e-Learning and quality in scientific education

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the didactic activities proposed in the worksheet .... effects are: the contraction of lengths and the time dilation. ... 1.2 Relativistic effects on geometric figures.
e-Learning and quality in scientific education

Moraru Silvia (Author)

Stoica Ioana (Author)

“Tudor Vianu” National High School of Computer Science University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics P.O. BOX. MG - 11 Romania, Bucharest [email protected]

“Tudor Vianu” National High School of Computer Science University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics P.O. BOX. MG - 11 Romania, Bucharest [email protected]

Abstract — The paper is a study in the usage of modern information technology (IT) in interdisciplinary teaching of notion featured in the physics and chemistry curriculum .It encompasses specifically the study of “The Ideal gas laws” and their real life application, as well as “The electrolysis of water” (8th and 10th grades, respectively). The crucial teachinglearning-assessment chain of lesson is comparatively analyzed within the “traditional” and “modern” lessons respectively ,the last one by making use of didactical support such as: Interactive sequences of the “Elements of thermodynamics and molecular physics” (an educational software that is part of the AEL platform, a SIVECO product) and Virtual Physics Lab from the web-site http://jersay.waregon.edu. The paper consists of the following sections: *The student-oriented didactics and learning – a crucial objective towards excellence in teaching; *Specific ways of using IT means within the physics or chemistry lessons or order to make the two natural sciences interdisciplinary; *An important point is the use of ICT in the training of teachers, this paper is intended to contribute to the development of independence and team work. This “ICT Revolution” will move the stress from teaching to learning new requirements for the educational system; *Pros and cons of the real and virtual experiments. Keywords: e-learning, creativity, quality, scientific education, virtual laboratory, ICT revolution

I STUDENT CENTRED TEACHING-AN ESSENTIAL OBJECTIVE IN MAKING A COMPETITIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM The specialized literature, the experience gained during the design and the implementation of interactive lessons places the student in the centre of teaching/examination process. What is student-centered education? The pupils is encouraged to create, understand and connect all of his/her newly acquired knowledge [1]. The students will be more motivated to learn when they have direct contact with international content. Pupils won’t learn information by heart; instead they’ll understand and practice anything they learn as “co-creators” in the teaching/examination process [2]. What are the benefits of students-centered education?

The student does not directly receive raw information, instead he experiences it through didactic activities created by the teacher. The pupil is implicated in the process with his own efforts. The “student-centered teaching” is the attribute for success in the teacher team [8]. How do we create student-centered teaching? The teacher leads the teaching-examination process, designs the layout of lesson thus helping the students to “learn how to learn” [3]. What are the steps needed to accomplish this kind of lessons? The teaching-examination process needs to be accomplished by the student-teacher team, needs to be active and each didactic activity needs to be authentic, specific and oriented towards applications that will attract the student. If applied to exact sciences, the student-centered teaching has pointed out the usage of teacher-designed “plans of lessons”, depending on the type of lessons. The didactic strategy consists in teaching the subjects in a logical way so that the student is “guided” through heuristic conversation by the teacher. The questions address the whole class and the students, alone or in groups, search for the answer (this is the round towards teaching and applying the student-centered lesson” model [4]. Modern teaching puts the student in the centre of educational process that is designed, applied and analyzed by the teacher. Self-evaluation will determine the teacher to choose the best strategy for the future, depending on each class, group or student’s capabilities. The modern designing will stimulate the student-teacher team to efficiently solve the work task creatively. Therefore, during the lesson on “Oxygen” that takes in the 8th grade the pupils could rigorously understand the physical and chemical phenomena they encounter during direct or virtual lessons, depending on the location where the lesson takes place. The precision, with which the teacher sets the operational objectives of the lesson, designs the didactic activities (teacher-student) and interprets the feed-back, will influence the “success” of the lack of “success” of the lessons. In comparison, the “traditional” lesson about “Oxygen” had a success rate of 60% while the “modern lesson” that determines the student to continuously work for 50 minutes had a spectacular result. Applying modern didactic strategy, by using the AEL platform, “the didactic project” - the

“Oxygen” - makes the student capable of communication and permanent collaboration, helps him to consolidate his knowledge by formulating questions or answering to open questions he is asked. By dealing with the practical activities, explain the electrolysis phenomena, the way of obtaining the hydrogen and oxygen from the electrolysis of water, refreshing the knowledge achieved in physics and chemistry, virtually simulating physical – chemical phenomena, outlining all the chemical properties of the oxygen lead to a full participation of the student in the team he works in. The groups of students, coordinated by teachers, know that during the continuous evaluation (7 minutes), placed at the end of the class, they will obtain be accomplished 99-100%. These are described in details in the “Oxygen” didactic project. The described lesson is based on an extremely well known didactic method, but which has a very poor level of usage: ”I know-I want to know-what have I learned?” The “teacher-students team” is strong and provides a high level of communication [6]. The scientific content is carefully selected, is presented in a suggestive way, by making the student take part in the rediscovery of every new element of content. The elements of virtual simulation (the electrolysis of water, the burning of non metallic substances in oxygen, the oxygen circuit in nature), interactively displayed, transform the student into a “full participant” in the teaching-learning-assessment process. By the end of lesson, both the student and the teacher will have known: What we know/we used to think we know; What we want to know; What we have learned. II ICT IN SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION The gaps are filled in by each and every student and this will lead the “teacher-students team” to easier imagine the following step. Throughout the lesson, the persistent interactivity (educational software to student, student to students, student to teacher) will stimulate the pupil for: his imagination (finding real solution to the presented problems), his level of applying the studied aspects, the development of his possibility to work efficiently, in a certain time frame with a maximum efficiency in the team. The interdisciplinary study of the thermodynamics – the laws of the ideal gas – studied in chemistry in the 9th grade and in physics in the 10th grade, has highlighted, by using the ICT methods, the necessity of preparing the teachers in the ICT area [5;7]. The ability of using ICT, as shown in the Strategy of Lisbon, is seen as a new form of “digital education”, which, together with the classic forms, helps everyone to participate in the society of information [8].The teacher has the role of selecting the digital resources of learning. Therefore, depending on the pupils, she/he can use:

-AEL Laboratory – virtual platform – a closed system available for every school and high school from Romania [14]; -informative materials created by the teacher; -digital didactic methods from high-level universities around the world; This way, the present study provides a comparison regarding the use of these learning methods, dedicated to “The laws of the ideal gas”. The use of AEL virtual platform in the study of the laws of ideal gas has turned to a good account: • A run through scientific notions concerning the isothermal, isobaric and isochoric transformations of an ideal gas; • The student, helped by the teacher, will have a run (according to the didactic project elaborated by the teacher) through the virtual didactic activities involved in the making of the virtual experiments, so as, for each and every transformation, the team, consisting of 2-4 pupils, would be able to deduce the laws of the ideal gas (the law of the isothermal transformation T=ct, the law of the isobaric transformation P=ct, the law of the isochors transformation V=ct); • The way of learning is chosen by the group of students under the guidance of the teacher. Hence, the didactic activities proposed in the worksheet determine pupils to understand the studied concepts, to update the concepts studied in physics and chemistry, to put into operation the deduced Lawson certain issues; • The exercises and the applications contained by these methods of study will enable the students to understand the necessity of being aware of these scientific notions (applications in the real life, applications in the industry) leading to the development of his creativity [9]; • The teacher has a role of coordinating every didactic activity proposed, is active and creative. Thus, he can introduce activities in order to stimulate the children’s imagination, making them consider a lesson as a “quest” for knowing the real world and for improving its quality. In the traditionally built lesson, all the student has to do is to study the laboratory experiments (the transformations of the ideal gas), without having the chance to concretely complete the experimental determinations in a limited time (a class lasts no more than 50 minutes) [10]; • By adapting the informational support to the operational objectives of the lesson, the “teacherstudent team” will obtain an outstanding efficiently. The feedback will emphasize student’s competences to apply and operate with the studied notions;

The study compares and contrasts the results obtained in the continuous assessments of a “traditional lesson” and those of a lesson in which the ICT methods are used, by focusing on the following issues: a) the amount of scientific concepts; b) the amount of applicability of the studied concepts; c) students’ ability to explain the natural phenomena based on the studied laws; d) students’ ability to create and to solve the proposed exercises; e) the results obtained in the cumulative assessments; f) students’ ability to take part in the improvement of the utilized ICT didactical methods. •

III ICT FOR THE “PERFORMANCE TEAM” For the “PERFORMANCE TEAM” using the most popular mean of communication. The Internet “for studying this themes “THE LAWS OF THE IDEAL GAS” in the virtual lab [15]. The basis of this lesson presents: a) the features of the ideal gas; b) the definition of pressure and the unit of measurement (IS and others); c) the Avogadro law; d) the law of the ideal gas (establishing R); e) applications concerning to find out the molecular mass; f) presenting the transformation of the ideal gas. School progress must be understood as a possibility to put to very good use. School progress must be understood as a possibility to put to very good use the growth of the confidence in ICT usage in education, generally or particularly, in scientific education, in scientific education, through realizing the future benefits of learning-teaching-evaluating resources management, access and storage. ICT usage in didactical activity should be based upon a real support given to the teacher. It is necessary that a technical support should exist in school – the virtual laboratory AEL, the “SMART” board, an Internet connection and also the capacity of the teacher to use this technology. Research has imposed a supplementary preparation of the teacher, the creation of necessary worksheets, and the organization of problem types. Hence, the students of the performance group (7 national school Olympiad participants from the 9th grade) have individually run through the informative material (in English), the work files (in Romanian) and the problems proposed in the mentioned site, but also those proposed by their teacher, during a working time of 2 hours. Traditional didactics involve the student to a much smaller extent, without the feedback realistically presenting the parameters aimed by the teacher. Meanwhile, modern didactics involve the student-teacher team in equal

proportions, the teacher determining the learning conditions, taking into account the collective of students.

IV ICT INTEGRATION IN THE CURRICULAR AREA OF SCIENCE The development of the virtual platform “DIDACTICVIP” (http://didacticvip.lbi.ro) by the teachers of the Science curricular area has underlined the necessity of implementation of new technologies in scientific education. The virtual platform contains: didactic projects at chemistry, physics, mathematics and informatics. The teachers’ collaboration in the Science curricular area is materialized in this virtual platform, which can be utilized by any teacher. The methodical-scientific rigor, the high degree of applicability, the proposed modern didactic methods, the accuracy of the operational objectives, the proposed didactic activities, so the Teacher – Pupil team fulfils the purpose of the lesson, which is centered on the student: his capacity of knowing, at the end of the lesson, how to operate with the studied notions. The realization of a modern modality of implementing ICT in the scientific education has led to the modernization of the process of teaching-learning assessment. The digital physics, chemistry, informatics lessons that are presented underline the openness of the school to the outside world (on-line classes) and the efficient use of resources. a) SPECIAL RELATIVITY The lesson has as a starting point student’s experiences and embraces questions and activities that involve the student. The student can choose their own informing way on a certain subject and their own way of presenting the results of their study. Gaining fundamental transferable capabilities (not just for a certain subject), as, for example, team working. MOTIVATION How could the speed of light not appear faster if you run toward an approaching light beam? How could the speed of light not appear slower if you run away from it? Here is where Einstein changed everything. Speed is a measure of traveled distance divided by the duration of the journey and so is intimately bound up with the concepts of space and time. And, Einstein claimed, space and time, in contrast to Newton’s intuitively sensible description, are not fixed and unchanging. Instead they are fluid and malleable. OBJECTIVES • Presenting a sensible Physics subject in an attractive, accessible, yet rigorous manner.

The investigation, in the virtual lab, of some physics phenomena that “contradict” our human perceptions. • Student’s actual involvement in the learning process (the program is entirely interactive). • Developing a proper use of formal language (mathematics and physics). ADVANTAGES The Theory of Relativity is a revolutionary part of physics. Like us, the students are amazed when they find out which the real laws that govern our universe are and especially what implications they have. This entirely interactive application makes it easier for them to familiarize with the phenomena in relativity. Many hours of explanations are condensed into a few minutes of activity. The visual support offers a rapid understanding of this phenomenon. This way of learning has a big advantage: the flexibility, the fact that each student can set his own pace of study. The software was developed using Macromedia Flash 8 Professional and Adobe Photoshop CS. •

b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT 1.

Introduction

Fascinated by the way in which the measurements depend on the speed of the reference frame, we created this software for a better understanding of the amazing phenomena. It consists in a series of interactive lessons that show very interesting aspects that derive from the Special Relativity Theory, which can be used in the classroom or in the individual study. Each lesson is divided in three sections: Learn: displays the Physical laws that explain the specific experiment; it contains mathematical explanations and definitions for all the concepts involved in that lesson. Play: instantiate the theory by enabling the user to play and discover the phenomenon behind the mathematical laws. Test: contains single-choice questions based on the concepts presented in the lesson. 1.1 Shrinking lengths and stretching durations The first lesson presents the most interesting effects that occur at high speeds (comparable with the speed of light), according to Einstein’s Special Relativity Theory. These effects are: the contraction of lengths and the time dilation. The lesson’s sections enable the student to fully understand the phenomena by learning, playing and testing his knowledge [16]. The Play section shows length and time information for the experiment as the student selects different shuttle

speeds. It also presents an animation of the high speed’s effects.

1.2 Relativistic effects on geometric figures The second lesson presents the effects that occur at high speeds (comparable with the speed of light), on geometric figures. At high speeds, according to Einstein’s Special Relativity Theory, a length contraction occurs, on the direction of movement. The lesson’s sections enable the student to fully understand the phenomena by learning, playing a testing his knowledge. The Play section enables the student to see the effects of different speeds on a cube or a sphere. The animation makes it easy to understand and visualize the phenomena. 1.3 elementary particles in accelerator The third lesson presents the effects that occur at high speeds (comparable with the speed of light), in particle accelerators. By accelerating particles at speeds close to the speed of light, their mass increases, this resulting in an increase of their trajectory radius [17]. The lesson’s sections enable the student to fully understand the phenomena by learning, playing and testing his knowledge. The play section enables the student to select different speeds for the particle and the animation makes it easy to understand and visualize the effects on mass and trajectory. 1.4 Light cones and the Sun’s death The forth lesson presents the light cone concept and, as an exemplification, the Sun’s death. Einstein’s Special Relativity Theory states that two individual events are separated by quadric intervals, which are represented by a light cone [18]. The lesson’s sections enable the student to fully understand the phenomena by learning, playing and testing his knowledge. The Play section enables the student see, by selecting each planet of the solar system, the time it takes to witness the Sun’s death (the time it takes to enter its light cone). 1.5 Martian dinner The last lesson of the project presents “the Martian’s paradox”. We know from the previous lessons that the duration of a process depends on the speed of the reference frame [19,20]. This means that an event from a series happens sooner or later, depending on the speed of the watcher. The lesson’s sections enable the student to fully understand the phenomena by learning, playing and testing his knowledge. As a conclusion, we present some of the students’ evaluations for this educational software.

“I think that this software should be frequently used in class because it could really help students understand better this chapter of physics”. Andrei Lazanu (19). “A good job in the name of physics and e-learning! We are able to learn easier about this theory, so I bet this software will be a great success”. Razvan Dumitrescu (18). “I think this software is very interesting and also helpful. Any student using it can learn about the Special Theory of Relativity!” Calin Macovei (18). V CONCLUSIONS • • • • •

The necessity of extending our work in mixed teams: professors-pupils. The development of a creative, innovative character of the lesson, the scientific rigor of the notions presented. The continuous realization of a critical evaluation which should lead to self-adjusting our own lessons! The necessity of permanent education. The realization of an “open learning center”, to facilitate the participation to the teaching-learningassessment process. REFERENCES

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