Web-Based Interactive Video Activities for Undergraduate Advanced Laboratories

Web-based resources have been developed that provide a window into real advanced laboratory experiments. These resources facilitate user interactions with video from upper-level, undergraduate physics laboratory experiments and are designed to provide a stimulus for learning, creativity, and further engagement in the lab. Advanced laboratory interactive video activities have been developed for three topic areas that are the foundation to a variety of student projects: (1) compressible fluid mechanics, (2) AMO physics, and (3) plasmonics and nano-optics. These activities provide a means for immersing the student into the complexities of the advanced lab in a systematic, guided fashion, providing the student with preparation and an increased level of confidence for effective undergraduate engagement in the lab. An assessment carried out in classrooms and workshops shows that the activities are pedagogically useful. The interactive video activities produced in this project were created using software and techniques developed in the LivePhoto Interactive Video Vignettes project. They will be openly available at ComPADRE.org/ALIV to instructors and students engaged in the advanced laboratory. The Vignette Studio software used to construct the activities can be downloaded for free at the same site with complete documentation, so other instructors can create their own activities.