EL TELÉFONO CELULAR COMO RECURSO DIDÁCTICO EN EL ÁLGEBRA VECTORIAL PARA LA FÍSICA EN EL NIVEL MEDIO SUPERIOR

Abstract

Interactive Lecture Demonstration (ILD) is a methodology developed by Sokoloff and Thornton (2004) for teaching physics, and has proven that it promotes learning in introductory physics courses at university level; sometimes the ILD requires the use of computer and video projector, to develop the activity. In this thesis it is proposed the use of students' cell phones to replace the requirement of using computer and video projector in classrooms. It also presents the results of using an ILD strategy in teaching physics by using cell phones. This strategy was applied in high school level 16 and 17 years old learners. The theme used to apply this methodology was vector algebra, addition and subtraction of vectors, which is part of the Physics I curriculum at Centro de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos 11 Wilfrido Massieu in Instituto Politécnico Nacional University (CECYT 11). Using as a reference the vector ILD proposed by Sokoloff and Thornton, a new ILD was developed using cell phones to its application. To make it, seven programs were designed in Java2 Micro Edition, to run on cell phones. The ILD was applied in CECYT 11 to an Experimental Group, and a Control Group was used. The efficiency of the ILD was evaluated with the test on vectors proposed by Meltzer and Nguyen (2003) which was used as pre-test and post-test, the gain of Hake (1998) was calculated for each of the concepts evaluated, so it was found that the ILD involved students in their learning process, as well as it allowed them to socialize their knowledge and confront their own ideas to their peers´. A cell phone is used to show students the correct procedure. It allows them to compare with a correct results interactively in real time, without having to ask the teacher to repeat the procedure, that way is the student himself who controls the application as well as his/her own learning process.