Effect of students’ investigative experiments on students’ recognition of interference and diffraction patterns: An eye-tracking study

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Ana Sušac
• Author: Maja Planinić
• Author: Andreja Bubić
• Author: Katarina Jeličić
• Author: Lana Ivanjek
• Author: Karolina Matejak Cvenić
• Author: Marijan Palmović
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Science; (Department of Physics)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: NATURAL SCIENCES; Physics

Abstract (english)

Recognition of interference and diffraction patterns is a difficult task for both high-school and university students. Many students fail to observe important features of particular patterns and identify the differences among similar patterns. In this study, we investigated if performing students’ investigative experiments can help high-school students in recognition of typical interference and diffraction patterns. Students in the experimental group were exposed to a teaching intervention that included five students’ investigative hands-on experiments on wave optics whereas the control group had the standard lecture-based physics teaching. We measured eye movements of students from both the experimental and control groups while they were identifying patterns produced by monochromatic light on a double slit, single slit, and diffraction grating, and by white light on a diffraction grating. Students from the experimental group had a higher percentage of correct answers than students in the control group that indicated that students’ investigative experiments had a positive effect on their recognition of interference and diffraction patterns. However, the low percentage of correct answers, even in the experimental group, confirms that distinguishing of the typical interference and diffraction patterns remains a difficult task for high-school students even if they had performed investigative hands-on experiments. Eye-tracking data showed that students from the experimental group had a shorter dwell on multiple-choice patterns, possibly because they were more familiar with interference and diffraction patterns and felt more confident in choosing the correct pattern. All students attended more to those patterns which they chose as the correct answer and that corroborates the previous findings. Overall, the results indicate that students’ recognition of interference and diffraction patterns can be improved by introducing hands-on investigative experiments in the classroom.

• Keywords (english): wave optics; teaching intervention; pattern recognition; double slit; single slit; diffraction grating; eye movements
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Physical Review Physics Education Research
• Numbering: vol. 17, no. 1, 010110
• e-ISSN: 2469-9896
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010110
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:217:242002
• Publication: 2021
• Project: Number: IP-2018-01-9085; Title (croatian): Utjecaj uključivanja istraživačkih učeničkih pokusa u srednjoškolsku nastavu fizike na razvoj znanstvenog zaključivanja i konceptualnog razumijevanja; Title (english): Effect of the inclusion of students' investigative experiments in secondary school physics teaching on the development of scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding; Acronym: INVESTIGATE; Leader: Maja Planinić; Jurisdiction: Croatia; Funding stream: IP
• Document URL: https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010110
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Public note: Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Received 24 July 2020; Accepted 24 December 2020; Published 25 February 2021.
• Created on: 2023-08-11 12:36:01