Effect of Ubiquitous Physics App on Learning Achievements in Authentic Contexts

Abstract

This study utilized an app called Ubiquitous-Physics (U-Physics) to help students to explore inclined plane phenomena in authentic contexts. The study analyzed the inquiry behaviors of students such as interpreting graphs, applying formulas, drawing conclusions, authentic posts, and comments during the learning activities. Furthermore, the correlation between the inquiry behaviors and learning achievement were studied. A total of 35 second-grade students from vocational high school participated in this study. Two experimental activities in a laboratory and authentic contexts were given to students. The results indicated that students who used U-Physics are significantly perform better than students who used traditional tools such as a stopwatch for the inclined plane experiment. Pearson correlations demonstrated that the quantity of posts in authentic contexts had the biggest influence on the learning achievement of students, proving the importance of applying physics concepts in authentic contexts. Additionally, the interview responses showed that most students liked U-Physics and intended to use it in the future to explore physics phenomena and to conduct experiments. The findings indicate that using U-Physics in authentic contexts is very meaningful and can contribute to physics learning.