Optics education in a developing country.

Abstract

An optics laboratory plays a critical role in optics education. A major challenge for optics educators in Africa is the shortage or non-availability of laboratory teaching equipment. Optics teaching equipment is beyond the budget of most universities in the developing world such as the new National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe. The paper details a successful strategy - local fabrication/assembling of optics laboratory teaching aids - adopted by the Applied Physics Department at Zimbabwe's National University of Science and Technology. Students and technical staff under the guidance of an academic member of staff do equipment fabrication and assembling. The paper describes some of the project-type set-ups for performing experiments on (1) laser light scattering and impurity determination; (2) industrial imaging inspection (3) light transmission and reflection and (4) refractive index measurement