Incorporating realistic aspects of experimentation into senior physics labs

Here we present design changes to the senior physics lab course at Penn State, which were implemented in order to increase student engagement with modeling,experiment design, and the writing process in our lab curriculum. The goal of these changes was to restructure the course to emphasize planning, prediction, and assessment of experimental data during an experimental process, in mimicry of the scientific research process, while still providing students with exposure to a breadth of experiments and experimental techniques which are historically a required part of the course. Both structural and content changes made in the course will be presented along with initial assessment of changes in student perceptions and critical thinking skills.