Physics on the go: A mobile computer-based physics laboratory for learning forces and motion

Abstract

"Forces and Motion" is a topic that requires students to relate contents to real life applications but most of them have difficulties in connecting physics concepts to its corresponding representations and the connections of the representations to the real world. This contributes to poor conceptual understanding among the students. Conventional teaching approaches also create poor interest among the students in studying Physics. Some school laboratories are not equipped sufficiently and some apparatus are broken or out dated. Therefore, a Mobile Science Laboratory (MSL) is applied in the research to provide an alternative to better functioning laboratory which also uses Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL) in providing up-to-date apparatus in data acquisition. This research investigates the impact of Mobile Computer-based Physics Laboratory (MCPL) which is a combination of the use of MSL and MBL in teaching and learning "Forces and Motion" called PotGo (Physics on the Go) using semi-structured interview. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The result shows that MCPL improves the students' understanding in Forces and Motion because the students can see and experience the concepts in real life and getting the data in real time. MCPL is interesting for students because they can conduct Physics experiments using computers and technology, it is fun and the students can explore the Physics concepts with little time for setting up the experiments. Therefore, the use of PoTGo in MCPL affects students' learning in "Forces and Motion" and interest towards Physics.