First ‘Experiment‘ or
First ‘Theory’ in teaching
physics phenomena?
Marcel Dirkx
Wico Campus Salvator Hamont
Belgium
Preliminary information
PLC-Wico: 5 physics teachers from the school community WICO (B).
Inspired by Wim Peeters.
Marcel
Carine Greet
Valerie
Tom
5 teachers / 3 inquiries
• Valerie Vandenberk➢ RQ: How can the use of smartphone and specific apps make the
laboratory work more interesting for the students ?
• Carine Cools➢ RQ: When I give my students suggestion for (better) studying
physics, are these suggestion always effective?
• Marcel Dirkx➢ RQ: First ‘Experiment‘ or first ‘Theory’ in studying physical
phenomena?
Valerie Vandenberk
“How can the use of smartphone and specific apps make the laboratory
work more interesting for the students ?”
Positive:
❖ More intrinsic motivation, less external motivation;
❖ Students are more motivated.
Negative
❖ More distraction( facebook etc.);
5
Surprise
❖ No increase of study results;
❖ No increase of interest in the physics subjects.
Valerie (2)
6
Article: iMobile Physics: A Research and Development Project for Teaching and Learning
with Smartphones and Tablet PCs as Mobile Experimental Tools, By Pascal Klein, Jochen Kuhn, Andreas Müller
“When I give my students suggestion for (better) studying physics, are
these suggestion always effective? “After a test the teacher gave some study tips.
Carine Cools
7
2
24
8
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Not Less Much
Have you used the study tips of the teacher
The teacher organised a classical reading of an article abouth study
methods.
Carine (2)
8
Article : Eos, september 2013
https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/psyche-brein/studiemethoden-welke-werken-en-welke-niet
8
18
9
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Not Less Much
Study method changed after reading article
Conclusion
❖ Study tips from the teacher have less influence on the study
methods.
❖ A reflection on the study method (in combination with the article)
gave the student more insight.
❖ Study tips at the request of the student improve the study results.
Carine (3)
9
‘Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it. 'Agatha Christie
Marcel
• School: WICO campus Salvator Hamont
• Teacher: Marcel Dirkx
• Course: physics (3 lessons a week)
• Class: 6 Science and mathematic
• 8 students (5 F en 3 M), age 18 year
10
10
First ‘Experiment‘ or first ‘Theory’ in studying physics
phenomena?
Practitioner inquiry
11
1 Research project friction
12
a. Theory about friction between two surfaces: (Fw = µ . Fn )
b. Exercises and exams;
c. Practical investigation of friction between two surfaces;
d. Discussion in the class about the results.
Inquiry 1: Which step in this research project gave you
the best insight in the phenomenon of friction
1 Research project friction
13
Theory ExperimentLearning
conversation
most 1 most 1 most 6
… 0 … 5 … 2
least 6 least 1 least 0
Inquiry 2: Witch sequence is, according to you, the best
approach to investigate physics phenomena?
1 Research project friction
14
a theory experiment learning conversation 2
b experiment theory learning conversation 1
c learning
conversationexperiment theory 0
dtheory
learning
conversationexperiment 1
eexperiment
learning
conversationtheory 3
f learning
conversationtheory experiment 1
First Conclusion➢ Students prefer to do the experiment before the theory.
Surprise➢ The learning discussion is a crucial link between the experiment
and the theory.
1 Research project friction
15
1 Research project friction
16
theory
Learning discussion
experiment
2 Research project pendulum
17
a. General theory on harmonic
oscillations;
b. Nothing about the pendulum (which is
an example);
c. Research project of the pendulum.
2 Research project pendulum
18
Pre-investigation of the knowledge of the pendulum (formula)
Question 1: When a pendulum of length 1 m has a period T, what is theperiod of a pendulum of length 2 m?
0 2.T (1)
0 T (6)
0 T/2 (1)
0 (Fill in) …… (0)
None of the students knew the right answer.
2 Research project pendulum
19
Question 2: When a pendulum with mass 1 kg has a period T, what is theperiod of a pendulum with mass 2 kg?
0 2.T (4)
0 T (0)
0 T/2 (4)
0 (Fill in) ……
None of the students knew the right answer.
2 Research project pendulum
20
experiment discussion theory
2 Research project pendulum
21
The knowledge of the pendulum was tested
during the exams with the same questions.
➢ 7 out of 8 student gave the exact answer on
the two questions .
➢ 6 out of 8 students got the right answer on an
exercise on the pendulum (formula)
Conclusion
The sequence [experiment] > [learning discussion] > [theory] gives
significantly better results in understanding physics phenomena and
using these insights into applications.
2 Research project pendulum
22
literature
23
‘Inquiry-based learning
stimulated’ By Jetje De Groof, Vincent
Donche and Peter Van
Petegem
(Practice-oriented literature studies of educational research)
Commissioned by the Minister of Education