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J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160

DOI 10.1007/s10956-016-9661-1

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Physlet-Based Materials


in Supporting Conceptual Learning About Electricity
Simon len 1 & Ivan Gerli 1 & Mitja Slavinec 1 & Robert Repnik 1

Published online: 19 November 2016


# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Abstract To provide a good understanding of many abstract Keywords Physics teaching . Conceptual learning about
concepts in the field of electricity above that of their students electricity . Physlets . Physlet-based materials
is often a major challenge for secondary school teachers.
Many educational researchers promote conceptual learning
as a teaching approach that can help teachers to achieve this
goal. In this paper, we present Physlet-based materials for Introduction
supporting conceptual learning about electricity. To conduct
research into the effectiveness of these materials, we designed Educational theory defines conceptual learning as a method in
two different physics courses: one group of students, the ex- which students master the ability to build networks of con-
perimental group, was taught using Physlet-based materials cepts (Cheng 1999). In recent decades, educational theorists
and the second group of students, the control group, was have identified conceptual learning as an important approach
taught using expository instruction without using Physlets. in education (Treagust and Duit 2003). According to Cheng
After completion of the teaching, we assessed students think- (1999), four main processes can be identified during effective
ing skills and analysed the materials with an independent t conceptual learning: observation, modelling, acquisition and
test, multiple regression analyses and one-way analysis of integration.
covariance. The test scores were significantly higher in the Observation identifies expressions that are descriptive of
experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05). The phenomena. The process of modelling subsumes observation
results of this study confirmed the effectiveness of conceptual and acts to generate new expressions of particular phenomena
learning about electricity with the help of Physlet-based with selected concepts. This component involves two sub-
materials. processesto modify and to express. Students have to modify
an expression to obtain a new expression and they have to
express a concept in an external representation. The process
of acquisition subsumes modelling and involves the most ba-
sic step of conceptual learninga mental construction of a
* Simon len
simon.ulen@gfml.si
new concept. It includes three sub-processes: (1) to interpret
an expression as a concept, (2) to revise an expression for a
Ivan Gerli concept or (3) to retrieve a concept of either sort from the
ivan.gerlic@guest.um.si network of existing concepts. Finally, integration involves
Mitja Slavinec adding a new concept to the network of existing concepts or
Mitja.Slavinec@um.si modifying the structure of this network. As can be seen, in-
Robert Repnik
volving so many components and processes in conceptual
Robert.Repnik@um.si learning is very complex. Consequently, a conceptual learning
environment needs to implement an effective instructional
1
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, strategy with which learners can comprehend new concepts
Koroka cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia (Chen et al. 2013). It is a major challenge to construct such
152 J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160

learning environment to induce effective conceptual learning empirical evidence for the effectiveness of Physlet-based
in specific domains. learning materials in supporting conceptual learning about
This issue has captured the attention of many researchers electricity; and (4) evaluates the use of Physlet-based mate-
(Koedinger and Anderson 1990; Cheng 1999; ChanLin 2000; rials in supporting conceptual learning.
Roussou et al. 2006; Casperson and Linn 2006; Churchill
2011; Yen et al. 2011; len et al. 2014). Many of these studies
have focused on interactive learning environments by using
Physlet-Based Materials
information and communication technology (ICT). Roussou
et al. (2006) studied virtual learning environments, in parti-
Physlets
cular their potential and their limitations for learning. They
compared an immersive virtual environment (VE) to non-
Physlets have been described in detail in the literature
interactive or non-immersive environments. Although the ful-
(Christian and Belloni 2004; Krusberg 2007) and on the
ly interactive VE did not provide the strong evidence of con-
World Wide Web (Christian and Novak 2005a; Christian
ceptual change that they expected, they found that a passive
and Novak 2005b). In this section, we cover some brief spec-
virtual reality (VR) environment supported student recall and
ifications about them.
reflection and led to indications of conceptual change.
Physlets (Christian and Belloni 2004) are small, physical
Churchill (2011) presented a conceptual model as an interac-
applets and with JavaScript; it is easy for a teacher to adapt
tive and visual representation designed to depict a concept or a
them to specific teaching situations. Because of their special
number of connected concepts. He proposed recommenda-
characteristics, they have significant educational value.
tions for the design of such a model for small screens and
Developed using basic graphics, each Physlet usually includes
presented them as an effective tool to support conceptual
just one physical phenomenon without data analysis, so they
learning. He developed three sets of recommendations for
are quite simple. Students can change parameters when
such a model: presentation, small screens and learning uses.
researching different physical phenomena and see the effects
In some other studies, authors have revealed that a conceptual
in real time. Authors divide Physlets into three main catego-
learning environment using computer simulations helps facil-
ries (Christian and Belloni 2004). Illustrations are Physlets
itate the learning of abstract concepts (Hsu and Thomas 2002;
which provide an initial presentation of the problem; they
Dori et al. 2003; Papaevripidou et al. 2005; Podolefsky et al.
can be used to introduce new physical concepts or analytical
2010; Chen et al. 2011). In general, educational researchers
tools, either in the form of homework assignments or in class-
have found that a key to successful conceptual learning is
room demonstrations. Figure 1 is an example of an illustration
effective representation.
Physlet.
Following this line of study, the goal of our research was to
Explorations are Physlets which allow students to further
construct a learning environment that satisfies this condition
explore the physical phenomena. They can serve as tutorials,
in the field of conceptual learning about electricity. To design
guiding students interactions with the applet and providing
learning materials, we used Physlets, having had positive re-
suggestions concerning conceptual and procedural problems.
sults with them in our previous research, in which we evalu-
An example of such a Physlet is presented in Fig. 2.
ated the effectiveness of Physlet-based materials in the field of
Problems are Physlets that can be used for the examination
magnetism (len et al. 2014). Additionally, the motivation for
of students understanding of knowledge that they have re-
researching the positive effect of using Physlets was some
ceived. Unlike explorations, problems provide students with
previous studies in which the authors emphasized their use-
fulness. For example, Bonham et al. (1999) presented exam-
ples of Physlets in teaching electrostatics and emphasized that
Physlets can be a great help in visualizing abstract concepts in
electrostatics. Furthermore, Krusberg (2007) noted that
Physlets were designed to deepen students conceptual under-
standing of physics. Cox et al. (2011) also investigated stu-
dents understanding of physics concepts in a specific way,
using intentionally incorrect Physlets.
This report (1) presents the structure of Physlet-based
learning materials for learning about electricity following the
theoretical framework of the theory of conceptual learning; (2)
assesses students thinking skills before and after participating
in different learning environments, specifically, Physlet-based
conceptual learning versus expository instruction; (3) presents Fig. 1 Physlet simulating an inclined throw
J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160 153

should incorporate (Cheng 1999): observing, modelling,


acquisition and integration. Our research group designed four
to six materials for each lesson with B<Nvu>^, the free web
authoring software (http://net2.com/nvu/), and altogether 19
Physlet-based materials. To see the structure of our material,
the first sample is presented in Fig. 4. It consists of three main
parts, which are described below.

& Observing the phenomenon (1). This part introduces the


concept of electric fields; students can change the position
of the tests charged particle and observe the magnitude of
the electric force that influences it. The core idea was that
students become aware that a particular space surrounds a
charged particle and they become curious about it.
& Modelling a concept of electric fields with Physlets (2).
Animation enables visualization with vectors of an electric
field that surrounds a charged particle.
& Mentally constructing a new concept (acquisition) with
Fig. 2 Physlet simulating dependence of electric force between two
charges on their separation representation (3). The electric field is presented with
Belectric lines of force^.

little guidance or scaffolding. In the Physlet in Fig. 3, there is a As seen in Fig. 4, the fourth process, the integration of a
charged particle that is starting to circle in the area on the right. new concept into a network of existing concepts, is not incor-
There are various tasks for examining students understanding porated in this material. The concept of the electric field of a
of this phenomenon, for example, why it is starting circling, positive charge is actually the first concept in this network; the
why it is moving down and not up or why it does not circle in integration takes part in continuation when students are deal-
left area and so on. ing with the concept of the electric field of a negative charge,
the concept of the electric field of two positive charges, etc.
Designing of Physlet-Based Materials

The theoretical frameworks of designing Physlet-based mate-


rials include four processes that effective conceptual learning Experimental

The main objective of this study was to examine the effective-


ness of Physlet-based materials in supporting conceptual
learning, in the field of electricity. We compared two different
learning approaches (Physlet-based conceptual learning
versus expository instruction) by teaching selected topics in
the field of electricity. The key question of our investigation
was the following: can Physlet-based materials effectively
support conceptual learning and contribute to a better under-
standing of physics concepts in the field of electricity?

Conceptual Learning Versus Expository Instruction

Expository instruction constitutes the traditional framework of


physics learning with assumption that the teacher is the Bfoun-
tain of all knowledge^ and the knowledge is transferable by an
authority (Lee et al. 2008). In this research, by expository
Fig. 3 Physlet simulating a charged particle moving through the electric instruction a typical lesson consisted of the following two
field and start circling in the magnetic field main components:
154 J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160

Fig. 4 An example of Physlet-based material for introducing the concept of electric field

& Verbal explanation the learning material to students, who & Checking the pre-knowledge of students about the select-
were more or less passive listeners. ed phenomenondiscussion with the students; for exam-
& Solving tasks from a textbook on the blackboard; usually, ple, before starting the lesson about electric forces, stu-
the teacher did this. dents discussed the electric charge and natural phenomena
which are connected with static electricity, such as
In this experiment, when using conceptual learning, lightning.
the teacher had quite a different role than in expository & Motivating students by exposing them to a physical exam-
instruction. S/he organized the whole learning process, ple of the particular topic; usually, this involved showing
but students had to work during the lesson on their them an interesting demonstration or experiment, then
own. They were required to work in pairs, to research asking questions about the phenomenon to which at that
the phenomenon with the use of Physlet-based mate- point they did not have an answer.
rials. Each lesson consisted of the following main & Researching the physics phenomenon or law that was pre-
components: sented is the main part of the lesson; students worked in
J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160 155

pairs at computers, using Physlet-based material as pre- learning environments (Physlet-based conceptual learning
sented in Fig. 4 above. and expository instruction). Given the results, we could eval-
& Examining the understanding of the phenomenon or law uate the effectiveness of Physlet-based material as presented in
and concepts that students learned about in new problem- this study. Students thinking skills were assessed before the
based situations. At the end of every lesson, the depth of lessons, in the pre-test and after the lessons in the post-test. The
understanding is assessed, usually with questions on growth of students thinking skills was monitored with reason-
Physlet-based materials. ing strategies (Phye 1997). The most commonly identified
fundamental cognitive strategies are analysis, comparison,
Subjects inference and evaluation, where all reasoning components
are examples of higher-order thinking skills (Phye 1997):
The research was carried out in the 4-year high school. The
experiment involved third-year students, aged 17, from four & Analysis involves dividing a whole into its distinctive
classes, giving a research sample of 80 participants. Forty elements and understanding the relationship of the parts
students from two randomly selected classes constituted the to the whole. Reasoning analysis requires students to think
experimental group (EG) and 40 students from other two clas- about new problems and situations that have not been
ses the control group (CG). totally presented through the lessons. In science education,
we often use graphical presentations for analysis of a phe-
nomenon, law or process.
Experimental Design & Comparison involves identifying similarities and differ-
ences of some characteristics of the phenomenon; this also
The course consisted of six class lessons, which were part of involves understanding their overall significance.
regular lesson plan in the academic year. The first and the last & Inference involves the use of various forms of inductive
lesson were reserved for assessment of the students knowl- and deductive reasoning. Reasoning inference claims
edge. Lessons 25 were four experimental lessons carried out from students that they are able to explain theirs conclu-
via the two different teaching approaches: the experimental sion. In science education, we often demand from students
group was taught through Physlet-based conceptual learning that they be able to make hypotheses and argue their
and the control group through expository instruction. An conclusions.
equal amount of time for each lesson for each group of stu- & Evaluation involves making judgments about what to be-
dents was assured. The research has covered the following lieve, given explicit criteria and supporting evidence.
topics in the field of electricity: electric field, Coulombs law, Students have to be able to evaluate some ideas, argu-
force on the charge in the plane and electric fluid. Figure 5 ments and experimental solutions. Evaluation involves
presents a diagram of the course. other reasoning strategies, because students judgments
or decisions are based on analysis, comparison and inter-
Data Collection pretation of evidence.

In teaching physics during the course, students also acquire In this study, we also included recall (knowledge), where
adequate thinking skills (Sadaghiani 2010). Following this as- students were required to recall information provided in the
sumption, we assessed thinking skills of students in both material studied. This included material such as definition,
rules and proceedings; at this level, understanding was not
necessary (see Fig. 6). Altogether, five thinking skills of stu-
dents were assessed: knowledge (recall), analysis,
comparison, inference and evaluation. To see the structure
of the test, two sample items are presented below.
Both pre-test and post-test consisted of 12 multiple choice
items, each with four alternative statements or answers. This
study was a part of a regular physics course, where students

Fig. 5 Diagram of the course Fig. 6 An example of item at the level of knowledge
156 J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160

Table 2 Difficulty index


(p) of post-test Thinking skill p (%)

Knowledge 41
Analysis 65
Comparison 84
Inference 31
Evaluation 34
Mean 55
Fig. 7 An example of item at the level of analysis

have approximately 3545 min to solve Bordinary^ tests. difficulty indexes for both tests. Values for these tests are
When designing items, this time limitation was considered presented in Tables 1 and 2.
and we decided that 12 is an optimum number. The project Although there are further suggestions for an acceptable
team consisted of five experienced educational researchers difficulty index in the educational literature, it is widely ac-
from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, cepted that hard items have difficulties less than 30% and easy
Maribor, and the Faculty of Education from the University items above 80%; consequently, the acceptable difficulty in-
of Maribor collaborating in designing tests. Tests included dex that ensures that the items in the tests can discriminate
four items for examining knowledge and two items for each between students with higher test scores and those with lower
of the other four thinking skills (analysis, comparison, test scores is placed in the 3080% ranges (Mitra et al. 2009).
inference and evaluation). An example of an item at the level In the present study, the mean difficulty index of pre-test was
of analysis is presented in Fig. 7. 55% (see Table 1). According to Sim and Rasiah (2006), who
In order to test whether the Physlet-based learning environ- found that maximum discrimination occurred at a difficulty
ment has positive effects on growth of students thinking skills index between 40 and 74%, the pre-test had an excellent dis-
under Breal conditions^, the experiment was not carried out crimination. Difficulty indexes at each thinking skill, except
within an extra pilot study under specific conditions but as a by evaluation, were also within an acceptable range (30
part of a regular physics course in a Slovenian secondary 80%). As seen in Table 2, the mean difficulty index of the
school. Therefore, we were forced to design tests with the post-test was 55% and that means the post-test also had excel-
Slovenian curriculum of physics for secondary school lent discrimination. In addition, difficulty indexes of each
(Planini et al. 2008) in consideration. For this reason, a thinking skill, except comparison, were within the acceptable
major concern of the project team was the reliability of the range 3080%. It could be concluded that pre-test and post-
tests. It was important to design test items which were able to test had acceptable difficulty indexes and that the reliability of
reflect students performance in the course related to learning both tests was also confirmed.
and, consequently, were able to reveal differences in students
learning outcomes resulting from different learning environ-
ments. We tested the reliability of both tests with two widely
accepted instrumentsCronbachs coefficient () (Cronbach Results
1951) and the difficulty index (Mitra et al. 2009). First, we
calculated the Cronbachs coefficient (). The Cronbachs co- Analysis of Participating Students
efficient () reliability of the pre-test was found to be 0.70,
and Cronbachs coefficient of the post-test was found to be In Table 3, we present the number and the structural percent-
0.75, resulting in both tests being within the acceptable guide- age of participants in the experimental and the control groups.
lines for reliability (between 0.70 and 0.80). Next, we calcu-
lated difficulty index scores for each thinking skill and mean Table 3 The number and the structural percentage of participating
students in the experiment
Table 1 Difficulty index
Thinking skill p (%) Sex Group Total
(p) of pre-test

Knowledge 68 Experimental group (EG) Control group (CG)


Analysis 41
F F (%) F F (%) F F (%)
Comparison 80
Inference 63 Male 18 45.0 21 52.5 39 48.8
Evaluation 23 Female 22 55.0 19 47.5 41 51.3
Mean 55 Total 40 100.0 40 100.0 80 100.0
J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160 157

Table 4 Results of the t test of


the differences between the two Group Mean Standard deviation Test of homogeneity t test (independent samples)
groups before the experiment of variances

M SD F p t Sig. (two tailed) (p)

Experimental group 6.75 2.295 2.225 0.140 0.439 0.662


Control group 6.95 1.739

According to the sex of participating students, there were As seen from Table 5, the hypothesis regarding the homo-
no statistically significant differences between the students geneity of variance was justified at each thinking skill
from the experimental group and those from the control group, (p > 0.05). Consequently, no statistical differences between
(2 = 0,450, p = 0,502) (in EG 55% females and 45% males, the experimental and control groups at a particular thinking
in CG 47.5% females and 52.5% males). skill was identified before the experiment.

Pre-Test Results
Post-Test Results
A one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to
At first, we analysed the total scores; Table 6 lists the statistical
verify the different learning outcomes of the experimental and
results pertaining to the post-test scores for the experimental
control groups. The standard t test was used to analyse the
and control groups.
differences between the experimental and control groups prior
The hypotheses regarding the homogeneity of variance
to the experiment. Table 4 provides the statistical results for
(F = 0.968, p = 0.328) and homogeneity of coefficient
the total pre-test scores.
(F = 0.005, p = 0.945) were confirmed. The results of the
The hypothesis regarding the homogeneity of variance was
test for the differences of means (the general F test) revealed
justified (p = 0.140, p > 0.05), and so the use of the standard t
that the post-test scores were significantly higher in the
test was also justified. The results showed no statistical differ-
experimental group than in the control group (F = 18.489,
ences between the experimental and control groups, before the
p = 0.000).
experiment.

Analysis of the Pre-Test Results for Each Thinking Skill Analysis of the Post-Test Results for Each Thinking Skill
of Students of Students

The standard t test was used to analyse the differences be- After examining the total post-test scores, we analysed the
tween the two groups for each thinking skill. Table 5 provides post-test scores of students at each thinking skill. Table 7 pro-
the statistical results of the pre-test scores. vides the statistical results of the post-test scores.

Table 5 The results of the t test of the differences between the two groups for each thinking skill before the experiment

Thinking skill Group (EGexperimental Mean Standard deviation Test of homogeneity t test (independent samples)
group, CGcontrol group) of variances

M SD F p t Sig. (two tailed) (p)

Knowledge (recall) EG 2.58 1.107 3.124 0.081 1.080 0.283


CG 2.83 0.958
Analysis EG 0.83 0.636 0.231 0.632 0.000 1.000
CG 0.83 0.594
Comparison EG 1.63 0.628 0.667 0.416 0.198 0.844
CG 1.60 0.496
Inference EG 1.25 0.707 0.221 0.640 0.000 1.000
CG 1.25 0.670
Evaluation EG 0.48 0.599 0.014 0.905 0.187 0.852
CG 0.45 0.597
158 J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160

Table 6 The results of the one-way analysis of covariance for learning outcomes in the post-test between the students in the two groups

Group Mean Standard deviation Test of homogeneity Test of the homogeneity Test of the differences
of variances of regression coefficients of means (general F test)

M SD F p F p F p

Experimental group 6.68 1.716 0.968 0.328 0.005 0.945 18.489 0.000
Control group 5.20 1.814

As seen in Table 7, for knowledge (recall), no statistically In general, given the total test scores and the results at the
significant differences were observed (p > 0.05). This result levels of higher-order thinking skills, it can be concluded that
was expected because at this level, students were required to the results of students in the experimental group were signifi-
recall information provided in the material studied; therefore, cantly better than the results of the students in the control
an understanding was not necessary. However, for evaluating group.
the successfulness of conceptual learning, the results for the
higher-order thinking skills are more interesting. At the level
of analysis, the general F test revealed statistically significant Discussion
differences between the experimental and control groups
(p < 0.05) in favour of the experimental group. Furthermore, In general, the two main aims of this study were, first, to
the hypothesis regarding the homogeneity of regression design Physlet-based materials for learning about electricity
coefficient was not justified on the level of comparison following the theoretical framework of the theory of concep-
(p < 0.05); consequently, we did not perform the general tual learning and, second, to evaluate the success of Physlet-
F test on this taxonomic level. However, as seen in Table 7, based materials in supporting conceptual learning about elec-
the means indicated the advantage of the experimental tricity in secondary school physics.
group. The general F test showed that there were statisti- To test the first aim, we had to find out if the four main
cally significant differences between the experimental and processes of conceptual learning (observation, modelling,
control groups at the level of inference (p < 0.05), also in acquisition and integration) could be incorporated by embed-
favour of the experimental group. Finally, at the level of ding of Physlets in these materials. Throughout the process of
evaluation, no statistically significant differences were designing these materials, we researched and tested a large
observed (p > 0.05); however, the means indicated the number of Physlets in the field of electricity. We found that
advantage of the experimental group. two categories (illustrations and explorations) support the first

Table 7 The results of the one-way analysis of covariance for learning outcomes in the post-test between the students of the two groups in test tasks
involving knowledge (recall), analysis, comparison, inference and evaluation

Thinking skill Group (EGexperimental Mean Standard deviation Test of homogeneity Test of the Test of the
group, CGcontrol group) of variances homogeneity differences
of regression of means
coefficients (general F test)

M SD F p F p F p

Knowledge (recall) EG 1.80 0.966 3.957 0.050 0.986 0.378 2.724 0.103
CG 1.48 0.751
Analysis EG 1.53 0.640 3.659 0.059 1.533 0.223 7.492 0.008
CG 1.08 0.829
Comparison EG 1.83 0.385 5.670 0.020 3.171 0.048 / /
CG 1.55 0.639
Inference EG 0.75 0.707 0.056 0.813 0.716 0.492 4.572 0.036
CG 0.48 0.554
Evaluation EG 0.75 0.439 14.492 0.000 0.067 0.936 0.942 0.335
CG 0.63 0.540
J Sci Educ Technol (2017) 26:151160 159

two processes of conceptual learning, observing and Acknowledgement The authors are grateful to the 4-year high school
Gimnazija Franca Mikloia Ljutomer, where this research was carried
modelling; the third category (problems) can support the sec-
out. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the mem-
ond two processes, acquisition and integration of a new con- bers of the Department of Physics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and
cept into a network of existing concepts. We conclude that Mathematics Maribor and the support of the members of the Department
Physlets enable us to design learning materials which meet of Basic Pedagogical Studies at the Faculty of Education from the
University of Maribor, for their thoughtful contributions to this study.
the criteria of a theoretical framework of conceptual learning.
Finally, the authors are also very grateful to the reviewers of this article
Certainly, teachers have to be aware of some important for their thoughtful suggestions that contributed to the composition of this
factors when designing or using of existing Physlet-based article.
learning materials. First, it is important to consider the context
of the curriculum when planning to incorporate Physlets into
the teaching materials. Our general recommendation is that References
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