Community and Resources for Experimentation-Focused Physics Labs
Physics Lab Exchange
A community library where physics lab instructors share, discover, and refine classroom-ready resources, from lab manuals to data analysis tools.
Experimentation Focused
Labs that prioritize authentic experimental practice (measurement, design, and analysis), not procedures students just follow step-by-step.
Builds Critical Thinking
Materials organized around core experimental skills that develop scientific reasoning: questioning, designing, interpreting, and presenting evidence.
Community-Driven
Ask questions, join discussions, share your own materials, and connect with fellow physics lab instructors.
Featured Labs
Classroom-ready materials shared and refined by the physics lab teaching community.
This is a lab notebook with instructions and starter code for a two week lab on Hooke's Law and stretchy objects in general.
Students find the limits—not confirmation—of Hooke's Law for everyday objects, making all experimental decisions and building skills in design, uncertainty analysis, and scientific argumentation.
Students test whether air resistance affects a tossed object's acceleration, using iterative experiment design, uncertainty analysis, and scientific integrity practices over two lab sessions.
Explore by Experimental Skills
Find labs that develop the core experimental skills your students need — from uncertainty analysis to presenting results.
Compare Data Distributions
Qualitatively comparing whether graphical distributions of data are similar in shape, width, or mean
Troubleshoot Apparatus
Troubleshooting problems with the setup or apparatus
Quantify Uncertainty
Quantify uncertainty in a measurement due to random or statistical variability (e.g., via standard deviation or standard uncertainty in the mean) or due to instrumental precision (e.g., rounding uncertainties)
Make and Use Predictions
Making predictions from models and using them to evaluate data or results
Present Work
Communicating methods and findings through oral presentations or posters
Calibrate Apparatus
Calibrating measurement tools
A Community of Lab Instructors
Physics Lab Exchange is more than a resource library — it's where lab instructors connect, discuss, and grow together.
Recent Activity
- Someone updated Stretchy Objects: Discovering When Hooke's Law Applies and When It Fails
4d ago
- Someone updated Stretchy Objects: Discovering When Hooke's Law Applies and When It Fails
4d ago
- Someone updated Tossed Objects: Testing Models with Integrity and Uncertainty Analysis (2 parts)
4d ago
- Someone updated Pendulum Lab: Measuring and Reducing Uncertainty, Comparing Data Sets (3 Parts)
4d ago
- Someone updated Pendulum Lab: Measuring and Reducing Uncertainty, Comparing Data Sets (3 Parts)
4d ago
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Connect with physics lab instructors. Find, share, and discuss experimentation-focused labs.
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About the Physics Lab Exchange
The Physics Lab Exchange supports university lab instructors in designing labs that emphasize experimental physics techniques and authentic scientific reasoning. Our platform provides classroom-ready teaching tools and connects instructors with peers and education leaders to create experimentation-focused, research-inspired labs.
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