Enhancing Students' Understanding of Scientific Equipment: Smartphones in the Laboratory

Abstract

One of the oft-cited qualities sought after in a potential future engineering employee is an analytical mind that is "continually examining things." In one sense this examination is discouraged in an instructional laboratory employing opaque black box data collection devices. Smartphones can be used to gather such data but also - by their very nature- have the capability of removing the veil of opacity so as to allow students to examine their operation at a very fundamental level. By taking advantage of a smartphone's visualization capabilities one can elucidate core aspects of its operation equally or perhaps better than a mechanical model might. Through purposeful app and curricular design based on student feedback, we avoid this commonly perceived pitfall of electronic devices and encourage student examination of one such device, the student's own smartphone.