Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 36, Issue 2, February 2001, Pages 183-204
Computers & Education

Computer simulations in physics teaching and learning: a case study on students' understanding of trajectory motion

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-1315(00)00059-2Get rights and content

Abstract

A major research domain in physics education is focused on the study of the effects of various types of teaching interventions aimed to help students' alternative conceptions transformation. Computer simulations are applications of special interest in physics teaching because they can support powerful modeling environments involving physics concepts and processes. In this study two groups (control and experimental) of 15–16 years old students were studied to determine the role of computer simulations in the development of functional understanding of the concepts of velocity and acceleration in projectile motions. Both groups received traditional classroom instruction on these topics; the experimental group used computer simulations also. The results presented here show that students working with simulations exhibited significantly higher scores in the research tasks. Our findings strongly support that computer simulations may be used as an alternative instructional tool, in order to help students confront their cognitive constraints and develop functional understanding of physics.

Introduction

Learning physics is often considered by teachers and students to be a difficult pursuit. Over the last two decades a great deal of educational research has been directed towards the exploration of students' ideas and difficulties on physical concepts and processes (Driver et al., 1985, Duit et al., 1991). Research on physics and science education has often focused on the study of alternative conceptions and mental representations that students employ before and after instruction. Related to the above is research focused on the study of the consequences of special teaching interventions aiming to transform students' alternative conceptions.

A common research assumption is that students possess a system of beliefs and intuitions about physical phenomena mainly derived from their everyday experience. Such systems of beliefs and intuitions are usually incompatible with scientific theories and knowledge; they have been referred to as misconceptions or alternative conceptions. For example, research studies (Halloun ans Hestenes, 1985, Whitaker, 1983) have suggested that students' beliefs about motion in the earth's gravitational field are usually based in Aristotelian ideas derived from limited first-hand experience of real-life phenomena. Research has further shown that high school (and sometimes university) students' knowledge consists of a small number of facts and equations that are not effective for the interpretation of simple, real-world physical phenomena. Defective procedural knowledge is often evident in the problem solving approaches employed by most of the students (Halloun & Hestenes, 1985).

Research findings also suggest that conventional instruction is ineffective in dealing with misconceptions. Students' alternative conceptions of velocity and acceleration, for example, are considered to be as not easily affected by traditional instructional methods. Students often connect velocity with the position of the moving objects (Hewson, 1985, Trowbridge and McDermott, 1980), confuse velocity and acceleration or create analogies between them (Trowbridge and McDermott, 1981, Whitaker, 1983), and face major difficulties when using graphical or stroboscopic representations of motions (Beichner, 1994, McDermoot et al., 1987).

Transforming ideas and correcting defects of students' knowledge in physics is beyond the reach of the traditional teaching approaches because they tend to ignore the possibility that the perception of students is possibly different than that of the teacher (McDermott, 1993). The main aim of an alternative constructivist teaching approach should then be the development of such conditions that would facilitate students' active engagement in learning and functional understanding of physics. Furthermore, such an approach should enable students to effectively apply physical concepts and principles in novel situations. Further research on these issues could be proved very helpful for improving instructional patterns, and designing and developing new learning environments.

Among the important issues concerning the employment of constructivist approaches to learning is the study of the effects of computer tools aimed to facilitate students' active engagement in physics teaching and learning. This study presents the findings of an alternative teaching intervention, based on computer simulations through Interactive Physics. Students' cognitive constraints and alternative conceptions about velocity and acceleration in simple projectile motions in the earth's gravitational field were investigated. The analysis of the data obtained shows that simulations assist students to overcome the cognitive constraints originating from various misconceptions.

Section snippets

Computer simulations in physics teaching

Schools' widespread access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) pose tremendous challenges to physics teaching and learning. Physics is one of the first areas where the possibilities that computers may offer for the employment of new teaching methods have been and are still explored. A variety of computer applications have been developed and used in teaching Physics, such as spreadsheets (Dory, 1988), computer-based laboratories (Thornton & Sokoloff, 1990), multimedia (Crosby &

Simulating Newtonian mechanics through Interactive Physics

Interactive Physics is a two-dimensional virtual physics laboratory that simulates fundamental principles of Newtonian mechanics. The simulation engine needs no programming. Simulations produced by the system are based on two numerical analysis methods, a fast (Euler) and an accurate one (Kutta-Merson) and present a realistic movie of the objects' evolution on the screen. A series of physical quantities (velocity, acceleration, momentum, angular momentum, kinetic energy, etc.) can be measured

Research aims and questions

The research presented and discussed in this paper aims to investigate the effects of computer simulations to high school students' understanding of basic kinematical concepts concerning simple motions in earth's gravitational field. More specifically, the research questions are:

  • 1.

    What are the major difficulties faced by high school students when applying the concepts of velocity and acceleration in simple motions in the gravitational field?

  • 2.

    What are the effects of the use of simulations on

Analysis

The analysis of the research data included two distinct phases or levels of statistical analysis. The first phase is based on the statistical description of the data. The second one involves the use of a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (Benzécri, 1992) with the statistical software package SPAD (2000).

Conclusions

This study provided us with supportive evidence regarding the use of computer simulations in physics teaching and learning. Our analysis indicates that there are significant differences in students' achievement concerning the concepts of velocity and acceleration, depending on whether they have been engaged in tasks demanding the use of Interactive Physics stroboscopic representations or not.

From a qualitative point of view, the range of the students' types of responses is similar for both

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. Andreas Kollias and Mr. Yiannis Goumenakis for their critical reading of the manuscript, and to the Physics teachers and the students who participated in the research.

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