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.
A two-session lab where students explore induction by dropping magnets through a coil.
Getting beyond human error, confronting expectations that experiments will confirm known principles.
Explore by Experimental Skills
Find labs that develop the core experimental skills your students need — from uncertainty analysis to presenting results.
Troubleshoot Apparatus
Troubleshooting problems with the setup or apparatus
Collaborate
Working with team members to carry out an investigation
Mitigate Experimental Bias
Finding ways to protect against experimenter biases, such as checking results (whether or not they come out as expected) or seeking model breakdowns
Articulate a Research Question
Identifying a decent-quality experimental question or critiquing existing experimental questions or writing your own
Propagate Uncertainty
Calculate uncertainty using uncertainty propagation rules (also known as error propagation)
Compare Uncertain Measurements
Quantitatively determining if two measurements (with uncertainty) are consistent with each other, such as through an effect size or t-score
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 Periods of a Pendulum
7d ago
- Someone updated Dropping Magnets
7d ago
- Someone updated Intro to HexBots
7d ago
- Someone updated Stretchy Things Lab
7d ago
- Someone updated Intro to HexBots
7d ago
Active Discussions
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Join the Community
Connect with physics lab instructors. Find, share, and discuss experimentation-focused labs.
Upcoming Workshops
Join our next workshops and connect with fellow physics lab instructors.
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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