Multimedia-focused Kinematics Questions: An Innovative Approach to Teaching Kinematics

North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro NC

Investigators

Abstract

Physics (13) This project is developing Multimedia-focused kinematics questions, and studying their effect on student understanding. Multimedia-focused questions are questions where students must collect data from multimedia (animations in this case) to answer the question. Animations are being created using Physlets, which are physics Java applets, developed by Wolfgang Christian. Questions are delivered, and students' responses collected using a web-based homework system called WebAssign. The Physlet questions are based on known student difficulties in kinematics. Diagnostic instruments developed from research -- the TUG-K (Test of Understanding GraphsKinematics) and the proposed ATM (Animated Test of Motion) -- are being used to probe for the first time the effect of multimedia-focused questions on students' conceptual understanding of kinematics. The project is: (1) providing a model for the development of similar questions across the introductory physics curriculum if these questions are found to be effective, and (2) developing a set of kinematics questions, deliverable via the web, that anyone teaching physics can immediately use in their class. The questions are downloadable as HTML files from WebPhysics servers, available in the WebAssign question database, and available on the companion CD to an upcoming book Teaching with Physlets. DUE themes targeted by the project are diversity, teacher preparation, and integration of technology in education.