The following year, Hooke’s law and Newton’s second law of motion
were again taught to grade 11 students by the same physics teacher, yet in
the absence of the maths teacher. The laboratory sessions in this case
were of the verification type. The two verification type laboratory
sessions addressed the same topics as that of MBL sessions but involved
students in collecting and analyzing data to verify content matter taught in
class, discussing the results, and drawing a number of conclusions based
on the results. Again, these two sessions were videotaped for the purpose
of the study.
Hooke’s law and Newton’s second law of motion constituted a part of
the school physics curriculum and were taught according to the teachers’
yearly plans. In preparation for the MBL laboratory sessions, the teachers
prepared lesson plans that were discussed in a group meeting with the
researchers. Then, the teachers implemented the lessons in the school
physics laboratory. The physics teacher typically started the lesson and
did the experiment in collaboration with the students. Then, the maths
teacher took over as soon as the graph was displayed to select and discuss
with the students the mathematical functional relationship best described
by the graph. Two of the researchers attended the MBL sessions without
any interference in the lesson proceedings. The VTL sessions were also
conducted in the physics laboratory. However, the physics teacher used
the lesson plans he typically uses in such laboratories.