The Use of Interactive Animations for Introducing the Concepts of Mechanical Energy in High School

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate whether the use of computational interactive animations in the function of previous organizers, may favor the processes of teaching and learning the concepts of Mechanical Energy. To that end, we developed an interactive animation, called Energia no Bate - estaca, and we employed a study that evaluated the influence of the use of this feature with the 1650 students enrolled in three shifts of high school in a public school in Sao Luis. It has been used as instruments of data collection tests containing questions that addressed the concepts of Mechanical Energy, involving as dependent variable the average scores obtained by groups of students in each stage of the research and as an independent variable employment of interactive animation. To check the influence of the manipulation of the independent variable on the mean scores of the groups, we used the difference method or plan of proof of classic hypotheses. The results suggest that the use of interactive animations as previous organizers is feasible and effective to facilitate the teaching-learning concepts of Mechanical Energy.