This paper discusses the design and implementation of laboratories and course projects using LabVIEW in an instrumentation course. The pedagogical challenge is to enhance students' learning of digital communication using LabVIEW. LabVIEW was extensively used in the laboratory sessions, which better prepared students for the course projects. Two…

At technical colleges and secondary-level tech schools, students enrolled in basic electronics labs who have learned about diodes that do rectification are used to seeing power diodes like the 1N4001. When the students are introduced to low-power zener diodes and signal diodes, component identification gets more complex. If the small zeners are…

One challenge for music educators is to find techniques to help students "listen across time" to the examples they are assigned to study and to stay focused on a piece as they listen. Measurement tools to assess music listening have a long history, ranging from very simple to very complex, and very dated to very recent. This article traces the…

This article details the construction and use of the 555-timer checker. The 555-timer checker allows the user to dynamically check a 555-timer, an integrated circuit device. Of its many applications, it provides timing applications that unijunction transistors once performed. (Contains 4 figures and 3 photos.)

There is a great potential opportunity to use portable physical activity monitoring devices as data collection tools for educational purposes. Using one such device, we designed and implemented a weeklong workshop with high school students to test the utility of such technology. During that intervention, students performed data investigations of…

This paper discusses the results of a study of the requirements for developing a remote RF laboratory. This study draws on the perspectives of educators in university electrical engineering departments and in technical colleges, on the teaching of the radio frequency (RF) domain. The study investigates how these educators would like the technical…

Describes the desk top calculators now on the market, including manufacturers, prices, and functions performed. Provides a table of specifications for programmable desk calculators. (MLH)

This article discusses an instrument devised to provide objective and reliable information about the fundamentally time-dependent nature of observable motor performance. (Author)

Discusses the feasibility of using fermenters in secondary school laboratories. Includes discussions of equipment, safety, and computer interfacing. Describes how a simple fermenter could be used to simulate large-scale processes. Concludes that, although teachers and technicians will require additional training, the prospects for biotechnology in…

The article discusses an aspect of conductivity, one of the electrical properties subdivisions, and describes a tester that can be shop-built. Breakdown voltage of an insulation material is specifically examined. Test procedures, parts lists, diagrams, and test data form are included. (MF)

This document contains 20 competency-based examinations with student and instructor manuals for electronics and instrumentation occupations. For each of the examinations, the student manual contains the following: the competency, the performance objective, directions, the materials and equipment needed, a space to note time started and time…

Several types of equipment are described and sources of materials given. Included are a teaching calculator, a training oscilloscope, a bench-top testing machine, an electrical machinery laboratory and a microcomputer. (RH)

The design, construction, and operation of a solid state electrometer is described. The instrument used the case and meter movement from an obsolete commercial pH meter. The cost of materials, purchased in 1977 in unit quantities, was $60. (BB)