A virtual way to teach introductory physics (original) (raw)

Student experiences of virtual reality: A case study in learning special relativity

American Journal of Physics, 2010

We present a study of student learning through the use of virtual reality. A software package is used to introduce concepts of special relativity to students in a game-like environment where users experience the effects of travelling at near light speeds. From this new perspective, space and time are significantly different to that experienced in everyday life. The study explores how students have worked with this environment and how these students have used this experience in their study of special relativity. A mixed method approach has been taken to evaluate the outcomes of separate implementations of the package at two universities. Students found the simulation to be a positive learning experience and described the subject area as being less abstract after its use. Also, students were more capable of correctly answering concept questions relating to special relativity, and a small but measurable improvement was observed in the final exam.

Using Virtual Reality in Teaching Secondary School Physics

2000

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in education has been depicted as an interesting and promising area where constructivist learning theory can be put into practice. This paper describes a work-in-progress project attempting to take advantage of the current VR technology for constructivist learning practices in the teaching of secondary school Physics. The project involves the creation of 3D VR environments for use on the World Wide Web where learners are exposed to virtual physical environments. These environments incorporate rich and meaningful physical phenomena and relationships so that learners can navigate and explore freely, view from different perspectives and visualize the various physical concepts and relationships which otherwise can be difficult to visualize using traditional teaching material in the form of texts and graphics. This paper also discusses the initial reactions from learners as well as colleagues teaching on the subject.

Work-in-Progress—A Learning Experience Design for Immersive Virtual Reality in Physics Classrooms

2020 6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), 2020

Immersive VR simulations are argued to support students' learning of complex scientific concepts due to the use of realistic graphics and interactions to represent scientific phenomena that students can hardly experience in everyday life. However, the integration of VR simulations in K-12 science classrooms introduces new challenges due to the lack of learning designs that can inform their effective deployment. As part of this study, we present a technology-integration scenario seeking to introduce an immersive VR simulation in physics lessons to support high-school students' understanding of Special Theory of Relativity. We evaluate the learning experience in terms of the learners' perceptions of technology integration and their conceptual learning gains. We conclude by reflecting on our findings about the enacted technology-integration scenario.

Developing a virtual physics world

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2012

We report on the successful implementation of a development cycle for a physics teaching package based on game-like virtual reality software. The cycle involved several iterations of evaluating students' use of the package followed by instructional and software development. The evaluation used a variety of techniques including ethnographic observation, surveys, student focus groups and conventional assessment. The teaching package included a laboratory manual, instructional support materials, and the Real Time Relativity software that simulates a world obeying special relativistic physics. Although the iterative development cycle was time consuming and costly, it provided substantial improvements in the software user interface and in the student's learning experience.

Teaching special relativity using virtual reality

Proceedings of the …

Learning Special Relativity is a highly anticipated experience for first year students; however, the teaching and learning of Special Relativity are difficult tasks. Special Relativity, while fundamentally and mathematically simple; has apparently bizarre implications and ...

Use of virtual environments to improve Physics learning: report from a case study

Students who are mostly visual-spatial learners (i.e., who prefer to understand the world through their eyes and to express their ideas through graphical arts) may dislike traditional Physics classes because of its overemphasis on lecturing, rote memorization, and drill and practice exercises. It is clear that these and other students should be involved in their learning more than simply listening to lectures or reading textbooks.

Physics Education in Virtual Reality: An Example

We present an immersive virtual reality (VR) application for physics education. It utilizes a recent physics engine developed for the PC gaming market to simulate physical experiments correctly and accurately. Students are enabled to actively build their own experiments and study them. A variety of tools are provided to analyze forces, mass, paths and other properties of objects before, during and after experiments. Innovative teaching content is presented that exploits the strengths of the 3D virtual environment. Physics Playground serves as an example of how current technologies can be combined to deliver a new quality in physics education.

Virtual Reality Experiments in Introductory Physics Laboratories

physics.ohio-state.edu

Physicists consider laboratories to be a vital part of any introductory course, yet The Ohio State University’s existing labs are not meeting their educational goals and students consistently rate them as having low value. This paper explores some of the reasons that standard introductory physics laboratories are not having the expected impact, and describes the implementation of Virtual Reality based experiments to improve upon lab effectiveness. Student response to these experiments and preliminary results regarding their impact on student learning will be discussed.

Virtual reality in introductory physics laboratories

2005

Abstract. Physicists consider laboratories to be a vital part of any introductory course, yet The Ohio State University's existing labs are not meeting their educational goals and students consistently rate them as having low value. This paper explores some of the reasons that standard introductory physics laboratories are not having the expected impact, and describes the implementation of Virtual Reality based experiments to improve upon lab effectiveness.