Interdisciplinary Approach (S.T.E.M.) of the Rotational Motion of Solids Bodies: Α Comparative Study

Abstract

The present paper explores issues concerning Senior High School students’ teaching and understanding of concepts and laws, related to the rotation of a solid body around a fixed axis of rotation, through a properly designed experimental type of teaching intervention, that incorporates custom-made educational material and utilizes ICT. Through an interdisciplinary-exploratory approach of teaching, the alternative ideas of 143 high school students, aged 16-17, were initially identified. The students were divided into a control group and an experimental one and completed a suitably designed questionnaire before and after the didactic interventions. The interventions aimed at investigating the extent to which the experimental student group alternative ideas, taught through an experimental scientific approach, changed compared to the ideas of the students of the control group, who were taught the same subjects in a conventional way. The results, obtained from a quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaires and interviews, indicate an improvement of the experimental student group understanding, in relation to the concepts of rotational movement. Additionally, they indicate the development of a positive attitude towards the experimental procedure, applied throughout the intervention, as opposed to that of the control group, where the teaching was carried out in a conventional way.