The computer as a key component in the conceptual learning of physics

The rapid progress of modern society and the rapid changes in the world demand that students should, during the educational process, develop skills such as creativity, initiative, a readiness to solve problems and, most of all, a readiness to adapt to the continuous changes in the world. In traditional ex-cathedra teaching, students usually do not develop such qualities, therefore over the last two decades, researchers have been searching for new, innovative approaches in teaching and learning all over the world. A lot of them have been exploring the effectiveness of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), primarily of the computer, as an important tool for the improvement of the educational process. Project COLOS (Conceptual Learning of Science) encourages the use of ICT for teaching and learning and the conceptual learning of Physics is, with the rapid progress in computer technology, a very promising teaching approach. Our research confirms the great potential of utilising computers in Physics lessons. In the experimental investigation we compared the conceptual way of learning Physics with the traditional instruction of Physics. The main goal of our study was to confirm the successfulness of the conceptual approach with emphasis on the usage of the computer and, with the results of our research, to highlight the necessity of including ICT in the modern educational process.

I. Introduction

In the last decade there have been many researchers who have, in their studies, warned that computer assisted or ICT assisted teaching should provide educational support wherever its use is feasible or reasonable. Chang and his co-workers have, in their article, made an overview about previous researches, which have confirmed the effectiveness of instruction supported by computer simulations [2]. They have also, in their own research, confirmed the successfulness of this teaching approach with emphasis on the usage of computer simulations. Wieman and his co-workers have explored the effectiveness of selected computer simulations in lessons [7]. They have emphasized that interactive simulations are new and very powerful tools in the educational process.