Restructuring the introductory physics lab with the addition of computer-based laboratories

Nowadays, data acquisition software and sensors are being widely used in introductory physics laboratories. This allows the student to spend more time exploring the data that is collected by the computer hence focusing more on the physical concept. Very often, a faculty is faced with the challenge of updating or introducing a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) at his or her institution. This article will provide a list of experiments and equipment needed to convert about half of the traditional labs on a 1-year introductory physics lab into MBLs.