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Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory
written by Jacquelyn J. Chini, Adrian M. Madsen, Elizabeth Gire, N. Sanjay Rebello, and Sadhana Puntambekar
Recent research results have failed to support the conventionally held belief that students learn physics best from hands-on experiences with physical equipment. Rather, studies have found that students who perform similar experiments with computer simulations perform as well or better on measures of conceptual understanding than their peers who used physical equipment. In this study, we explored how university-level nonscience majors' understanding of the physics concepts related to pulleys was supported by experimentation with real pulleys and a computer simulation of pulleys. We report that when students use one type of manipulative (physical or virtual), the comparison is influenced both by the concept studied and the timing of the post-test. Students performed similarly on questions related to force and mechanical advantage regardless of the type of equipment used. On the other hand, students who used the computer simulation performed better on questions related to work immediately after completing the activities; however, the two groups performed similarly on the work questions on a test given one week later. Additionally, both sequences of experimentation (physical-virtual and virtual-physical) equally supported students' understanding of all of the concepts. These results suggest that both the concept learned and the stability of learning gains should continue to be explored to improve educators' ability to select the best learning experience for a given topic.
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Classical Mechanics
- Newton's Second Law
= Interacting Objects
- Work and Energy
= Simple Machines
Education Foundations
- Assessment
Education Practices
- Curriculum Development
= Laboratory
- Instructional Material Design
= Activity
= Simulation
- Technology
= Multimedia
- Lower Undergraduate
- Graduate/Professional
- Reference Material
= Research study
Intended Users Formats Ratings
- Researchers
- Professional/Practitioners
- application/pdf
- text/html
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevST…
Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.8.010113
IES Grant:
R305A080507
NSF Number:
0841414
PACSs:
01.40.Fk
01.40.gb
01.50.Lc
Keywords:
Lab Activities, Physical Laboratory, Virtual Laboratory
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created April 30, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
May 29, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
April 4, 2012
Other Collections:

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AIP Format
J. Chini, A. Madsen, E. Gire, N. Rebello, and S. Puntambekar, , Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (1), 010113 (2012), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11914&DocID=2829).
AJP/PRST-PER
J. Chini, A. Madsen, E. Gire, N. Rebello, and S. Puntambekar, Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (1), 010113 (2012), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11914&DocID=2829>.
APA Format
Chini, J., Madsen, A., Gire, E., Rebello, N., & Puntambekar, S. (2012, April 4). Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., 8(1), 010113. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11914&DocID=2829
Chicago Format
Chini, J, A. Madsen, E. Gire, N. Rebello, and S. Puntambekar. "Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8, no. 1, (April 4, 2012): 010113, https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11914&DocID=2829 (accessed 29 March 2024).
MLA Format
Chini, Jacquelyn, Adrian Madsen, Elizabeth Gire, N. Sanjay Rebello, and Sadhana Puntambekar. "Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8.1 (2012): 010113. 29 Mar. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11914&DocID=2829>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Jacquelyn Chini and Adrian Madsen and Elizabeth Gire and N. Sanjay Rebello and Sadhana Puntambekar", Title = {Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {8}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010113}, Month = {April}, Year = {2012} }
Refer Export Format

%A Jacquelyn Chini %A Adrian Madsen %A Elizabeth Gire %A N. Sanjay Rebello %A Sadhana Puntambekar %T Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 8 %N 1 %D April 4, 2012 %P 010113 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11914&DocID=2829 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Chini, Jacquelyn %A Madsen, Adrian %A Gire, Elizabeth %A Rebello, N. Sanjay %A Puntambekar, Sadhana %D April 4, 2012 %T Exploration of factors that affect the comparative effectiveness of physical and virtual manipulatives in an undergraduate laboratory %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 8 %N 1 %P 010113 %8 April 4, 2012 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11914&DocID=2829


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