(243) INQUIRY-BASED PHYSICS EDUCATION AS STRATEGY IN LEARNING NEWTON?S LAWS

摘要

Studies of undergraduate science education show that student must be actively engaged in thelearning process for it to be effective. Passive lecturing (“teaching by telling”) is known to beinsufficient for developing critical thinking skills. Research also provided a mounting evidence of theimportance of social interaction in an active student-centered learning environment. For example,small-group collaborative active learning environment is known to be much more effective fordeveloping conceptual understanding in introductory physics than the traditional lecture setting. Forthese reasons, science education is gradually moving from this traditional method of lecturing to moreinteractive approaches. One such approach is Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) wherestudents work together in small groups and the instructor serves as a facilitator or “coach” instead of alecturer. IBSE is a student-centered active learning strategy focused on questioning to discovernatural laws, linking information into a meaningful context, developing critical thinking and promotingpositive attitudes towards science. It is associated with the idea “involve me and I understand”. In thispedagogical method the students are guided through investigations to “discover” concepts. Targetedconcepts are generally not told to the students in lectures before they have an opportunity toinvestigate (or at least think about) the idea.The application of IBSE principles to physics learning leads to the so-called Inquiry-Based Physics.Physical experiments play a key role in Inquiry-Based Physics because they are the basis for inquiry.The students are guided to form conclusions based on evidence they acquire from the experimentalproblems. By Inquiry-Based Physics it is possible introduce the laboratory component into theclassroom as a regular learning activity.In the present academic year we have implemented innovative units based on the Inquiry-BasedPhysics philosophy in the programme of Physics I for the grade of Mechanical Engineering in theUniversity of Malaga. We present in this communication the followed process and results obtained forthe unit Newton?s Laws. In our classroom, the students sit at tables (2 teams of 3 students each) forclassroom activity. In the academic activity, the students have to use automated video analysissoftware based on image recognition (Tracker) to measure the position as a function of time of aphysical system in order to resolve an experimental problem. Each group of 3 students have apersonal computer. An ultra-high-speed digital movie of an experiment is used as working material toresolve the experimental problem. The instructor circulates to keep students on track, answerquestions and promote useful discussions. In this way, a dynamic collective learning environment iscreated which fully engages students. Students were very involved in the learning experience andtheir satisfaction was very high (4.7 out 5).