Using Smartphones to Innovate Laboratories in Introductory Physics Courses

The SmartPhysics project involved two higher education institutions, one in Italy and one in the US, with the aim of exploring the use of smartphones for laboratory experiments in introductory Physics courses. Here we present and discuss two experiments that were developed in the project: the pendulum experiment, consisting in the measurement of the gravitational constant using a proximity stopwatch, and the 'bouncing ball' experiment, aimed at measuring the energy lost inelastic collisions with a hard surface. Both experiments were tested with the students in the academic year 2021-22. Our results and didactical reflections contain suggestions for the use of smartphone-based experiments in university settings, in comparison with traditional experiments and considering the specificities of different contexts.