The Five Stage Cycle Model: An Integrated Approach to Teaching Physics (original) (raw)

Physclips: multi-level, multi-media resources for teaching first year university physics

2012

The purpose of the Sciences and Technology Spotlight web site is to showcase examples of online learning and teaching at The University of Sydney. Organized by themes and discipline areas, it contains working examples, with details of the need they address and the reflections of the practitioners. These exemplar projects were supported by or are consonant with The University of Sydney elearning support initiative (2004). This initiative focuses on enhancing student learning and encourages sustainable learning technologies which would promote innovative approaches to learning and teaching.

Integrating effective learning strategies in basic physics lectures: A thematic analysis

2021

Introductory mechanics is an obligatory course for many disciplines outside of physics and the failure rate is often high. Even the students who pass the course often fail to achieve the main learning goal: The conceptual knowledge required for modeling situations with physics principles. In many cases, this is due to inefficient learning strategies. However, little work has been done on the integration of learning strategies into physics courses. Here we present a study where we integrated three established learning strategies into the teaching of an introductory mechanics course: elaborative encoding, retrieval practice, and selfexplanation. We also developed three scaffolding tools to facilitate the integration of the strategies: elaborative encoding questions, a hierarchical principle structure, and a problem-solution structure with emphasis on physics modeling. The overarching aim of this study is to use students' experience-based reflections to find ways to improve the integration of the learning strategies. To fulfill this aim, we seek answers to the following three interrelated research questions: (i) What are the students' experiences and associated reflections with the learning strategies and tools? (ii) How do the students' experiences and reflections align with established theory on the learning strategies? (iii) What main barriers to effective implementation of the learning strategies may be hypothesized? To answer these questions, we did semistructured research interviews with 12 students. Through the thematic analysis, we found that retrieval practice was used extensively while self-explanation and elaborative encoding was partly or wholly ignored. The analysis, together with theoretical considerations, indicates that successful implementation of elaborative encoding is critical for maximizing the benefits from retrieval practice in physics. We also present some promising findings on two of the tools: (i) Students' extensive use of the hierarchical principle structure and (ii) that some students started practicing physics modeling after exposure to the solution structure. Finally, we offer suggestions for how to overcome the barriers to effective implementation of each of the learning strategies.

Lesson Learned: Improving Students’ Procedural and Conceptual Knowledge through Physics Instruction with Media of Wave, Sound, and Light

Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2018

This study aims to enhance students' procedural knowledge in physics instruction focuses on wave, sound and light. Two classes at class XI of SMA N 1 Pakem are involved in the instruction as an experiment and control classes (conventional instruction). Each class consists of 32 students. This instruction is conducted with physics media which is developed to demonstrate phenomena of wave, sound and light. Assessment of procedural knowledge measures students' skill on making of preparation, creating of design, and write down a way of data collecting in order to examine their hypothesis. Data are gathered through test, observation and documentation then analysed to achieve the improvement of skills descriptively with normalized gain. Findings reveal that physics media help students to initiate their skills on proposed the preparation of the experiment, design and determine a procedure to get the evidence. Moreover, students in the experiment class are better than control class in improvement of procedural knowledge. It can be inferred that physics media give more benefits in improving students understanding of wave, sound, and light concept.

Teaching-Learning Contemporary Physics

Challenges in Physics Education, 2021

This book series covers the many facets of physics teaching and learning at all educational levels and in all learning environments. The respective volumes address a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to) innovative approaches and pedagogical strategies for physics education; the development of effective methods to integrate multimedia into physics education or teaching/learning; innovative lab experiments; and the use of web-based interactive activities. Both research and experienced practice will feature prominently throughout. The series is published in cooperation with GIREP, the International Research Group on Physics Teaching, and will include selected papers from internationally renowned experts, as well as monographs. Book proposals from other sources are entirely welcome. Challenges in Physics Education addresses professionals, teachers, researchers, instructors and curriculum developers alike, with the aim of improving physics teaching and learning, and thereby the overall standing of physics in society. Book proposals for this series may be submitted to the Publishing Editor:

Technology as a teaching and learning tool: Assessing student understanding in the introductory physics lab

Technology, particularly computer-based applications are currently being incorporated within many domains of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) education. The primary goal of this incorporation is the improvement of student learning. In this paper we focus on strategies designed to improve student learning following instruction that utilizes technologybased learning tools in the introductory physics laboratory. To address this issue, we describe an interactive laboratory experiment designed to teach the concept of momentum and impulse to introductory physics students. The laboratory activity makes use of a collision apparatus and computer interface to allow students to determine relevant data. An interactive software tool allows students to perform a series of analyses of various elastic and inelastic collisions. We will link the discussion regarding the use of these technology-based learning tools in the physics laboratory to specific strategies that can be used to assess student learning. Relationships between student understanding and individual learning styles will also be shared. This discussion will have broad applications for the effective utilization of technology within the domains of SMET education.

How computer-assisted teaching in physics can enhance student learning

Educational Research and Reviews, 2012

Simple harmonic motion (SHM) is an important topic for physics or science students and has wide applications all over the world. Computer simulations are applications of special interest in physics teaching because they support powerful modeling environments involving physics concepts. This article is aimed to compare the effect of computer-assisted teaching (CAT) realized from the simulations of software developed by the researchers for the interactive-physics program and traditional teaching methods on the success of the science prospective teachers and to determine the effect of their concept learning on SHM. The study was conducted in 2008 to 2009 academic year and was carried out in two different classes taught by the same teacher, in which there were seventy freshman science student teachers, attending to Amasya University Science Education Department. An experimental research design including SHM test was applied at the beginning and at the end of the research as pre-test and post-test. After the practice, general achievement in SHM test increased by 15% in favor of experiment group at (p<0.05) significant level. Research findings strongly supported that computer simulations might be used as an alternative instructional tool to help students develop their understanding of physics and CAT is more successful than traditional teaching methods.

Interactive video tutorials for enhancing problem-solving, reasoning, and meta-cognitive skills of introductory physics students

AIP Conference Proceedings, 2004

We discuss the development of interactive video tutorial-based problems to help introductory physics students learn effective problem solving heuristics. The video tutorials present problem solving strategies using concrete examples in an interactive environment. They force students to follow a systematic approach to problem solving and students are required to solve sub-problems (research-guided multiple choice questions) to show their level of understanding at every stage of prob lem solving. The tutorials are designed to provide scaffolding support at every stage of problem solving as needed and help students view the problem solving process as an opportunity for knowledge and skill acquisition rather than a "plug and chug " chore. A focus on helping students learn first to analyse a problem qualitatively, and then to plan a solution in terms of the relevant physics principles, can be useful for developing their reasoning skills. The reflection stage of problem solving can help students develop meta-cognitive skills because they must focus on what they have learned by solving the problem and how it helps them extend and organize their knowledge. Preliminary evaluations show that a majority of students who are unable to solve the tutorial problems without help can solve similar problems after working through the video tutorial. Further evaluation to assess the development of useful skills in tutorial learners vs. control group is underway.

Evaluating a Novel Instructional Sequence for Conceptual Change in Physics Using Interactive Simulations

Education Sciences, 2018

This study investigated the effectiveness of a novel inquiry-based instructional sequence using interactive simulations for supporting students’ development of conceptual understanding, inquiry process skills and confidence in learning. The study, conducted in Beijing, involved two teachers and 117 students in four classes. The teachers participated in professional learning and were supported in enacting one of two different instructional approaches the Interactive Simulations Instructional Approach (ISIA) (experimental group) or conventional instruction (control group). Each student group completed pre-tests and post-tests, and classroom observations were conducted to ensure that the implementation of the intervention was consistent. Our findings reveal that students in the ISIA group demonstrated significantly greater gains in conceptual understanding, inquiry process skills and confidence in learning than their peers in the conventional instruction group. Neither students’ sex no...

A modeling method for high school physics instruction

American Journal of Physics, 1995

The design and development of a new method for high school physics instruction is described. Students are actively engaged in understanding the physical world by constructing and using scientific models to describe, explain, predict, and to control physical phenomena. Course content is organized around a small set of basic models. Instruction is organized into modeling cycles move students systematically through all phases of model development, evaluation, and application in concrete situationsthus developing skill and insight in the procedural aspects of scientific knowledge. Objective evidence shows that the modeling method can produce much larger gains in student understanding than alternative methods of instruction. This reveals limitations of the popular "cooperative inquiry" and "learning cycle" methods. It is concluded that the effectiveness of physics instruction depends heavily on the pedagogical expertise of the teacher. The problem of cultivating such expertise among high school teachers is discussed at length, with specific recommendations for action within the physics community.