Unpacking students' conceptualizations through haptic feedback

Abstract

While it is clear that the use of computer simulations has a beneficial effect on learning when compared to instruction without computer simulations, there is still room for improvement to fully realize their benefits for learning. Haptic technologies can fulfill the educational potential of computer simulations by adding the sense of touch. Visuohaptic simulations may not only help students visualize these concepts, but they may also have the capability of enriching the learning experience and enhancing retention. To provide additional insights about how students conceptualize abstract and difficult concepts in science, this study proposes a sequencing approach. The research questions are: (1) what are undergraduate students' ways of conceptualizing electric fields through haptic feedback? And (2) what are undergraduate students' perceptions of using visuohaptic simulations for their learning of electric force concepts? Participants included nine undergraduate students who participated in a think aloud procedure. Data were analysed qualitatively using open coding followed by axial coding. The results suggest that students' conceptualized electric force concepts through embodied haptic experiences by inferring force–distance relationship, sign inference, shape of field and indirectly inferring the concept of electric potential. Students also perceived the value of using visual plus haptic simulations to help them understand and retain concepts.

Visuohaptic experiments: Exploring the effects of visual and haptic feedback on students’ learning of friction concepts

“…However, after engaging with embodied experiences via sequenced VH interactions (combination of touch sensor and visual cues), they increased the percentage of correct and complete statements. These results show similarities with previous studies conducted by Jones et al Magana and Balachandran , Magana et al , Hallman et al , and Reiner .…”

“…Previous literature which studied students’ learning with embodied learning experiences demonstrated a positive effect on conceptual learning . Even though the argument about adding haptic feedback to visual manipulation is not better than having visual manipulation alone , the results from previous studies conducted by our research team showed that haptic feedback has great potential to improve student learning of force‐related concepts .…”

“…Embodied learning experiences should be designed with scaffolding appropriate to the learner's developmental stage and the complexity of the learning task . This principle was embedded in our study in the form of a sequenced approach , where one form of sensory modality was provided first, and then, once students completed an initial task, a second sensory modality was provided as an addition. The first sequenced approach is the visual enhanced to visual enhanced and haptic feedback.…”

“…VH simulations are considered to be multimodal applications that enable users to interact with a virtual object via haptic feedback with real-life responses [27]. Due to its multiple sense affordances, VH simulation has been used in a variety of fields from medical training [19,21,27,44,51] to entertainment [20,40] and education [34,46,47,49,55,60].…”

“…[39,95,97]. In this study, we took a different perspective as proposed by Magana et al [46,47,49], and sequenced the visual and haptic modalities but sequenced them in different orders.…”