Hands-On Experiments in the Interactive Physics Laboratory: Students’ Intrinsic Motivation and Understanding

Abstract

Experiments in different forms can certainly be suitable tools for increasing student interest in physics. However, educators continuously discuss which forms of experimenting (if any) are the most beneficial for these purposes. At the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, two different forms of physics experiments are offered to upper secondary students: hands-on experimental work in the InteractivePhysics Laboratory, and physics demonstration shows where the students watch experiments conducted by a lecturer. Our research focuses primarily on student feedback about their immediate attitudes towards these two projects. Data collection was undertaken using questionnaire research based on the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. This research was subsequently supplemented with a qualitative study examining the influenceof students’ experimental work in the Interactive Physics Laboratory on their understanding of selected physics concepts. The results of the main research show that the two projects do not exhibit significant differencesin terms of student interest and perceived usefulness; nevertheless, students felt the need for significantly more effort and experienced pressure during their work in the Interactive Physics Laboratory. One interestingfinding, which goes against our original hypothesis, is that grades in physics are quite a strong predictor of students’ assessment of the projects: better grades indicate more positive assessment of both projects as well as less pressure felt during hands-on activities in the laboratory.

Physics Teaching in Croatian Elementary and High Schools during the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Although students adapted to remote teaching methods with varying degrees of difficulty (Azlan et al, 2020), the synchronous part of teaching is ultimately more beneficial to students (Guo, 2020), and the face-to-face method is preferred even if ICT is integrated (Azlan et al, 2020, Sindiani, 2020. Furthermore, in the case of physics teaching as an experimental subject (Klein, et al, 2021), discussing problems and designing one's own experiments and/or conducting experiments (collecting one's own data) individually or in groups should be used to the same extent as demonstration experiments in order to increase students' interest and the perceived usefulness (Kireš, 2018;Repnik & Ambrožič, 2018;Snětinová et al, 2018). However, frequently used experiments are often "cookbook-type experiments" that are focused on content knowledge instead of focusing on the learning process, mainly due to the organisational aspect (Haagen-Schützenhöfer & Joham, 2018).…”

Pre-university physics teaching during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Croatian and Slovenian schools

“…Croatian and Slovenian teachers are confident that they taught physics during a pandemic in the same level of detail as in the regular classes, as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. Commonly used experiments are demonstration experiments and so called "cook-book" style experiments which are focused on content knowledge, mainly because of the organizational aspect, rather than focusing on the learning process [8,11]. But during the pandemic more than half of the teachers in both countries reported that they conducted no experiments or only rarely (Figure 5).…”

“…Moreover, it should be used to the same extent as demonstrational experiments. Both have the aim of increasing students' motivation [8]. However, carrying out experiments is often very difficult during online teaching [9].…”

The Collaborative Wall: A Technological Means to Improving the Teaching-Learning Process about Physics

“…In the field of physics, teachers have updated the school activities through the computer (Roldán-Segura et al, 2018), mobile devices (Di-Laccio et al, 2017), films (Quirantes-Sierra et al, 2011), digital games (Lion & Perosi, 2019), digital tools (Bravo et al, 2019) and videos (Vera et al, 2015). At Charles University in the Czech Republic, the use of the Interactive Physics Laboratory facilitated the active role of the students, collaborative work and assimilation of knowledge about electrostatics, motion under gravity, the magnetic field of solenoids, optics, oscillations and rigid body mechanics, rotating frames of reference, and thermodynamics (Snětinová et al, 2018). In the same way, the physics course students repaired a thermometer to facilitate the learning process about the principles of Galileo (Kireš, 2018).…”