Experiment is the sole judge of scientific truth.
Experiment, itself, helps to produce these laws, in the sense that it gives us hints. But also needed is imagination to create from these hints the great generalizations to guess at the wonderful, simple, but very strange patterns beneath them all, and then to experiment to check again whether we made the right guess. The laboratory should help the student develop a broad array of basic skills and tools of experimental physics and data analysis. Many of the goals are not explicit in traditional laboratory programs. However, the American Association of Physics Teachers believes that laboratory programs should be designed with these five fundamental goals in mind.