Mobile phones for teaching physics: using applications and sensors

ABSTRACT

This paper describes several experiments performed by our research group to show the use of smartphones in physics teaching. We document our work on the development of apps for smartphones and on how to use recorded sensor data. As a final result, some interesting outcomes are obtained from the surveys conducted on the students about the use of these applications and their mLearning experience in general. These results show that the students are very interested in using smartphones as a complement to a more traditional learning. Finally, the influence of using the developed applications on students' grades and engagement was also analyzed. The results of this analysis prove that the use of smartphones highly improves students' engagement.

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Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Education

    • Computer-assisted instruction

    • Distance learning

    • E-learning