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The Electron Runaround: Understanding Electric Circuit Basics Through a Classroom Activity
Abstract
Several misconceptions abound among college students taking their first general physics course, and to some extent pre-engineering physics students, regarding the physics and applications of electric circuits. Analogies used in textbooks, such as those that liken an electric circuit to a piped closed loop of water driven by a water pump, do not completely resolve these misconceptions. Mazur1 and Knight,2 in particular, separately note that such misconceptions include the notion that electric current on either side of a light bulb in a circuit can be different. Other difficulties and confusions involve understanding why the current in a parallel circuit exceeds the current in a series circuit with the same components, and include the role of the battery (where students may assume wrongly that a dry cell battery is a fixed-current rather than a fixed-voltage device). A simple classroom activity that students can play as a game can resolve these misconceptions, providing an intellectual as well as a hands-on understanding. This paper describes the ``Electron Runaround,'' first developed by the author to teach extremely bright 8-year-old home-schooled children the basics of electric circuits and subsequently altered (according to the required level of instruction) and used for various college physics courses.
... Examples include using students to illustrate the principles of refraction of light, how electrons move in a circuit (e.g. Singh, 2010), or how atoms behave in a gas, fluid, or solid (e.g. McSharry & Jones, 2000). ...
... Another type of activity has students enact the mechanisms of a physics model or theory. Students enacting electrons in a circuit (Singh, 2010) may use effort-resistance-flow to connect the push from other students to the effect of voltage in the circuit. The working hypothesis of such activities is that it is possible to make a mechanical kinaesthetic model with the same types of relations between variables, as there would be in an electrical, thermodynamic, hydrodynamic, or quantum mechanical system. ...
One of the major difficulties in learning physics is for students to develop a conceptual understanding of the core concepts of physics. Many authors argue that students’ conceptions of basic physical phenomena are rooted in basic schemas, originating in fundamental kinaesthetic experiences of being. We argue that this idea should be utilized in physics instruction, that kinaesthetic activities will provide useful entry point for students’ acquisition of the basic conceptions of physics, and that they can overcome the phenomenological gap between experiential and conceptual understanding. We discuss the nature of image schemas and focus particularly on one: effort-resistance-flow. This schema is fundamental not only in our everyday experience, but also in most of school physics. We show how enactment of a particular kinaesthetic model can support student understanding and intuition with respect to central physics concepts, and describe and explain the design of lesson with based on the model.
... The fact that much of physics' subject matter deals with the actions and interactions of objects at the scale of the human body makes kinesthetic learning activities i.e activities that physically engage students in the learning process (Begel et al., 2004) a fruitful approach. It seems that activities that allow interactions with materials or equipment, often referred to as hands-on activities (see Sliško & Planinšič, 2010), activities where students use their bodies as a sensor for physical interactions (see Bracikowski et al., 1998) or role-playing of natural phenomena much larger or smaller than the human body (see Singh, 2010;Morrow, 2000) all fall under this umbrella term, i.e. kinesthetic learning. Existing PER (Physics Education Research) work has, to a moderate extent, designed and implemented interventions over the years (see Richards, 2020Richards, , 2019Mylott et al., 2014;Whitworth et al., 2014;Besson et al., 2007), but how these interventions affect understanding hasn't been extensively investigated (see Coletta et al., 2019;Herakeioti & Pantidos, 2015;Hadzigeorgiou et al., 2008;Levin et al., 1990). ...
Pioneers of educational theory have called for a greater emphasis on kinesthetic learning, a claim also supported by interdisciplinary embodied cognition research. This article focuses on the effectiveness of a body-based intervention designed to familiarize participants with the physics concept of impulse. We investigated whether the use of one's own body as an element of activity can help 6th graders successfully adopt adequate reasoning when answering relevant questions. The assessment procedure took the form of an interview and our conclusions demonstrated that students adopt a multimodal framework (speech, gestures, body movement) to solve problems designed to include human-centered experiences, the haptic manipulation of objects, and everyday illustrated situations. The performance of a respectable number of students shifted from a lack of insight into a scientifically accepted conceptualization. Introducing purposeful planned movement when teaching physics concepts in the early years is a valuable tool for any educator wishing to add value to his students' learning. Introduction The embodied cognition paradigm has challenged the perception that knowledge is disembodied and abstract mental representations. It argues that "cognitive processes arise from...continuous kinesthetic interactions between the brain, the body and the environment" (Thompson, 2007, p. 10) manifesting that the cognitive system is organized to support the targeted action in the environment (Robbins & Aydede, 2008). Barsalou (1999) theorized that knowledge is based on perceptual symbol systems, i.e. symbols consisting of structural elements of neural activity that arise from sensory perception. In a learning setting, this thread of research reveals that humans reuse brain structures once activated during a previous action, highlighting the presence of simulations in cognitive function (see Anderson, 2010; Decety & Grèzes, 2006). The embodied cognition paradigm also stands by the notion that mental representations of abstract concepts are formed by simulations of perceptual experiences and bodily interactions with the environment (Barsalou, 1999). This argument is also supported by the work of Lakoff and Johnson (1999), who attempted to investigate why language is to a great extent, metaphorical. In their analysis, the use of a metaphor is much more than direct speech. A metaphor reveals how people represent and reflect on abstract concepts, that is, through real interactions of the body with the world. Currently, stating that all cognition is embodied is open to debate (see Goldinger et al., 2016) and even embodied cognitivism has adopted a range of views, from the most simple (Clark, 1999) to the most radical (Kiverstein, 2012). However all approaches of embodied cognition agree that bodily experiences constitute an integral part in the construction of meaning, both for concrete and abstract concepts (Goldman, 2012). Likewise, in terms of educational contexts, its application is self-explanatory. It is therefore not surprising that recent reviews have called to further investigate the principles of body usage in an educational
... Physics education research (PER) leverages bodily engagement to make sense of concepts and phenomena and is indeed flourishing in the data-backed design and implementation of such activities. Students can interact with physical apparatus or material (Sliško & Planinšič, 2010;Trout & Gaston, 2001), and students' bodies can be used as a sensor for physical interaction (Singh, 2010;Besson et al., 2007;Bracikowski et al., 1998) or they can role-play physical phenomena that may be much larger or smaller compared to their body (Scherr et al., 2012;McSharry & Jones, 2000). ...
Decades of research support the benefits of movement for cognitive development however this link remains unexploited in educational practice. For this reason, embodied cognition serves as the theoretical underpinnings of this study proposing that thoughts and actions are influenced by sensory experience. Fifty-eight 6th-grade students were divided into two groups: The first group participated in activities designed for full-body movement and the second observed the haptic manipulation of materials by an educator. The study thus utilized a two-group design and was conducted in phases: pretest, intervention, immediate posttest and delayed posttest. The entire process was recorded to assess students’ understanding and the multimodal text thereby created included both spoken word and bodily expressions such as posture and gestures, enabling us to closely follow the progress of every participant. The range of responses was then narrowed down to adequate and inadequate, followed by statistical processing of the data. The results showed that both execution and observation effectively contributed to the improved performance of students immediately after the interventions. Nevertheless, students who participated in bodily-based activities showed an additional advantage four months later. While this study focused solely on circular motion, the idea to investigate physical engagement and its impact on students’ understanding could be extended to other content, and the long-term effectiveness of bodily-based learning ought to encourage a redesign of the official curriculum.
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... These results are consistent with the results of research conducted by Rahmawati et al. (2017) on the concept of rotational dynamics showing that the students' resources had not been coupled coherently so that the less dominant resource would be delayed to activate than the more dominant resource. In addition, research conducted by Singh (2010) also shows that many students do not have a complete understanding of the electrical circuit, such as a small error in determining the amount of electric current on the second side of a lamp in a series of which many students still assume a different magnitude. ...
In agreement with problem-solving skills, identifying conceptual understanding is an important topic in physics. The purpose of this study was to analyze the conceptual understanding of physics teacher prospective students on direct current based electric material “Knowledge in Piece” Theory. The study used a mixed-method approach with an explanatory model with 148 Physics Pre-service at the Jambi University, Indonesia. Data were collected using tests and interviews. The students were given a test using reasoned multiplechoice question developed to find out the understanding of student concepts, while unstructured interviews were conducted to confirm student answers that were not clear.Data analysis was done by using a rubric which as developed based on the possible reasons for student’ answer to the concept of direct current electricity. The result of study showed that understanding the concept of students in direct current electricity material is still not very good, this is shown from the study data only 6 people (4%) of 148 students who can activate the concept well and completely. The findings show that student understanding is still in the form of concept pieces. Students are not able to connect concepts properly. When asked about sub-material students have an understanding, but when the problem is given is complete enough students are not able to connect every concept to the sub-material that they understand correctly. These results give strength that the students' understanding had not been coupled coherently so that the less dominant resource would be delayed to activate than the more dominant resource.
... The basic principles of quantum mechanics including the superposition of states, the behavior under measurements as well as entanglement can be treated together with advanced topics such as decoherence. A key ingredient are kinesthetic activities [25][26][27][28] that allow students to directly experience these features, which supports a better understanding and helps assimilate concepts. One nice feature is that students are supposed to discover underlying rules from experimental data, thereby taking on the role of true scientists. ...
We present a game-based approach to teach Bell inequalities and quantum cryptography at high school. The approach is based on kinesthetic activities and allows students to experience and discover quantum features and their applications first-hand. We represent quantum states by the orientation of students, and mimic quantitative random behaviour and measurements using dice and apps.
... In ELAs, a teacher incorporates students' bodies, or parts of their bodies, as metaphorical substitutes for physical entities in a role playing of physical phenomena (e.g., Refs. [60,61,[73][74][75]). This is in contrast to the more generic KLAs, where a teacher incorporates students' bodies as sensors and nonmetaphorical participants in phenomena. ...
In this paper, we present a case study of a pair of students as they use nondisciplinary communicative practices to mechanistically reason about binary star dynamics. To do so, we first review and bring together the theoretical perspectives of social semiotics and embodied cognition, therein developing a new methodological approach for analyzing student interactions during the learning of physics (particularly for those interactions involving students’ bodies). Through the use of our new approach, we are able to show how students combine a diverse range of meaning-making resources into complex, enacted analogies, thus forming explanatory models that are grounded in embodied intuition. We reflect on how meaning-making resources—even when not physically persistent—can act as coordinating hubs for other resources as well as how we might further nuance the academic conversation around the role of the body in physics learning.
... This allows them not only to play and behave like scientists, but helps them to internalize the non-classical features and strange properties of a quantum world. The role-play in science teaching [19] has attracted interest over the past years, and there exist several examples [20][21][22] in the literature of different applications of kinesthetic activities used to teach concepts of physics. Kinesthetic activities provide direct illustrations of the physical concepts, which makes it easier for the students to create image schemas that help understanding. ...
We introduce a game to illustrate the principles of quantum mechanics using a qubit (or spin-first) approach, where students can experience and discover its puzzling features first-hand. Students take the role of particles and scientists. Scientists unravel underlying rules and properties by collecting and analysing data that is generated by observing particles that act according to given rules. We show how this allows one to illustrate quantum states, their stochastic behavior under measurements as well as quantum entanglement. In addition, we use this approach to illustrate and discuss decoherence, and a modern application of quantum features, namely quantum cryptography. We have tested the game in class and report on the results we obtained.
... We also did not explicitly review how the circuit would work using the parts in the LilyPad kits. We did, howev- er, give the students a more conceptual introduction to circuits using a kinesthetic game called the "Electron Runaround" (Singh, 2010). This game involved a representation of a circuit taped to the floor and the students moving through the circuit as electrons, responding appropriately when the circuit switched from "open" to "closed." ...
The purpose of this iterative design-based research study was to determine best practices when using e-textiles for learning in four diverse contexts. We employed a qualitative, ethnographic case study approach, and used interviews, observations, journals, and audiovisual materials in our data collection to explore student engagement with e-textile materials over a two-year period. The data from each iteration were coded using a thematic coding system. Results indicated that collaboration, choice, and making with purpose were the most important factors for student engagement and learning. Importantly , we found that different demographics of students require different supports in the Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation 41:1 (2018) 544 learning process with e-textiles, and that student-driven making is critical when using e-textiles for learning. Résumé Le but de cette recherche itérative, basée sur la conception, visait à déterminer les meilleures pratiques lors de l'utilisation de textiles électroniques pour l'apprentissage dans quatre contextes différents. Nous avons utilisé une approche d'étude de cas ethno-graphique qualitative et nous avons utilisé des entrevues, des observations, des revues, et des documents audiovisuels dans notre collection de données pour explorer l'engage-ment des élèves avec des matériaux électroniques pendant une période de deux ans. Les données de chaque itération ont été codées à l'aide d'un système de codage thématique. Les résultats ont indiqué que la collaboration, le choix, et «making» avec un but pré-déterminé étaient les facteurs les plus importants pour l'engagement des élèves et pour l'apprentissage en général. Il est important de noter que nous avons constaté que les différentes données démographiques des étudiant(e)s requièrent des soutiens différents dans le processus d'apprentissage avec les textiles électroniques et que la fabrication dirigée par les élèves est essentielle pour l'apprentissage des textiles électroniques.
... In physics for example, the misconception that gamma radiation is most penetrating due to its high energy as compared to alpha and beta particles without referencing their relative ionizing properties with their environment, has been observed in high school and college students (Alsop & Watts, 2000;Henriksen & Jorde, 2001;Prather & Harrington, 2001;Rego & Peralta, 2006), and teachers (Aubrecht & Torick, 2001;Colclough, Lock & Soares, 2011). Other misconceptions such as current flow in physics (Liegeois & Mullet, 2002;Perkins & Grotzer, 2005;Pratim & Wilensky, 2009;Singh, 2010), evolution and photosynthesis in biology (Ahopelto et al., 2011;Garvin-Doxas & Klymkowsky, 2008;Kalinowski, Leonard & Andrews, 2010;Storey, 1989), and gravity, magnetism, gases, and temperature at the elementary levels (Burgoon et al., 2010;Kruger, Summers & Palatio, 1990;Tatar, 2011) have also been documented in students and teachers. These various studies suggest that there is a relationship between teacher and student understanding in science. ...
This study investigates science teachers' understanding and teaching of complex systems. The field of complex systems is the study of how parts of a system give rise to its collective behaviors. Since the 1990s, scientific and educational agencies have advocated the importance of complex systems in science education. Despite this call for instructional emphasis in complex systems, recent studies have shown that students continue to have poor understanding of these systems.
Current efforts in addressing this problem have focused on promoting student learning of complex systems. There are also a few studies that examine this problem from a teacher perspective. While these endeavors have yielded various successes and discoveries, the findings concerning teachers' complexity understanding and instructional practices are not conclusive. This is because most studies are small-scale, involve selective teachers, or investigate singular aspects of complex systems understanding. In short, we have yet to gain a thorough insight of the extent science teachers understand and teach complex systems.
This research addresses the gaps directly by looking at science teachers' understanding and teaching of complex systems. It examines what they know and teach about complex systems, how their instructional practices may be influenced by their understanding and why the ideas may be difficult to comprehend and teach. This research was conducted with 90 11th and 12th grades science teachers across six Singapore schools. A mixed methods design was used.
The findings revealed that while science teachers might appreciate the complex nature of systems, their understanding was not comprehensive: few teachers had prior knowledge of this domain; and certain complex systems ideas appeared better understood than others. It was also found that complex systems ideas were conveyed in science lessons but the extent the ideas were taught was uneven. These ideas were conveyed more often in biology than in chemistry and physics, and certain ideas were more explicitly taught. Teachers with better complex systems understanding were also better able to convey these ideas in their lessons. Several reasons impeding teachers' understanding and teaching of complex systems were also revealed. Implications for research and professional development for science teachers are discussed.
... Energy Theater is thus embodied in two separate senses: it makes explicit use of a particular experientially grounded metaphor (energy as a quasi-material substance), and it uses the human body to symbolize physical entities (Stevens, 2012). A variety of other embodied learning activities have been developed in which the body represents mathematical entities (Touval & Westreich, 2003), molecules (Ross, Tronson, & Ritchie, 2008), electrical charges (Manogue et al., 2001;Singh, 2010), celestial bodies (Morrow, 2000;Reinfeld & Hartman, 2008;Richards, 2010), computer science entities (Begel, Garcia, & Wolfman, 2004), components of a dynamic system (Colella, 2000;Resnick & Wilensky, 1998), cellular processes (Chinnicci, Yue, & Torres, 2004;Wyn & Stegnik, 2000), and even literary devices (Zimmerman, 2002). ...
We demonstrate that a particular blended learning space is especially productive in developing understanding of energy transfers and transformations. In this blended space, naturally occurring learner interactions like body movement, gesture, and metaphorical speech are blended with a conceptual metaphor of energy as a substance in a class of activities called Energy Theater. We illustrate several mechanisms by which the blended aspect of the learning environment promotes productive intellectual engagement with key conceptual issues in the learning of energy, including distinguishing among energy processes, disambiguating matter and energy, identifying energy transfer, and representing energy as a conserved quantity. Conceptual advancement appears to be promoted especially by the symbolic material and social structure of the Energy Theater environment, in which energy is represented by participants and objects are represented by areas demarcated by loops of rope, and by Energy Theater's embodied action, including body locomotion, gesture, and coordination of speech with symbolic spaces in the Energy Theater arena. Our conclusions are (1) that specific conceptual metaphors can be leveraged to benefit science instruction via the blending of an abstract space of ideas with multiple modes of concrete human action, and (2) that participants’ structured improvisation plays an important role in leveraging the blend for their intellectual development.
... Another type of model students use effortresistanceflow to model interactions of some model or theory. Students enacting being electrons in a circuit (Singh 2010) may use effortresistanceflow to connect the push from other students to the effect of voltage in the circuit. The working hypothesis of such models is that it is possible to make a mechanical kinesthetic model with the same types of relations between variables as there would be in an electrical, thermodynamic, hydrodynamic, or quantum mechanical system ...
One of the major difficulties in learning physics is for students to develop
a conceptual understanding of the core concepts of physics. Many authors have
argued that student conceptions of basic physical phenomena are rooted in basic
schemas, originating in fundamental kinesthetic experiences of being. If
central schemas have a bodily basis, this idea should be utilized in physics
instruction. Thus, we argue that kinesthetic activities, including careful
experiential and conceptual analysis will provide useful entry point for
student acquisition of the basic conceptions of physics, and can overcome the
phenomenological gap between the experiential and the conceptual understanding.
We discuss the nature of image schemas and focus particularly on one:
effort-resistance-flow. We argue that this schema is fundamental not only in
our everyday experience, but also in most of school physics. We provide an
example of a kinesthetic model and describe how an instructional strategy of
these exercises can support student understanding and intuition with respect to
central physics concepts.
... We identify Energy Theater as a member of a class of representations that we call embodied representations, in which instructors deliberately arrange for human bodies, or parts of the body, to stand in for physics entities in the description or explanation of a phenomenon. Instructional materials that use embodied representations include Kinesthetic Astronomy [19] and sections of Physics by Inquiry [20], in which learners' bodies represent celestial bodies, certain activities in Paradigms in Physics [21] in which learners act out effective potential plots, curvilinear basis vectors, and charge and current density, and the Electron Runaround [22], in which learners' bodies stand in for charges in an electric circuit. ...
The Energy Project at Seattle Pacific University has developed representations that embody the substance metaphor and support learners in conserving and tracking energy as it flows from object to object and changes form. Such representations enable detailed modeling of energy dynamics in complex physical processes. We assess student learning by means of representations that learners invent to explain energy dynamics in specific real-world scenarios. Refined versions of these learner-generated representations have proven valuable for our own teaching, physics understanding, and research.
... Another example of an embodied learning activity in physics is the application of the right-hand rule for determining the direction of the magnetic force on a moving charge. A variety of other embodied learning activities have been developed in which the body represents mathematical entities [49], molecules [50], electrical charges [51,52], celestial bodies [53][54][55], computer science entities [56], components of a dynamic system [57,58], cellular processes [59,60], and even literary devices [61]. ...
We provide evidence that a learning activity called Energy Theater engages learners with key conceptual issues in the learning of energy, including disambiguating matter flow and energy flow and theorizing mechanisms for energy transformation. A participationist theory of learning, in which learning is indicated by changes in speech and behavior, supports ethnographic analysis of learners’ embodied interactions with each other and the material setting. We conduct detailed analysis to build plausible causal links between specific features of Energy Theater and the conceptual engagement that we observe. Disambiguation of matter and energy appears to be promoted especially by the material structure of the Energy Theater environment, in which energy is represented by participants, while objects are represented by areas demarcated by loops of rope. Theorizing mechanisms of energy transformation is promoted especially by Energy Theater’s embodied action, which necessitates modeling the time ordering of energy transformations.
Embodied cognition has been a useful means to support learning in science education. In this article, we describe a model of embodied cognition through analogical mapping that is supported through the participatory simulation and mathematical description of a link and pivot system. We look at the propensity for this model of embodied cognition to support student mechanistic reasoning. While these link and pivot systems provide students with immediate perceptual accessibility to their components, they do not provide perceptual accessibility to the way that forces are transmitted through them. In an afterschool STEM program, students engaged in a participatory simulation (the Rope Walk) of the link and pivot system that allowed them to simulate the parts and forces present. Then, students progressively re‐described these physical experiences as a mathematical system; they then described the simulation and mathematical system as the physical link and pivot system. In this study, this model of embodied cognition was validated through a microgenetic analysis of student talk and gesture during the first two instructional sessions as well as during pre‐ and post‐assessments. These data show that students were supported to construct analogical mappings between three analog conceptual domains: the participatory simulation (the Rope Walk), the physical system (link and pivot system), and the mathematical system (the mathematics of circles). In addition, students made gains on measures of mechanistic reasoning and explanation.
Recent progress in the development of quantum technologies, most notably in the context of quantum computing and cryptography, poses the question of whether and how to teach the modern and sophisticated underlying theory of quantum physics, and its applications, at school. To this end, we present a game-based approach to teach Bell inequalities and quantum cryptography at undergraduate level. The approach is based on kinesthetic activities and allows students to experience and discover quantum features and their applications first-hand. The students obtain the same results as if they were in a real laboratory performing sophisticated experiments such as Bell tests, without requiring expensive tools and facilities. Specifically, quantum states are represented by the orientation of students, who also play the role of quantum particles, and mimic quantitative random behaviour and measurements using dice and apps.
The purpose of this study is to explore the understanding of the concept of students in understanding the concept of dynamic electricity. The subjects were 32 physics students of Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia. The instrument used is a conceptual question about the electrical dynamic. Data collected from student tests and arguments. Based on the research data, on the discussion of electric current, as much as 43,13% of students have correct conception. In the discussion voltage, as much as 46,09% of students have an accurate understanding. In the discussion of resistance, as much as 55,21% of students have correct conception. It can conclude that there are still many students who have difficulty in understanding the concept of electrical current, electric voltage, and electrical resistance. Advised to do further research to explore the causes of misconceptions experienced by students to find the best way to teach the concept.
The phenomenon of electric polarization is crucial to student understanding of forces exerted between charged objects and insulators or conductors, the process of charging by induction, and the behavior of electroscopes near charged objects. In addition, polarization allows for microscopic-level models of everyday-life macroscopic-level phenomena. Textbooks may adequately discuss polarization, but there is little material in active learning labs and tutorials on this topic. Since polarization of materials is a microscopic phenomenon, instructors often use diagrams and figures on the classroom board to explain the process in a lecture setting. In this paper I will describe a classroom activity where the students play the role of electrons as an alternative option.
The concept of electric current is fundamental in the study of electrical engineering (EE). Students are often exposed to this concept in their daily lives and early in middle school education. Lower-division university courses are usually limited to the study of passive electronic devices and simple electric circuits. Semiconductor physics is an upper-division course that presents the physics behind semiconductor devices in depth and exposes the students to microscale explanations of different types of current, such as drift and diffusion currents. This paper investigates how third-year college students majoring in EE link microscale and macroscale concepts of current, and what misconceptions they reveal after one quarter of advanced instruction in semiconductor physics. The interviewees were posed a problem, based on a distracting device structure that exposed student difficulties in defining current, charges and doping, and the plotting of current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. For example, some students had the naïve idea that current is the flow of a particular type of charge (i.e., only electrons or only holes) or that there is a "spectrum of doping." Almost all students drew a one-quadrant coordinate system for the I-V curves, which might imply that students think only about positive voltages. These findings can inform further studies to identify and address misconceptions in the important area of semiconductor device physics.
The traditional treatment of the electric circuit in textbooks can be criticized in at least three respects: 1. Knowledge of the global aspects of the electric circuit as a system is essential for a deeper understanding. However, this is not sufficiently emphasized. 2. The introduction of the term " potential difference " or " voltage " as " energy per charge " is unnecessarily abstract because any connection to surface charges, which always exist, is left out. 3. The treatment of the electric circuit, based on Ohm´s law and Kirchhoff´s rules, is exclusively based on stationary states, without including the ever-existing transition processes. This article concentrates on the global aspects of the electric circuit as a system and its importance for a deeper understanding; it also provides detailed information for corresponding classroom activities. The other two critical points are treated in subsequent articles.
We present and evaluate a new mixed-reality tool called SharedPhys, which tightly integrates real-time physiological sensing, whole-body interaction, and responsive large-screen visualizations to support new forms of embodied interaction and collaborative learning. While our primary content area is the human body, we use the body and physical activity as a pathway to other STEM areas such as biology, health, and mathematics. We describe our participatory design process with 20 elementary school teachers, the development of three contrasting SharedPhys prototypes, and results from six exploratory evaluations in two after-school programs. Our findings suggest that the tight coupling between physical interaction, sensing, and visualization in a multi-user environment helps promote engagement, allows children to easily explore cause-and-effect relationships, supports and shapes social interactions, and promotes playful experiences.
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