Learning Physics in a Virtual Environment: Is There Any?

dc.creator	Gerald W. Meisner
dc.creator	Harol Hoffman
dc.creator	Mike Turner
dc.date	2008-05-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:32:56Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:32:56Z
dc.identifier	1870-9095
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/abd20452454b4e8dad2a47ec122539e7
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/22599
dc.description	With nearly one in five college students taking at least one course online, with nearly every major college anduniversity offering courses and/or programs online and with a growing number of citizens in the work place wantingand needing education in ways which fit their work and personal schedules, e-learning is becoming more importantand ubiquitous each year. The supply (courses) is there in many disciplines; the demand (students and non-students) isthere. The unanswered question is: How good is the product? Is learning taking place? How do we measure thelearning effectiveness of online courses? Are some courses more amenable than others to e-learning? In particular, is itpossible to effectively teach pedagogically sound science courses online? There is little research on many of thesequestions. Of interest to legislators is another important question: Is online learning cost effective? There is a paucityof data here as well, although some argue that it is possible to have e-learning which is cost effective at the margin [1,38] provided that an instructional design model is used wherein there is no one ‘at the end of the phone’ – a modelvery different from that currently used in the online community. We have collected data from student use of a highlyinteractive, virtual physics laboratory that answers some of these questions. Data are from an introductory, algebrabasedintroductory physics course taken mostly by pre-professionals in health fields during the 2005-2006 academicyear. Pre- and post- FCI tests were administered in the fall semester when students studied mechanics. Results showthat a cadre of students taking ‘classwork’ in a virtual, highly interactive physics laboratory environment havenormalized <g> gains [4] on the FCI test [12] which is greater than that of a similar cadre of students in a (physical)modified Modeling Workshop [8] laboratory environment and considerably larger than those in a lecture environment[4].
dc.language	English
dc.language	Spanish
dc.language	Portuguese
dc.publisher	Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Latin American Physics Education Network
dc.relation	http://journal.lapen.org.mx/may08/LAJPE%20163F%20Meisner.pdf
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1870-9095
dc.source	Latin-American Journal of Physics Education, Vol 2, Iss 2, Pp 87-102 (2008)
dc.subject	Physics Education
dc.subject	Physics simulation
dc.subject	Virtual Physics Laboratory
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Special aspects of education
dc.subject	LC8-6691
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Learning Physics in a Virtual Environment: Is There Any?
dc.type	article