This paper describes a laboratory course held at ICFA 2002 Regional Instrumentation School in Morelia, Mexico. This course intends to introduce drift chambers, which play an important role in particle physics experiments as tracking detectors. The experimental setup consists of a single‐sided, single‐cell drift chamber, a plastic scintillator detector and a collimated90Sr source. The measurements on the drift velocity of electrons, its change as a function of a drift field, gas gain and diffusion are performed at this laboratory course. © 2003 American Institute of Physics