The process and role of developing new scientific models experimentally is a cornerstone of physics -- and arguably an important learning objective of laboratory courses -- but research in physics education suggests that most current lab curricula do not effectively meet this objective. Many instructional practices leave students believing that in-class experiments exist to supplement conceptual learning and that the sole purpose of real-world experiments is to test theories. As a result, many students frame lab work as an exercise in knowledge confirmation, and expect that all physics that appears in the labs can be found with a Google search. This paper describes an instructional intervention using virtual reality to integrate the process of authentic scientific discovery into the lab curriculum. We developed labs in which students explore and develop mathematical models for unknown force laws between new kinds of particles that we invented. We find that this intervention produced significant shifts in students' epistemologies about experimental physics toward being more expertlike -- specifically regarding the central role experimentation plays for research physicists in making new discoveries and developing theories, and the role of laboratory experiments in teaching a nuanced and unique scientific way of knowing.

Developing expertlike epistemologies about physics empirical discovery using virtual reality

Students and experts engage in a plethora of sophisticated ways of thinking during modeling tasks, blending between mathematical and physical reasoning. This integrated way of reasoning about quantities and how they are related is ubiquitous to “thinking like a physicist.” One facet of this process is covariational reasoning -- reasoning about how changes in one quantity relate to changes in another quantity. In laboratory courses that engage students in experimental design, students commonly use covariational reasoning as they model changing quantities and the relationships between them. However, those without strong mathematical reasoning skills may unintentionally be perceived as also having less nuanced physics reasoning skills. To investigate the multifaceted ways students model in physics lab courses, we examined student discussions during remote, student-designed labs in which students interact with physical, but fictitious, matter in a virtual reality (VR) simulation. The VR environment allows for students to observe and measure novel situations for which the “answer,” in this case a mathematical model about the particles’ behavior, is not known. Using a conceptual blend analysis, we examine two lab groups that take different approaches to the task, despite beginning with the same observations and reporting on the same final model. One group demonstrates expert-like mathematical reasoning that is typically rewarded in physics courses, while the other engages in early signs of expert-like physics reasoning. Our analysis suggests that there are productive ideas emerging in both groups, and that of the less mathematically rigorous may be going unnoticed. We suggest that characterizing these features of physics covariational reasoning may provide an opportunity to move beyond data analysis techniques in lab courses towards incorporating more physics expert-like techniques. In doing so, instructors may recognize hidden strengths that may otherwise go undetected.

Emerging covariational reasoning student resources in physics lab courses

Virtual reality (VR) technology continues to mature at a rapid clip, creating potential for its use as a means of administering "hands-on" physics lab curriculum in hybrid or remote learning contexts. This talk draws from experiences administering VR-enabled labs to classes of 120 students in a hybrid model and 37 students in a remote model to inform answers to key questions around use of VR in remote labs: What advantages does VR offer over traditional "flat" simulations? Do students recognize "hands-on" work done in an immersive 3D environment as being "real" science? How is collaboration between distant students affected by use of VR? What is the current and near-future feasibility of VR technology use in remote instruction? We argue that VR labs have a niche in the remote physics lab instructor's toolbox, and outline current and anticipated applications of VR to remote physics lab instruction.

Virtual Reality Enabling Remote Collaborative Physics Labs

The Novel Observations in Mixed Reality (NOMR) project at the University of Washington applies modern virtual reality technology to teach experimental physics skills by simulating phenomena that do not exist in our universe. By exploring and characterizing unheard-of and Google-proof physical phenomena, students are able to practice experimental physics skills on a level playing field and in absence of a "right answer" to work toward or be judged against. These phenomena are designed with analogy to electrostatics, varying the number of charge types as well as the functional forms and relevant variables in the force laws governing the interactions between each pair of "charges." In this session we discuss the design of NOMR labs, their adaptation to remote usage in a sophomore-level experimental physics course, and initial research findings.

Teaching Experimentation With New Physics in Remote Virtual Reality Labs

Virtual reality (VR) physics labs that employ fictitious physical phenomena to provide students an opportunity for authentic physics model development are under development at the University of Washington. In these labs’ remote incarnation, one member of each group of 6-7 students attended in person to operate VR hardware. The in-person student collaborated with their group via video call. This hybrid format lent itself well to VR labs. An in-VR student communicates with their partners only by voice whether instruction is virtual or not; thus the remote adaptation of this approach made minimal functional difference in collaborative group dynamics. Our findings suggest that VR technology can enable robust student collaboration in remote experimental physics lab contexts. In this talk I will compare and contrast the student in-person VR lab experience to its virtual counterpart, and identify implications for the design of remote physics laboratory curriculum.

Collaboratively Developing Experimental Physics Skills in Hybrid Virtual Reality Labs

Providing students with opportunities to develop models in the introductory physics lab is made difficult by the dearth of physical phenomena that are both accessible to students at the introductory level and aren't easily found with a google search. In response to this difficulty, we have developed a set of laboratory activities that leverage the unique affordances of virtual reality to provide a learning opportunity in which introductory physics students engage in the authentic practice of physics model development for a novel phenomenon. We present preliminary evidence of expert-like modeling behaviors, both in the context of hypothesis generation and in the context of modeling a measurement tool, as well as suggestions how virtual reality labs can be engineered to target other laboratory learning outcomes. Further, we discuss difficulties associated with this approach to curriculum design and ways they might be mitigated.

Leveraging virtual reality for student development of force models in the introductory lab

The University of Washington (UW) Physics Education Group is creating virtual reality (VR) lab environments that simulate "novel" physical phenomena that do not exist in the real world but follow laws that can be modeled using techniques accessible to first-year physics laboratory students. Presenting these novel phenomena in VR provides an opportunity for authentic model-generating activities in introductory labs while retaining key components of in-person labs such as hands-on interaction, measurement uncertainty, and opportunities to build teamwork skills. This talk describes in detail the development of and students' experience modeling one such novel phenomenon, identifying the scientific reasoning skills students bring to bear in the absence of any expected experimental outcome and highlighting opportunities for this technique to build those skills.

Design and student experience of novel physics systems delivered in virtual reality labs

Generating mathematical models of phenomena is central to the practice of physics. Since there is typically no physics in the introductory sequence for which a model doesn't already exist, most laboratory experiences are structured as hypothesis-testing experiments in which students are given a model to verify. As a part of the introductory lab transformation project at the University of Washington (UW) - informed by the Investigative Science Learning Environment learning system - the Physics Education Group has created an authentic model-generating learning opportunity. Using a virtual reality environment, students explore physical phenomena that do not exist in the real world (or Wikipedia). Students generate mathematical models describing these phenomena from scratch, applying reasoning skills similar to those used by research scientists. This talk will describe the development of the "artificial" phenomena, their implementation in UW introductory electromagnetism labs, and the labs' impact on students' learning and development of scientific reasoning.

Jared Canright

8

4

SHORT BIO

Stay up to date with the latest Underline news!

PRESENTATIONS

CONFERENCES

COMPANY

RESOURCES