Virtual laboratory for a first experience in dynamics

New technologies contribute to the learning process of scientific disciplines. In particular Physics learning may take advantage of these techniques by implementing experimental practices in simulation environments. Our presentation is made under the premise that computer simulations should not be used as substitutes for direct experience with physics apparatus. We are presenting here a set of two simulation based virtual laboratories to look into the empirical foundation of classical dynamics. The first practice is designed to revise the operational definition of inertial mass. The second practice proposes the determination of the dependence law of the interaction force between two cars on their distance separation. There are presented the experimental design and the results obtained in the implementation in a first Physics course at Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Facultad Regional Córdoba, Argentina.publishedVersionFil: Ré, Miguel Ángel. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Ré, Miguel Ángel. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina.Fil: Giubergia, María Fernanda. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Córdoba; Argentina.Otras Ciencias Física

Development of modular and accessible teaching labs, incorporating modelling and practical experimentation

Practical laboratory experimentation has always been a crucial part of engineering education and its effectiveness in facilitating learning is universally acknowledged. Huge advances in computer science, coupled with significant increases in the cost of ever more complex and sophisticated laboratory set-ups, have led to engineering schools’ adopting computer models and simulation software. Although simulation-based laboratory work does enhance the learning experience, it plays a more effective role alongside practical experimentation rather than as a replacement. This case study presents the results and experience gained from an enquiry-based learning of power-converter development laboratory work to support a power electronic converter module at the University of Greenwich. The approach taken allows students to learn the basics of the module through a combination of modelling, simulation and practical experimentation. The modular and portable nature of the laboratory set-ups afforded the students more time and opportunity to explore the subject matter and integrate the laboratory experience with the concepts covered in the lectures. The feedback from students, which was gathered from the students through the university’s EVASYS system, strongly indicated that the approach led to a sustained improvement in students’ learning experience and satisfaction with the module

Thinking Outside the Box: Enhancing Science Teaching by Combining (Instead of Contrasting) Laboratory and Simulation Activities

The focus of the present work was on 10- to 12-year-old elementary school students’ conceptual learning outcomes in science in two specific inquiry-learning environments, laboratory and simulation. The main aim was to examine if it would be more beneficial to combine than contrast simulation and laboratory activities in science teaching. It was argued that the status quo where laboratories and simulations are seen as alternative or competing methods in science teaching is hardly an optimal solution to promote students’ learning and understanding in various science domains. It was hypothesized that it would make more sense and be more productive to combine laboratories and simulations. Several explanations and examples were provided to back up the hypothesis. In order to test whether learning with the combination of laboratory and simulation activities can result in better conceptual understanding in science than learning with laboratory or simulation activities alone, two experiments were conducted in the domain of electricity. In these experiments students constructed and studied electrical circuits in three different learning environments: laboratory (real circuits), simulation (virtual circuits), and simulation-laboratory combination (real and virtual circuits were used simultaneously). In order to measure and compare how these environments affected students’ conceptual understanding of circuits, a subject knowledge assessment questionnaire was administered before and after the experimentation. The results of the experiments were presented in four empirical studies. Three of the studies focused on learning outcomes between the conditions and one on learning processes. Study I analyzed learning outcomes from experiment I. The aim of the study was to investigate if it would be more beneficial to combine simulation and laboratory activities than to use them separately in teaching the concepts of simple electricity. Matched-trios were created based on the pre-test results of 66 elementary school students and divided randomly into a laboratory (real circuits), simulation (virtual circuits) and simulation-laboratory combination (real and virtual circuits simultaneously) conditions. In each condition students had 90 minutes to construct and study various circuits. The results showed that studying electrical circuits in the simulation–laboratory combination environment improved students’ conceptual understanding more than studying circuits in simulation and laboratory environments alone. Although there were no statistical differences between simulation and laboratory environments, the learning effect was more pronounced in the simulation condition where the students made clear progress during the intervention, whereas in the laboratory condition students’ conceptual understanding remained at an elementary level after the intervention. Study II analyzed learning outcomes from experiment II. The aim of the study was to investigate if and how learning outcomes in simulation and simulation-laboratory combination environments are mediated by implicit (only procedural guidance) and explicit (more structure and guidance for the discovery process) instruction in the context of simple DC circuits. Matched-quartets were created based on the pre-test results of 50 elementary school students and divided randomly into a simulation implicit (SI), simulation explicit (SE), combination implicit (CI) and combination explicit (CE) conditions. The results showed that when the students were working with the simulation alone, they were able to gain significantly greater amount of subject knowledge when they received metacognitive support (explicit instruction; SE) for the discovery process than when they received only procedural guidance (implicit instruction: SI). However, this additional scaffolding was not enough to reach the level of the students in the combination environment (CI and CE). A surprising finding in Study II was that instructional support had a different effect in the combination environment than in the simulation environment. In the combination environment explicit instruction (CE) did not seem to elicit much additional gain for students’ understanding of electric circuits compared to implicit instruction (CI). Instead, explicit instruction slowed down the inquiry process substantially in the combination environment. Study III analyzed from video data learning processes of those 50 students that participated in experiment II (cf. Study II above). The focus was on three specific learning processes: cognitive conflicts, self-explanations, and analogical encodings. The aim of the study was to find out possible explanations for the success of the combination condition in Experiments I and II. The video data provided clear evidence about the benefits of studying with the real and virtual circuits simultaneously (the combination conditions). Mostly the representations complemented each other, that is, one representation helped students to interpret and understand the outcomes they received from the other representation. However, there were also instances in which analogical encoding took place, that is, situations in which the slightly discrepant results between the representations ‘forced’ students to focus on those features that could be generalised across the two representations. No statistical differences were found in the amount of experienced cognitive conflicts and self-explanations between simulation and combination conditions, though in self-explanations there was a nascent trend in favour of the combination. There was also a clear tendency suggesting that explicit guidance increased the amount of self-explanations. Overall, the amount of cognitive conflicts and self-explanations was very low. The aim of the Study IV was twofold: the main aim was to provide an aggregated overview of the learning outcomes of experiments I and II; the secondary aim was to explore the relationship between the learning environments and students’ prior domain knowledge (low and high) in the experiments. Aggregated results of experiments I & II showed that on average, 91% of the students in the combination environment scored above the average of the laboratory environment, and 76% of them scored also above the average of the simulation environment. Seventy percent of the students in the simulation environment scored above the average of the laboratory environment. The results further showed that overall students seemed to benefit from combining simulations and laboratories regardless of their level of prior knowledge, that is, students with either low or high prior knowledge who studied circuits in the combination environment outperformed their counterparts who studied in the laboratory or simulation environment alone. The effect seemed to be slightly bigger among the students with low prior knowledge. However, more detailed inspection of the results showed that there were considerable differences between the experiments regarding how students with low and high prior knowledge benefitted from the combination: in Experiment I, especially students with low prior knowledge benefitted from the combination as compared to those students that used only the simulation, whereas in Experiment II, only students with high prior knowledge seemed to benefit from the combination relative to the simulation group. Regarding the differences between simulation and laboratory groups, the benefits of using a simulation seemed to be slightly higher among students with high prior knowledge. The results of the four empirical studies support the hypothesis concerning the benefits of using simulation along with laboratory activities to promote students’ conceptual understanding of electricity. It can be concluded that when teaching students about electricity, the students can gain better understanding when they have an opportunity to use the simulation and the real circuits in parallel than if they have only the real circuits or only a computer simulation available, even when the use of the simulation is supported with the explicit instruction. The outcomes of the empirical studies can be considered as the first unambiguous evidence on the (additional) benefits of combining laboratory and simulation activities in science education as compared to learning with laboratories and simulations alone.Siirretty Doriast

Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This fourth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation

Project-Based Learning on Laboratory Experiment about Refraction and Total Internal Reflection of Different Types of Materials

The use of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) in Physics Learning has been widely used, but only as a learning model that is used to determine its effects on students. Whereas PjBL can also be used as a model to produce new information and experimental tools with the right method. This research is a laboratory experimental study that aims to produce an experimental device to determine the refractive index of various materials using refractive and perfect reflection methods. To complete this research, the team followed the steps of PjBL which consisted of 7 stages, namely Challenging Problems or Questions, Sustained Inquiry, Authenticity, Student Voice and Choice, Reflection, Critique and Revision, and Public Product. By following the PJBL stages, the team succeeded in producing an experimental device with good results. The results show that the experimental device produced works well and is able to determine the refractive index of the material with a fairly accurate value where the error value is below 1%. From this process also, the team acquired more skills, namely critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and collaboration

Cognitive knowledge, attitude toward science, and skill development in virtual science labratories

The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive, single group, pretest posttest design study was to explore the influence of a Virtual Science Laboratory (VSL) on middle school students’ cognitive knowledge, skill development, and attitudes toward science. This study involved 2 eighth grade Physical Science classrooms at a large urban charter middle school located in Southern California. The Buoyancy and Density Test (BDT), a computer generated test, assessed students’ scientific knowledge in areas of Buoyancy and Density. The Attitude Toward Science Inventory (ATSI), a multidimensional survey assessment, measured students’ attitudes toward science in the areas of value of science in society, motivation in science, enjoyment of science, self-concept regarding science, and anxiety toward science. A Virtual Laboratory Packet (VLP), generated by the researcher, captured students’ mathematical and scientific skills. Data collection was conducted over a period of five days. BDT and ATSI assessments were administered twice: once before the Buoyancy and Density VSL to serve as baseline data (pre) and also after the VSL (post). The findings of this study revealed that students’ cognitive knowledge and attitudes toward science were positively changed as expected, however, the results from paired sample t-tests found no statistical significance. Analyses indicated that VSLs were effective in supporting students’ scientific knowledge and attitude toward science. The attitudes most changed were value of science in society and enjoyment of science with mean differences of 1.71 and 0.88, respectively. Researchers and educational practitioners are urged to further examine VSLs, covering a variety of topics, with more middle school students to assess their learning outcomes. Additionally, it is recommended that publishers in charge of designing the VSLs communicate with science instructors and research practitioners to further improve the design and analytic components of these virtual learning environments. The results of this study contribute to the existing body of knowledge in an effort to raise awareness about the inclusion of VSLs in secondary science classrooms. With the advancement of technological tools in secondary science classrooms, instructional practices should consider including VSLs especially if providing real science laboratories is a challenge

Development of Triple Representation Based on Virtual Laboratory Media on the Chemical Equilibrium Experiment in Online Learning Era

The purpose of this research is to produce virtual laboratory media to support laboratory-based learning with the features mentioned above to make students become scientists with comprehensive understanding competencies and laboratory engineering skills. The virtual laboratory media was developed using the Lee Owens development method consists of five stages: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The virtual laboratory based on triplet representations on chemical equilibrium material fulfils very feasible criteria for students to use as a learning resource. The percentage of product eligibility as a learning media is 86.15%, and in terms of the material, it is 85.71%. The results of small group trials in class XI students of SMAN 3 Sidoarjo showed that the virtual laboratory developed had met the very feasible criteria with an average percentage of 86.40%. The final result of this virtual laboratory has been revised based on comments and suggestions from validators and test subjects. Practically, the media developed is very useful to support practicum learning

Learning the causes of the seasons with gesture-augmented simulations

There has been recent interest in how the body can be used as a resource for learning challenging concepts in science and mathematics. This dissertation contributes to this conversation in the literature by focusing on a learning environment that engages students in using their bodies as a resource for learning a particularly challenging science concept, the causes of the seasons. The causes of the seasons is widely recognized as an important topic in science education, and accordingly the topic has been the focus of much research over the last several decades. This research has yielded information about common alternative conceptions that children have about the topic. And yet even with a number of interventions targeted at supporting student learning of the causes of the seasons, it has remained a challenging topic. Previous interventions have been designed and analyzed using constructivism as a theoretical lens. This dissertation follows this practice by using constructivism as a theoretical lens, while making a new contribution by also using the theoretical lens of embodied cognition. This dissertation utilizes these theories by exploring how middle school students learn the causes of the seasons in the context of their science classes by engaging with a learning environment that includes a computer simulation controlled with hand gestures, which I refer to as a gesture-augmented simulation. In this dissertation, learning is considered to occur when students develop more scientifically accurate conceptual models of seasonal change. Students’ conceptual models were probed in various ways, including analysis of responses to multiple choice questions, explanations provided in written and verbal formats, and also by analyzing gestures that were produced while providing explanations. By using a mixed methods approach, this dissertation examined the learning process and outcomes of the use of a gesture-augmented simulation. Based on pre-test to post-test comparisons, conceptual understanding of the causes of the seasons increased overall for participants, but these improvements were not uniform for all students. When looking more closely at the explanations of focal students, this study also found that there were increases in the amount and complexity of student gesturing while explaining causes of the seasons after using the simulation. Related to the learning process, this study identified patterns of using the simulation in ways that were productive for focal students to improve their conceptual understanding of causes of the seasons. Specifically, students’ repeated use of discussion prompts was related to improvement and convergence on probes of student thinking. These findings suggest that the embodied learning environment used in the study, a gesture-augmented simulation, was productive for helping students improve their conceptual understanding of the causes of the seasons when used in particular ways during their science class. Future research should continue to explore the design of scaffolds to support productive uses of gesture-augmented simulations by providing dynamic guidance to students as well as the design of dashboards that could provide relevant information to teachers while facilitating lessons

Organic Chemistry in Virtual Reality: Bridging Gaps between Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Representations

The traditional two-dimensional representations in organic chemistry education highlighted the lack of depth and interactivity, impeding student learning, engagement, and comprehension. By emphasizing on the limitations of conventional educational materials, the research advocated for integrating Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, which enhance organic chemistry visualization. The main objective was to bridge the gap between two and three-dimensional perspectives, offering a more dynamic and interactive learning experience. The thesis aimed to assess traditional teaching methods in organic chemistry—lectures, textbooks, and laboratory exercises. It also aimed to identify their challenges in conveying complex molecular structures and reactions effectively. Additionally, it explored the integration of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) with these conventional methods. The goal had been to develop a cohesive educational framework that combined the strengths of both traditional and modern technological approaches. This blended learning model was meant to improve student engagement and understanding by incorporating dynamic visualizations into lectures as well as interactive content into textbooks. Building on this premise, the research focused on the following questions: 1. What challenges do traditional teaching methods face in teaching organic chemistry concepts adequately? 2. What advantages do VR and AR offer in organic chemistry education compared to traditional methods? 3. What impact do VR and AR technologies have on student engagement in organic chemistry compared to traditional teaching methods? 4. How can VR and AR be tailored to meet pedagogical and andragogical needs in organic chemistry education? 5. Why are VR and AR more effective than traditional methods in enhancing learning in organic chemistry? 6. What are the best strategies for integrating VR and AR into the organic chemistry curricula to enhance learning alongside traditional methods? 7. How can AR and VR in organic chemistry education be aligned with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development to improve learning outcomes? 8. How can AR and VR be personalized in organic chemistry education to support individual learning and Piaget\u27s theory of self-learning? 9. What are the benefits and challenges of applying the \u27Ship Early, Ship Often\u27 approach to developing AR and VR tools in organic chemistry education? Upon the completion of this research, a literature review was conducted additionally as well as visual and content analyses. Based upon the research conducted, a visual solution was created to guide curriculum developers, textbook publishers, researchers, and educators in integrating VR and AR technologies into traditional organic chemistry curricula. The deliverable theory of the visual was a high-fidelity wireframe prototype created for VR and AR in Organic Chemistry, designed to enhance student engagement and understanding by combining immersive technology with traditional teaching methods. The project also featured a responsive website to inform stakeholders about the benefits of this integration, supported by print media like brochures, posters, and billboards for broader outreach and awareness. The high-fidelity wireframe prototype with the responsive website and supporting print media, were crucial elements in reshaping organic chemistry education, bridging the gap between traditional pedagogy and andragogy as well as futuristic learning paradigms