STUDENT-CREATED VISUAL SIMULATIONS IN PHYSICS
Madelen Bodin
Department of Physics, Umeå University.
e.mail: madelen.bodin@physics.umu.se
Supervisor: Sune Pettersson, Sylvia Benckert.
The aim of the work is to investigate how computers can be used as a cognitive tool
in a problem solving situation in university physics by letting the students create
their own simulations and 3D-visualisations of real-time physical situations. The
research questions concerns what the students actually are learning and how. Do
they get a deeper conceptual understanding or do they just become even more
skilled in manipulating equations and computer code? What is the importance of the
prior knowledge of the students when it comes to programming or physics? Does this
approach of active learning help to develop the chains of association in physics
problem solving? How do they learn to control the knowledge they have acquired?
The main part of being an expert in physics is the ability to solve problems. This
ability means to be able to model physical systems by combining physics concepts
with tools such as mathematics. The main difference between an expert and a novice
in problem-solving is how the problem is modelled. Where the expert sees a pattern
of concepts and tools the novice is only able to see isolated concepts and equations.
By focusing physics education on modelling physical systems rather than
emphasizing on learning isolated concepts the student approaches the field of
physics in a way that has similarity with how professional physicists work.
A minor pilot study has been done with a few students in order to test a design for
studies on future courses. The pilot focuses on a course in classical mechanics where
the students solve problems by creating simulations in for example Matlab. The
design involves the students to take the Force Concept Inventory-test as pre-test
and post-test in order to map the conceptual knowledge in physics. Students are
then interviewed about their solutions. Special emphasis is put on how they troubleshoot their computer programs in order to find out if their approach is based on
physics or computer programming. The interviews are complemented with a
statement-test with responses on a Likert-scale ranking from “strongly agree” to
“strongly disagree”. The design of the study turned out to be relevant concerning the
suggested research questions above. More emphasis need to be put on finding out
how the students think and learn physics when making the simulations. This could be
done by developing exercises which encourage the student to use and reflect on their
own solutions for simulations.
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