1.4.1. Research questions
More specifically, the five conditions of the study were
compared to investigate the following research questions:
(a) Does physicality, as such, influence students’ under-
standing of
H
&
T
concepts?
(b) Does PME alone or VME alone enhance students’
understanding of
H
&
T
concepts more than traditional
instruction does?
(c) Does partial exposure to physicality (i.e., use of PME only
at specific parts of the experiment) before or after expo-
sure to virtual manipulation influence students’ under-
standing of
H
&
T
concepts? Specifically, if physicality is
a requirement for understanding physics concepts and
students are exposed first to PME and subsequently to
VME, is the initial exposure to physicality (PME) suffi-
cient to scaffold students’ understanding throughout the
subsequent VME experimentation? In the case where
students are exposed first to VME and subsequently to
PME, is the initial absence of physicality that detrimental
to students’ understanding to make it impossible to
conduct the subsequent experiments/activities and to
understand the subsequently introduced physics concepts?
This is particularly important in the context of a curric-
ulum, like the one used in the present study, which is
constructivist in nature
e
new knowledge is being con-
structed on the basis of prior understandings.
(d) Is partial exposure to the two modes of experimentation
(PME to VME and vice versa) effective as compared to
PME and VME alone, given that the nature of motor skills
involved in PME and VME is different? Also, is partial
exposure to the two modes of experimentation more
effective than traditional instruction?