Abstract
Students spend much time in doing their physics homework. Whether this effort results in deep learning depends on the quality of the mere homework. Therefore, we designed a minds-on simulation-based approach to physics homework and conducted a pretest-posttest quasi-experiment to compare its effectiveness to the effectiveness of traditional homework. Our student sample consisted of 39 first year high-school students from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In two school hours, all students received the same lectures about gas laws. Next, the experimental group students solved simulation-based homework in which their planning of actions, execution of actions and self-reflection was supported by a carefully prepared worksheet and survey. The traditional group’s homework consisted of three textbook problems and covered the same content, which is gas laws. Through analysis of covariance it was shown that the minds-on simulation-based homework was significantly more effective in developing students’ understanding of gas laws than traditional homework. The experimental group students perceived the simulation-based homework as interesting, challenging and useful.
Highlights
Learning does not happen only in school, and in the home environment
In this study we explored the effectiveness of a minds-on simulation-based physics homework
We came to the conclusion that simulation-based physics homework may be significantly more effective than typical traditional physics homework, when it comes to developing conceptual understanding of physics
Summary
Learning does not happen only in school, and in the home environment. Most physics learning in the home environment occurs through physics homework. Homework may be defined as tasks assigned by the teacher which are to be completed outside of school hours (Cooper, 1989). Homework may facilitate development of subject-specific competencies, as well as development of generic competencies and student-parent relationship (Cooper et al, 2006). In some occasions, homework may have some negative effects such as decreasing motivation for learning, inducing cheating behavior and inducing stress in the students and their parents (Trautwein et al, 2006). It is very important to carefully plan the homework and take into account the key factors that are known to influence effectiveness of physics homework
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