PHoTOnICs: PHysics with Tablets Outside and Inside Classrooms

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

The aim of the PHoTOnICs project, led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, is two-fold: First, the researchers will design technology-based learning activities that seize on emerging digital devices as resources for extending best practices in physics instruction. Second, they will conduct research into the nature of student learning and collaborative interaction supported by those curricular designs and technologies, particularly tablet and mobile PCs of the kind that are quickly becoming widespread on college campuses and in many K-12 school settings. The research will take place in an introductory series of college physics courses at UC Davis and in the West Sacramento Early College Prep Charter School, a diverse, urban school that has a focus on bridging formal and informal learning experiences by utilizing mobile technology. As part of this project, the investigators will develop assessments of student learning of specific physics content as well as their developing reasoning and problem solving abilities in physics. The project will capitalize on digital technologies and their prominence in many students' informal activity by integrating them into designs for learning activities in formal science education settings. Mobile devices offer distinctive potential for bridging informal and formal learning environments because of their ready portability across settings and their utility in supporting a broad range of activities. A central focus of the proposed project will be to develop and study the use of technology in education by supporting student collaboration both inside and outside the classroom.