower the bar and consider whatever labs have been completed until now sufficient for the lab credit.

 

Thank you!  My concern with calling it sufficient is that this is a DE class that we planned on transferring.  Would it be possible the credits wouldn't be accepted if it was known that labs for the entire semester were completed? 

No TA - this is just a small community college class (Science/Engineering Physics) with 9 people in the class.  

[regentrude]

3 minutes ago, Kassia said:

  Would it be possible the credits wouldn't be accepted if it was known that labs for the entire semester were completed? 

No TA - this is just a small community college class (Science/Engineering Physics) with 9 people in the class.  

If the college awards college credit for the course and has an agreement with the receiving school, it will transfer. If it does not have an agreement and you need to provide a syllabus fro a case by case evaluation, I would expect any college to be aware of this semester's difficulties with the pandemic.

Even if there is no TA, there will be some kind of teacher who could, for example, record herself performing the experiments.

 

[lewelma]

My son is in a junior level lab, and they will be switching to analyzing CERN data. Same paper and presentation requirements, but now the 'lab' portion will be machine learning rather than hands-on tinkering with equipment.  Sounds like they will learn different but equally useful physics skills.  This course is worth 1.5 credits (18hours at his school) because it fulfills both the university lab requirement and the in-major communication requirement.