No abstract

The applications of digital video image to the investigation of physical phenomena have increased enormously in recent years. The advances in computer technology and image recognition techniques allow the analysis of more complex problems. In this work we study the movement of a damped coupled oscillation system. The motion is considered as a linear combination of the two normal modes, i.e., the symmetric and antisymmetric modes. The image of the experiment is recorded with a video camera and analyzed by means of software developed in our laboratory. The results show a very good agreement with the theory.

Graphical abstractHighlights:• Lab results for Flip and Traditional Methodologies are analysed and compared.• Flip Teaching in the lab sessions improves students' academic performance.• Since students spend more time thinking, they write better lab reports.• Definition of the "analogous students" enables a more detailed statistical study. José A. Gómez-Tejedor et al., Computers AbstractThe progressive introduction of the flip teaching (FT) instructional model into higher education has accelerated in recent years. The FT methodology seems to be especially suitable for laboratory practice sessions: before the lab session the students are given documents and videos that explain the theoretical contents and the experimental procedure. When this material is studied in advance, the practice session can be devoted to the discussion, clarification and practical application of the acquired knowledge. This paper describes the effect of the FT methodology on the students' academic performance when it was applied to the laboratory practice in two subjects, Physics and Electricity, of a technical degree. The laboratory and final grades of these subjects were compared in four consecutive years. The characteristics of all four years were quite similar, except that the traditional teaching method (TM) was used in two, while FT was applied in the other two. The statistical analysis shows that the academic results of the students were better in both subjects under FT than those obtained using TM, and that the difference was statistically significant.

Multimedia technologies and video analysis allow the design of low-cost physical measurement and data acquisition systems. The number of pixels in the images limits their spatial resolution, whereas their time resolution depends on the number of frames recorded per second. Both characteristics are determined by the video recording system used. We have developed a laboratory system with these characteristics where important improvements have been reached by using image recognition to automate video analysis. In the present work we first examine several image recognition techniques and evaluate them from the point of view of their application to measurement systems. Then we describe the proposed system and the methodology followed in the measurement process. An image of an experimental object is recorded and used as a filter, while the sequence of images of that object in motion become the input frames for the recognition process. Finally, we discuss the results obtained by this measurement process and compare them with those obtained by using traditional measurement techniques.

In our experience of teaching physics for engineering at university level we have learned that the mathematical relationships between the parameters that control a process are important, but not sufficient, to understand a process. Such knowledge will only be consolidated if the new concept is incorporated by student in his field of study. Simulation programs, especially through visualization, can help to attain this target. We have developed three programs using Visual Basic. One of them is devoted to fitting experimental data and is complementary to experimental work; the others focus on dynamics, translation, and rotational movement, helping to understand the Newton's laws. ß