The use of I.C.T. in the teaching of kinematics at post-secondary level – a case study

Abstract

This paper is meant to probe into the effectiveness of I.C.T. as a teaching resource. An experimental method was adopted as the research design of this study and two groups of students i.e. a test and a control group participated. The students were college students (16-18 year olds) who were studying Physics at Intermediate level. All students did a pre-test in order to establish equivalence of groups and to identify the different misconceptions that they have in the area under study - Kinematics. Two course layouts were designed for the test and control group. The test group was taught using simulations and video graphing as a teaching aid. The control group were taught using the lecture method and some simple demonstrations. Both courses ran parallel and addressed the misconceptions identified. A post-test was carried out to check for differences in achievements between the groups. Analysis of the results provided the raw material to identify how effective was the use of I.C.T. as a resource in the teaching of kinematics. The paper tries to identify the possible reasons for these results.