Honors Physics: Virtual Learning Experiences Using Frame.
Final exam or final project? For Honors Physics this year, the answer is final project — designing an interactive, virtual learning environment.
Connecting physics to the real world is important as well. We kicked this project off before spring break. Students were given a list of physics concepts that they learned during the year.
Then, during their spring break travels, students had to find examples of five of the above topics — and take a photo and video of that real world example. Not coincidentally, projectile motion seemed to be the most popular.
Once the students made their final selection, they then had to design an interactive, VR learning experience in Frame (framevr.io) based on the concept represented in their video.
Challenges
Students needed to consider the progression of learning from objectives to outcomes.
1. How does the learning take place in the virtual experience and how does it progress?
2. How can the learning experience parallel the learning experience that takes place in class: introduction → conceptual overview → mathematical overview → application → assessment.
3. How can a visitor experience diverse learning opportunities?
4. How do you communicate complex scientific information to the general public?
Benefits
1. While students were given the appropriate frame to use, students had voice and choice over the design process.
2. Students had voice and choice over their physics topics.
3. Students were able to use their own photo and video content to support the learning.
Many students went above and beyond the assignment requirements, integrating virtual whiteboards, simulations, videos, and additional 3D models into their Frames.
Magnolia B’s project
Magnolia’s Frame focused on motion in one dimension.
Magnolia’s reflection. Frame was a very interesting, interactive way to demonstrate my knowledge of a physics topic, motion in one direction. I liked that it gave me creative liberties to explain my topic in multiple ways, through different types of media. It helped me communicate my topic because I could use information from videos, websites, and my general knowledge from the year to teach other people about motion in one direction. It made me think about how I would teach a topic to someone with no basis in physics and truly developed my understanding of the topic in the process. Something I found challenging was that Frame would sometimes glitch, such as the “black zoom square issue,” where some of my media would not appear on the Frame even though I had put it there already. Overall, using Frame was a fascinating experience and an enjoyable final project.
Tess O’D’s project
Tess’ Frame focused on friction.
Tess’ reflection. Overall, I enjoyed using Frame this semester. Frame gave me the ability to incorporate many different kinds of media in my lesson, which I think provided a fuller understanding of friction and kept the viewer engaged. My favorite feature is probably the white board feature because it allows the viewer to interact with the space. One challenge in this project was deciding which content to prioritize because there is a limited amount of space to fill, and completely filling that space would overwhelm the viewer. I would enjoy doing another project using Frame, especially now that I am more familiar with the platform.
Course Learning Space
All fifteen projects, along with five mini-courses created using Mini-course generator, may be found at: Honors Physics Classroom on Frame.
Enjoy!
