Didaktik21 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

DD: Fachverband Didaktik der Physik

DD 45: Praktika / Neue Praktikumsversuche 3

DD 45.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 12:00–12:20, R4

A Modern Arduino Approach for Advanced Physics Laboratories in the Time of COVID — •Shawn Zaleski, Thomas Hebbeker, and Kerstin Hoepfner — III Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Entering 2021, COVID-19 still threatens to require remote laboratory operation, and new longer-term solutions need to be developed to for students to do this. Many kits have been developed for the introductory level during 2020. However, very little has been developed for the advanced physics laboratory. We have developed a kit that allows advanced lab students to perform a set of mini-experiments using PYTHON, a Raspberry Pi, Arduinos, and Arduino compatible sensors. Students are permitted to take the kit home and only need to provide a few common items, e.g. a ruler, to perform the experiment.

This experiment serves as a nice introduction to microcontrollers.The overarching goal is for students to gain familiarity with the Rasp-berry Pi, Arduino, and it's sensors by performing basic experiments in which the physics is well known and the students learn how to acquire data with these microcontrollers. Students perform mini-epxeriments from basic kinematics to determining Planck's constant and using a Geiger-Mueller counter. Students use analog-to-digital converters(ADCs), digit-to-analog converters (DACs), accelerometers, and more complex sensors. We give details on the different mini-experiments that the students perform.

We also discuss some of the learning outcomes as well as how the experiment can easily be performed at the university or at home.