Physics instruction for undergraduate college courses through the design of an experimental device

摘要

During experimental sessions for science related students, different measurement instruments and equipment are used, but in most occasions its mechanism is ignored. This turns the device into a "black box" which seems to receive some kind of impulse and transforms it into measurement estimations. By not being able to comprehend the means used by the instruments to determine a measure, the students lack from the required information to identify the different factors that can affect the measuring process, thus they are forced to accept the outcome as true. Moreover, ignorance towards the basic functioning principles of a device leads students into damaging the measurement instruments. This is why the authors' proposal is for students to carry out an experimental session where the main goal is acknowledging Physics by building a measuring device. The outcome of a related experience that was carried out by the authors in the Physics Laboratory of the School of Chemistry in the UNAM is presented trough this work.