Comparing three methods for teaching Newton's third law

Trevor I. Smith, Michael C. Wittmann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although guided-inquiry methods for teaching introductory physics have been individually shown to be more effective at improving conceptual understanding than traditional lecture-style instruction, researchers, in physics education have not studied differences among reform-based curricula in much detail. Several researchers have developed University of Washington-style tutorial materials, but the different curricula have not been compared against each other. Our study examines three, tutorials designed to improve student understanding of Newton's third law: the University of Washington's Tutorials in Introductory Physics (TIP), the University of Maryland's Activity-Based Tutorials (ABT), and the Open Sourcè Tutorials (OST) also developed at the University of Maryland. Each tutorial was designed with different goals and agendas, and each employs different methods to help students understand the physics. We analyzed pretest and post-test data, inclyding course examinations and data from the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE). Using both FMCE and course data, we find that students using the OST version of the tutorial perform better than students using either of the other two.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number020105
JournalPhysical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
Volume3
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 18 2007
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Education
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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