Improving Students' Understanding of Lock-In Amplifiers

TL;DR

This paper presents a research-based tutorial utilizing computer simulations to help students overcome conceptual difficulties and improve their understanding of the operating principles of lock-in amplifiers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel tutorial that uses simulation-based activities to address students' misconceptions about lock-in amplifiers.

Findings

Students' understanding improved after using the tutorial.

The tutorial helped identify common misconceptions.

Simulated experiments facilitated conceptual change.

Abstract

The lock-in amplifier is a versatile instrument frequently used in physics research. However, many students struggle with the basic operating principles of a lock-in amplifier which can lead to a variety of difficulties. To improve students' understanding, we have been developing and evaluating a research-based tutorial which makes use of a computer simulation of a lock-in amplifier. The tutorial allows students to realize their conceptual difficulties by comparing their predictions about how a lock-in amplifier will behave with the outcome of simulated experiments. After being confronted with discrepancies between their predictions and the lock-in amplifier results, the tutorial targets the common difficulties that students have and leads them to develop a deeper understanding of the principles of lock-in amplification.