Sinclair Community College’s Physics Resource Lab (PRL) is located in Building 4 Room 241 for any students who may want extra help.
The lab is for physics and astronomy students who need help from a tutor or quiet time to work on homework, study guides and studying or to make up past labs.
It’s open to all students from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Students can use the lab to work alone, in groups or with a tutor.
Laboratory equipment is available to students who need to make up labs or do homework.
The PRL contains computers that students can use for the Internet as well as data acquisition and analysis, according to Bob Cairo, master tutor and a mechanical engineering student at Wright State University. The PRL contains all of the equipment for 100 level physics classes, but equipment may need to be brought in for 200 level physics.
The PRL is open to all Sinclair students, although physics and astronomy students are given priority when it comes to tutoring. Mathematics, engineering and statistics students may also come in to use the lab. Statistics can only be explained by some of the tutors, according to Cairo. However, as there is no engineering resource lab, statistics students may use the PRL instead.
“I think it could be a positive influence, because if we have students who realize that they need help understanding some concepts and they come in early in the quarter, we can get them up to speed to where they aren’t lost,” Cairo said.
“But unfortunately, we do have some students who wait until two-thirds of the quarter and they come in lost and say ‘I don’t understand anything,’ which is more of a challenge. But we do try to help the student understand the concepts.”
Paul Jones, a master tutor at the PRL, said that a student’s grades could improve “tremendously” by using the PRL.
“We provide a place where they can get help with their homework. They can be taught the concepts differently or again and we can help them troubleshoot where they’re going wrong, help them identify their weaknesses, what they need to work on. I know some people would have just dropped out if they didn’t have the PRL,” he said.