Labatorials and Reflective Writing for a Better Understanding of Dynamics in High School

Decades of research show that introductory physics students struggle to learn Newtonian concepts of force and motion. Conventional lecture method of instruction has been unable to improve students’ ideas and attitudes. This study examined the impact of combining Labatorials and Reflective Writing on high school students’ knowledge of Newtonian dynamics. Participants are 210 secondary 5 (grade 11) students, from three private schools in Montreal, who took a physics course during 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. Their ideas and opinions about forces and learning physics were investigated, prior to and following the study, with: (a) the Discipline-focused Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire; (b) the Force Concept Inventory (FCI); (c) a concept map focused on the relations between force and motion. Pre- and post- semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants. The post interview required students to analyse a hands-on experiment about the two-way motion of a fan cart. Data was also collected from participants’ teachers throughout the duration of the study. Results from the FCI indicate a medium gain as calculated by Hake (1998) which is similar to those obtained when Interactive Engagement practices are used in teaching physics (Hake, 1998). The interviews with students as well as feedback from teachers showed that students preferred the combination of Labatorials with Reflective Writing to traditional labs. Preliminary analysis of concept maps completed in the post-test to those in the pretest indicate that students better connected concepts related to forces and motion. The gathered data and interviews indicate that the process of combining Labatorials with Reflective Writing improves students’ knowledge of the subject as well as their attitudes towards learning it