Adding hands-on activities one week at a time: a sustainable approach to enrich undergraduate physics curricula using minilabs

Most physics undergraduate curricula have relatively few class-based, hands-on experiences. At NC State, aside from one electronics course, majors have no labs for two years.  This scheme negatively impacts students inclined towards experimental work and those intending bachelor's degree careers.  Since 2012, we have developed a minilab program which enables labless physics courses to add an experimental component (a single lab innately associated with the course content) which students perform on research-grade equipment in a shared user facility. Other minilabs help develop confidence and connect with real-world applications for freshman students. Each experiment (and associated analysis) replaces a traditional homework assignment for one week of the course; minilabs are mostly unchanged from year to year and are taught by a single TA.  This scheme provides an enriched undergraduate experience with minimal financial or faculty time cost.  Examples are measuring the mechanical properties of salt-water taffy, observation of chaotic motion, and carbon dating of Brazil nuts.  We discuss student perceptions (what they learn, what they like) and recent preliminary results that assess these activities in the context of physics ability beliefs, belonging, and persistence.