Are you a high school or university level physics educator? Please complete the "Contact Us" form below if you would like to get access to our magnetic fields assessment (MAGNA) to provide feedback, are willing to collect student data, or if you would otherwise be interested in participating in our research efforts.

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This project proposes to advance personal mobile technology to create a sensor-based visualization tool that
addresses the challenges associated with introductory physics learners’ understandings about
magnetic fields.

 

The intellectual merit of this project is to answer three core questions about technology and education research:

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• (RQ1) “What new technologies and associated developer resources for PMDs, such as ARCore for Android, can be created to enable 3D, real-time, sensor-based visualizations of physical fields?,”

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• (RQ2) “How do high school and college introductory physics learners use the technological tool to make sense of fields?,” and

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• (RQ3) “How do learners’ concepts of fields change as a result of using the new technological tool?”

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To answer these questions, we are employing two major research activities:

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• Interactive interview and observation protocols in which users interact with Magna AR and explain their thinking about magnetic fields.

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• Development of a conceptual inventory to measure changes in understanding about static magnetic fields, the MAGnetic kNowledge Assessment (MAGNA). This three-dimensional assessment and aims to uncover student thinking about the strength and direction of magnetic fields that surround Earth and permanent magnets.