• Open Access

Effect of students’ investigative experiments on students’ recognition of interference and diffraction patterns: An eye-tracking study

Ana Susac, Maja Planinic, Andreja Bubic, Katarina Jelicic, Lana Ivanjek, Karolina Matejak Cvenic, and Marijan Palmovic
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17, 010110 – Published 25 February 2021

Abstract

Recognition of interference and diffraction patterns is a difficult task for both high-school and university students. Many students fail to observe important features of particular patterns and identify the differences among similar patterns. In this study, we investigated if performing students’ investigative experiments can help high-school students in recognition of typical interference and diffraction patterns. Students in the experimental group were exposed to a teaching intervention that included five students’ investigative hands-on experiments on wave optics whereas the control group had the standard lecture-based physics teaching. We measured eye movements of students from both the experimental and control groups while they were identifying patterns produced by monochromatic light on a double slit, single slit, and diffraction grating, and by white light on a diffraction grating. Students from the experimental group had a higher percentage of correct answers than students in the control group that indicated that students’ investigative experiments had a positive effect on their recognition of interference and diffraction patterns. However, the low percentage of correct answers, even in the experimental group, confirms that distinguishing of the typical interference and diffraction patterns remains a difficult task for high-school students even if they had performed investigative hands-on experiments. Eye-tracking data showed that students from the experimental group had a shorter dwell on multiple-choice patterns, possibly because they were more familiar with interference and diffraction patterns and felt more confident in choosing the correct pattern. All students attended more to those patterns which they chose as the correct answer and that corroborates the previous findings. Overall, the results indicate that students’ recognition of interference and diffraction patterns can be improved by introducing hands-on investigative experiments in the classroom.

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  • Received 24 July 2020
  • Accepted 24 December 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010110

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics Education Research

Authors & Affiliations

Ana Susac1,*, Maja Planinic2, Andreja Bubic3, Katarina Jelicic2, Lana Ivanjek4, Karolina Matejak Cvenic2, and Marijan Palmovic5

  • 1Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Unska 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Bijenicka 32, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • 3Chair for Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Split, Sinjska 2, 21000 Split, Croatia
  • 4Physics Education Research, Faculty of Physics, Technische Universität Dresden, Haeckelstraße 3, 01069 Dresden, Germany
  • 5Laboratory for Psycholinguistic Research, Department of Speech and Language Pathology, University of Zagreb, Borongajska cesta 83h, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

  • *Corresponding author. ana.susac@fer.hr

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Vol. 17, Iss. 1 — January - June 2021

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