This research investigated the impact of several structured inquiry experiments in mechanics and heat on introductory college physics students' ability to solve or make sense of problem scenarios. The students performed experiments where they were guided in discovering for themselves the physical concepts or principles rather than having them verify concepts/principles as in traditional lab classes. At the end of each laboratory activity, students were asked to answer problem scenarios with solutions or answers requiring a direct application of the physical concepts investigated in the laboratory experiment. Our preliminary results indicate that students are able to use the concepts learned from the laboratory activity in explaining problem scenarios only in some topics (e.g. thermal expansion) but not in other topics (e.g. momentum conservation).
We have been implementing a web-based interaction system in which students use personal digital assistants (PDAs) to interact with their instructor in their physics/physical science lecture classes. In this paper, we discuss the instructors' implementation strategies, pedagogical approaches, and perceived effectiveness of the interactive teaching approach on students' progress, engagement, and achievement. In addition, we will document the impact of the interactive teaching approach on instructors' pedagogical orientation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.