Suggestions are made for physics laboratory exercises and the physics laboratory curricula are discussed for engineering majors where the properties of light and electromagnetic waves are studied in parallel. It is shown that there are important educational advantages of an experimental study of the properties of microwaves as an example of electromagnetic waves simultaneously with the properties of light: on the one hand, it enables visualisation of the properties of microwaves, and on the other, it provides evidence that light is an electromagnetic wave.
ThorntonR. K., ‘Changing the physics teaching laboratory: Using technology and new approaches to learning to create an experimental environment for learning physics concepts’, in Proc. Europhysics Conf. on the Role of Experiment in Physics Education, Skofia Loka, Slovenia, 13–16 July 1992, (Ljubljana, 1993), pp. 12–31; EpsteinL. C., Thinking Physics (Insight Press, San Francisco, 1987); ThorntonR. K., ‘Learning physics concepts in the introductory course: Microcomputer-based Labs and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations’, in WilsonJ. (Ed.), Proc, Conf. on Intro Physics Course (Wiley, New York, 1997), pp. 69–86.
2.
IppolitovaG., ‘Physics and professional teaching in technical universities’, in Proc. Int. Conf. Engineering Education, 6–10 August, 2001, Oslo, Norway. 6E5-12-6E5-14, pp. 12–14.
3.
BernhardJ., ‘Improving engineering physics teaching – learning from physics education research’, in PacherP.PipekJ. (Eds), Proc. PTEE 2000 Physics Teaching in Engineering Education, Budapest, 14–17 June 2000, pp 9–22.
4.
ThorntonR. K., ‘Tools for scientific thinking – microcomputer-based laboratories for teaching physics’, Phys. Ed., 22 (1987), 230–238.
5.
ThorntonR. K., ‘Tools for scientific thinking: Learning physical concepts with real-time laboratory measurement tools’, in RedishE. F. (Ed.), Proc. Conf. Computers in Phys Instruction (Addison Wesley, Reading, 1989), pp. 177–189.
6.
SokoloffD. R.ThorntonR. K.LawsP. W., Real-Time Physics, Active Learning Laboratories (Wiley, New York, 1998).
7.
HakeR. R., ‘Socratic pedagogy in the introductory physics lab’, The Physics Teacher, 30 (1992), 546.
8.
MaxwellJ. C., Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. 2 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1973).
9.
PASCO Catalog, Physics – 2007, Science and Engineering Education. p. 285.
10.
DAEDALON Experiments and Apparatus Catalog 2001, p. 66.
11.
KezerashviliR. Ya., College Physics Laboratory Experiments. Electricity, Magnetism, Optics (Gurami Publishing, New York, 2003).
