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A study of horizontal circular motion by using a wireless sensor kit
Get PDFOne of the most difficult lessons in high school physics is circular motion because of the necessity in relating the various quantities with physics formulas e.g., linear quantities, angular quantities, and Newton’s law of motion. Consequently, in this work we are presenting, we created a uniform circular motion experimental kit by using an ESP-32 microcontroller, accelerometer sensor, and gyroscope sensor.
The proposed kit, which is composed of a microcontroller, sensors, battery, and metal block, is connected to a circular plate. This experimental kit can transmit output data to the display module wirelessly. The relationships between the centripetal force, the angular velocity, and changing the radius were studied. The results demonstrate that the centripetal forces varied as expected with the angular velocity and changing the radius.
The advantages of our proposed kit are that the students can collect experimental data in real-time, and the overall price of our proposed kit is low. Finally, this kit is suitable to use in high school classrooms and we have found it useful for attracting students’ attention
Effectiveness of using momentum vector diagrams to teach collisions
Get PDFThis study aims to enhance students' understanding and problem-solving skills of collisions. A teaching tool called ‘Momentum Vector Diagrams (MVD)’ was developed to help students understand that momentum is a vector quantity and to help them correctly solve collision problems. The MVD was applied to 9 physics classes at 4 schools (294 students) during 3 academic years, who were studying momentum and collisions. The problem-solving test on collisions was developed and given as pre- and post-tests. It consists of 4 open-ended questions asking students to find the final velocity of objects after colliding in 1 and 2 dimensions.
The post-test results indicated that the students who studied with the MVD had a higher average score and standard deviation than the students who studied with traditional methods (2.4 ± 0.6 and 1.6 ± 0.5, full score being 4.0). In addition, the class averaged normalized gains were at the low level for the traditional method (<g> = 0.26) and at the high level for the MVD (<g> = 0.74). It can be concluded that the MVD is an effective tool to enhance students’ understanding and problem-solving skills in the topic of collisions.
Escape room as a stimulus for experimental activity
Get PDFINTRODUCTION
Currently, escape rooms have gained popularity, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were looking for ways to engage students or prepare different methods of education for students.
Commonly known to people as a fun activity, the concept of escape rooms is associated with solving mysteries, puzzles, and tasks where you meet sub-goals to fulfil the overall goal. The overall goal can be to save a friend, solve a mystery, or escape from a haunted room using cooperation. Educational escape rooms differ from fun ones in that students must achieve educational goals to reach the goal of the game. Teachers create educational escape rooms to explore active learning environments to increase student motivation and engagement, promote learning, and develop teamwork, and communication (Veldkamp, van de Grint, Knippels, & Joolingen, 2020, p. 9).
CREATION OF EDUCATIONAL ESCAPE ROOMS
The authors (Veldkamp et al., 2020, p. 1234) list four guidelines for creating educational escape rooms resulting from their study, which we followed when creating our activity:
Co-creation of activity with the students for whom the game is intended. The students had the opportunity to express their observations on the activity after the pilot testing.
Start from scratch or use a prototype that meets the educational requirements. When creating the activity, we were inspired by available activities. During the search, we mainly focused on the availability of platforms on which the escape room activity can be created.
The hybrid learning spaces. The activity is based on a real-world scenario linked to physics topics.
Serial testing of the activity from different perspectives (teacher, student, player).
ESCAPE ROOM ACTIVITY
The authors (Taraldsen, Haara, Lysne, Jensen, & Jenssen, 2020) see the use of escape rooms as a didactic tool in primary and secondary education. We carried out the activity of the escape room created by us with the pupils of the eight-year high school in the beginning grades. The activity is situated in an online space, in which the student's task is to solve a mystery. In individual rooms, there are various puzzles, clues compiled from secrets, fake cash documents, and fake internet communication. Since we focus on stimulating students to experiment, the task in one room is the realization of the experiment by the students. During the implementation of the escape room activity, we mainly observed the progress of the part in which the students had to experiment. We also noticed the progress of the activity, how the students reacted, what caused them difficulties, whether this activity stimulated them to experiment, and whether they were able to experiment.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper was elaborated with the support of the projects KEGA no. 013UK-4-2021 and UK/31/2022.
REFERENCES
Taraldsen, L. H., Haara, F. O., Lysne, M.S., Jensen, P. R., & jenssen, e. s. (2020). A review on use of escape rooms in education – touching the void. Education Inquiry, 13(2), 169-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2020.1860284
Veldkamp, A., Daemen, J., Teekens, S., Koelewijn, S., Knippels, M. P. J., & Joolingen, W. R. (2020). Escape boxes: Bringing escape room experience into the classroom. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(4), 1220–1239. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12935
Veldkamp, A., van de Grint, L., Knippels, M. C. P., & van Joolingen, W. R. (2020). Escape education: A systematic review on escape rooms in education. Educational Research Review, 31, 100364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.10036
Bilingualism in Physics teaching for a Deaf preservice teacher
Get PDFCONTEXT AND RESEARCH OBJECT
We present the results of inclusive actions carried in order to support the learning of a Deaf student undertaking an undergraduate course training science teachers for rural education. We outline the development of the supervised internship for this student. These actions were carried out by two internship advisors with some fluency in one of the Brazilian Sign Languages (Libras). This Deaf preservice teacher went through the language acquisition process late and showed significant difficulties with Libras, with Portuguese and, consequently, with the scientific language. In addition, she did not learn the physics content that should have been taught in the internship, Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM), either in high school or during college. Thus, several coordinated actions were necessary for her to learn the content to be able to teach it. This led us to question how we design teaching physics content and assessment to meet Deaf students' needs in the university.
THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY
Based on Cultural Historical Activity Theory (Leontiev, 1988; Engeström, 2002), the research was limited to a study of the process of learning SHM by a Deaf preservice teacher. Monitoring was carried out in Libras, without interpretation into Portuguese, from the perspective of Deaf Education by Bilinguilism, that is considering the sign language as the student’s first language (L1) and the written modality of oral language, their second (L2) (Brasil, 2005). The research data were collected through two video recordings: (i) SHM teaching interventions for her, specifically an experiment with a simple pendulum to study its period of oscillation; and (ii) a simulation of the Physics internship regency conducted by her.
BILINGUAL LINGUISTIC MEDIATIONS IN SCIENTIFIC LITERACY
The research findings could be expressed into five categories (actions):
(1) to anchor the communication process in visual resources, such as pictures and words written on the board, mobilizing the memory of mathematical and Physics concepts;
(2) take care of the reading process in lexicalized Portuguese, which involves word-by-word signaling and compromises the meaning of the passages read;
(3) to be aware of the scarcity of vocabulary in Libras for Maths and Physics concepts, which results in the imprecision of signs used for different concepts, such as ‘oscillation’ and ‘swing of the simple pendulum’;
(4) to use spontaneous classifiers (gesture markers) that allow evidencing with precision the meaning of concepts, such as ‘periodic wave’ and ‘arithmetic mean’;
(5) to mobilize memory for precise signaling of concepts such as ‘period’ and the relationship between arithmetic mean and repetition of the pendulum swing.
These categories indicate teaching content and assessment criteria that must be considered to meet a Deaf student's needs from a perspective of inclusive Deaf Scientific Education through Bilingualism.
REFERENCES
Brasil. Decreto nº 5.626 (2005, 22 de dezembro). Regulamenta a Lei no 10.436, de 24 de abril de 2002. Retrieved August 12, 2022, from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2005/Decreto/D5626.htm
Engeström, Y. (2002). Non scolae sed vitae discimus: como superar a encapsulação da aprendizagem escolar. In H. Daniels, (Ed). Uma introdução a Vygotsky (pp. 175-197). São Paulo: Loyola.
Leontiev, A. N. (1988). Uma contribuição à teoria do desenvolvimento da psique infantil. In L. S. Vygotsky (et al.), Linguagem, desenvolvimento e aprendizagem. São Paulo: Ícone
Analysis of kinematics graph interpretation skills using RapidMiner
Get PDFINTRODUCTION
Educational data mining (EDM) is a method to extract important patterns and find useful information that can help improve teaching and learning. RapidMiner is a data mining platform that combines data preparation, machine learning and model operations.
METHODOLOGY
Participants were 60 Grade-10 students at Chiang Mai University Demonstration School. A conceptual survey on the Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics (TUG-K) was administered to students before and after the instruction. The conceptual survey consisted of 21 multiple-choice questions. Students’ video analysis with Tracker skills were measured using authentic assessment and students’ attitudes towards learning physics were measured using a questionnaire with 10 items in 5-point Likert-scale. Problem-based learning teaching technique was used to teach students how to analyze high speed videos using Tracker. Students worked in a group of five to record motions of objects in everyday lives. They then used Tracker to track object motions and used physics principles to analyze the motions.
RESULTS
From the statistical results of both pre- and post-test, the paired sample t-test, the mean scores differed statistically at 0.001 levels, indicating that the mean scores after instruction or the post-test (mean = 14.3, SD = 3.7) was significantly higher than the pre-test mean scores (mean = 12.4, SD = 3.2). The effect size was equal to 0.76, which was a value indicating that the post-test scores were quite different from the pre-test scores. Association rules operator in RapidMiner was used to uncover relationships between graph interpretation skills and video motion analysis with Tracker skills, as well as students’ attitudes in learning physics
Challenging and supporting student learning during COVID-19: Optics relevant to optometry and vision science
Get PDFThe School of Optometry and Vision Science at The University of New South Wales offers a Bachelor of Vision Science (three-years) and a five-year integrated degree leading to a Bachelor of Vision Science and Master of Clinical Optometry. The first-year optics curriculum aims to help students acquire an understanding and familiarity with geometrical, physical and visual optics principles regarding instrumentation, eye and vision necessary for Optometry and Vision Science practice.
Optics is fundamentally essential to optometry and vision science. But being a theoretically driven subject that encompasses mathematics and physics knowledge, genuine concern and recognition of the challenges students face in learning optics can be tricky. It involves many mathematical equations and complex ray tracing of optical systems. Because of that, engaging and motivating students to appreciate and learn optics principles is a constant challenge. The key to engaging students is making what they are learning relevant and showing how it relates to their future profession. I provide numerous real-life examples and scenarios in which knowledge of optics is integral. Practical classes support and extend concepts presented in lectures with a hands-on approach.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, face-to-face teaching delivery was abandoned, leading to rapid adaption to fully online course delivery using digital technologies. A potential problem with online teaching is the lack of student engagement and interaction if not delivered appropriately (Greenhalgh, 2001; Martin & Bolliger, 2018). Using Blackboard Collaborate digital platform, online student engagement was fostered by providing interactive lecture notes with practice problems based on real scenarios, conducting online polls and addressing students’ queries via the chat function in realtime. I used interactive flipped lectures using H5P and iSpring digital technologies as well as a lightboard for ray tracing complex optical systems.
Tutorial sessions aimed at team-based learning, combined with problem-solving and journal article appraisal was used. Each group was expected to critically appraise the journal article and present the concept of the article. To engage non-presenting groups, I introduced a new online peer assessment approach by providing them with a marking rubric. The grade for submission is the weighted mean of all marks provided by the students for the presenting group. This will develop key skills in critically evaluating research articles and help them in a team-based learning environment.
It would have been difficult to imagine conducting optics experiments in a virtual world. However, I approached this with a different perspective by emphasising a strongly engaging visual approach and team-based learning. I created 22 striking lab videos to demonstrate the fundamental optical principles and extend their knowledge to real clinical scenarios. Students love this way of teaching, as reported in a feedback survey. Learning optics to a good standard will enable students to appreciate and learn the subsequent courses confidently and efficiently.
REFERENCES
Greenhalgh T. (2001). Computer assisted learning in undergraduate medical education. BMJ, 322(7277):40-4.
Martin F. & Bolliger D. U. (2018). Engagement Matters: Student Perceptions on the Importance of Engagement Strategies in the Online Learning Environment. Online Learning, 22(1), 205-222
