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Effects of Ubiquitous-Physics App on Students’ Inquiry Behaviors and Learning Achievements

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Abstract

The Ubiquitous-Physics (U-Physics) app was upgraded to help students in learning inclined plane concepts. The new version of U-Physics allows students to see the experimental data not only in a graphical representation but also in a tabular representation. U-Physics provides a whiteboard function to support data explanations. The study investigated the differences between experimental students who use U-Physics (EG) and control students who do not use the app (CG) in terms of learning achievements. Additionally, we studied the free body diagram ability of students by giving them a test and analyzed its relationship to inquiry behaviors (interpreting graphs, applying formulas, and drawing conclusions) and learning achievements. Two 11th-grade classes (EG = 15 and CG = 32) participated in this quasi-experimental design. Our findings showed that the students who use U-Physics performed better than those who do not use the app in terms of learning achievements. Inquiry behaviors have a significant correlation with students’ learning achievements, and drawing conclusions is a predictor to affect students’ learning achievements. Additionally, most students agreed that U-Physics is beneficial for their physics learning. Thus, we strongly suggest teachers to use U-Physics and involve inquiry behaviors in physics laboratories to enhance students’ inquiry thinking and learning achievements while conducting physics experiments.

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The data used in this may be obtained by written request the corresponding author. All participants’ personal information was protected during the research process. Research data were anonymized prior to analyze and storage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, Zhongli City, Taoyuan County, Taiwan

    Wu-Yuin Hwang

  2. School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Siska Wati Dewi Purba

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  1. Wu-Yuin Hwang
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  2. Siska Wati Dewi Purba
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Correspondence to Siska Wati Dewi Purba.

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Hwang, WY., Purba, S.W.D. Effects of Ubiquitous-Physics App on Students’ Inquiry Behaviors and Learning Achievements. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 31, 439–450 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00585-7

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