  In its most general form, a `secret objective' is any inconsistency between
the experimental reality and the information provided to students prior to
starting work on an experiment. Students are challenged to identify the secret
objectives and then given freedom to explore and understand the experiment,
thus encouraging and facilitating genuine inquiry elements in introductory
laboratory courses. Damping of a simple pendulum is used as a concrete example
to demonstrate how secret objectives can be included. We also discuss the
implications of the secret objectives method and how this can provide a link
between the concepts of problem based learning and inquiry style labs.
