Using IOLab to connect real-world experiences to controlled laboratory experiments

Scientific experiments, by their very nature, control conditions and variables with the goal of ensuring that what the experimenters think they are testing is what is actually being tested. However, experienced scientists bring intuitions honed by their critical consideration of real-world experiences, where myriad factors contribute to the behavior that we see. Bridging this intuition gap for students can be a challenge both for the learners and instructors. By utilizing a recently-developed wireless data acquisition system, the IOLab, for pre-lab experiences where students will gather data about real-world activities for which they have extensive personal experience, we hope to increase student intuition and provide a framework for students to engage in the scientific enterprise. By the end of the course, students will develop their own novel research activities and present their results to their classmates.