ASU Physics Lab Mission

We strive for our student’s success in learning physics and for fulfilling our objective:

ASU Physics Introductory Labs’ mission is to empower undergraduate students with positive experience in verifying scientific ideas by experimentation.

The operation of ASU introductory physics laboratories is based on reaching the GOALS developed by American Association of Physics Teachers (see Appendix 1) and meeting the standards set for the New American University by the ASU administration. We hope that our lab courses offer students a fair opportunity to: 

• verify in action some fundamental concepts of physics, 
• develop independent critical and abstract thinking,
• build students analytical skills,
• improve students communication skills,
• appreciate the beauty and value of experimental work.

After completion of the physics lab classes, our students should:   

• have improved their understanding of physics,   
• feel more confident in any experimental environment,     
• be accustomed to a safe scientific conduct in laboratory setting, 
• be familiar with techniques and modern technology used for data collection,   
• be able to apply proper data analysis ,
• know the methods of reporting the experimental results accepted in scientific community. 

In the fall of 2011 we will proudly expand our educational offer by introducing an innovative online version of algebra based lab courses. These online lab courses have been carefully developed to assure the learning experience comparable to a regular on-campus setting. This means they present an equivalent content, level of difficulty and time requirements in combination with learning environment that closely imitates the one found in our real laboratory setting. But it would be prudent to say that the on-line classes leaving more freedom to the students time wise, are more challenging in regards to student’s ability to do an independent work.