=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2740/20200423
|storemode=property
|title=The Use of Virtual Physics Laboratories in Professional Training: the
Analysis of the Academic Achievements Dynamics
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2740/20200423.pdf
|volume=Vol-2740
|authors=Olena Semenikhina,Marina Drushlyak,Artem Yurchenko,Olga Udovychenko,Dmytro Budyanskiy
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/icteri/SemenikhinaDYUB20
}}
==The Use of Virtual Physics Laboratories in Professional Training: the
Analysis of the Academic Achievements Dynamics==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2740/20200423.pdf
The Use of Virtual Physics Laboratories in Professional
Training: the Analysis of the Academic Achievements
Dynamics
Olena Semenikhina1[0000-0002-3896-8151], Marina Drushlyak1[000-0002-9648-2248],
Artem Yurchenko1[0000-0002-6770-186X], Olga Udovychenko1[0000-0002-3401-3251],
Dmytro Budyanskiy1[0000-0002-5699-6359]
1
Makarenko Sumy State Pedagogical University, Romenska St. 87, Sumy, Ukraine
e.semenikhina@fizmatsspu.sumy.ua, marydru@fizmatsspu.sumy.ua,
a.yurchenko@fizmatsspu.sumy.ua, udovich_olga@fizmatsspu.sumy.ua,
budianskiy1977@ukr.net
Abstract. The development of information technology cause the emergence of dif-
ferent classes of software such as virtual environment for various experiments.
Among such a software, there are virtual physics laboratories that are means for edu-
cational, scientific and professional activities of physicists, physics teachers, comput-
er science teachers and IT specialists. Numerous pedagogical findings confirm both
positive dynamics and negative impact of such software on educational achievements.
Given the ambiguity of the conclusions, we have formulated the problem: is it advisa-
ble to use virtual physics laboratories instead of relevant physics devices in the study
of physics disciplines. The search for an answer to this question caused the organiza-
tion and carrying out the pedagogical experiment, the results of which are presented
in the article. Students of specialties “014 Secondary education (Physics)”, “014 Sec-
ondary education (Computer Science)”, “122 Computer science” were participants in
the experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to study the dynamics of educa-
tional achievements of students whose training used virtual physics laboratories. Non-
parametric sign test and Student‟s test of comparison average values were used as
methods of statistical analysis. Because of the experiment, the positive dynamics for
all specialties were confirmed, but the largest dynamics were for the specialty 122
“Computer science”, and the smallest ones were for the specialty 014 “Secondary
education (Physics)”. The best dynamics of results of IT students' achievements gives
grounds to recommend to include more courses related to the study of information
technologies in professional teachers‟ training, because we consider this to be the
cause of these results.
Keywords: Virtual Physical Laboratory, Professional Training, Educational
Achievements, Physics Teachers„ Training, Computer Science Teachers„ Trai-
ning, IT Specialists„ Training.
Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
1 Introduction
Modern university training with necessity involves mastering information processes.
The development of information technology (IT) in the field of physical education has
led to the emergence of specialized software, the use of which involves operating
computer means provided by developers. Such means can be divided into two types.
The first allows you to model ideal processes. However, often in such situations, the
actual implementation of research requires considerable costs of materials, electricity,
time, availability of sophisticated equipment, significant monetary costs or reveals a
factor of dangerous influence on the researcher. The second type involves the use of
real data, which can then be used in the experiment with any model by a software.
The first type is virtual physics laboratories, and the second is digital ones. Today,
their use is possible at different levels of education from school to research institute,
and therefore, their mastering is of interest to many educators, scholars and research-
ers in different fields of knowledge.
Virtual physics laboratories have been particularly developed, as often the study of
natural processes requires either high computational costs or powerful visual support,
or is life-threatening for the researcher. Therefore, the feasibility of using physics
virtual physical laboratories today is beyond doubt. On the other hand, the qualitative
training of IT specialists also requires the awareness of the physical processes that
take place within the information system at the micro level, and therefore it is
necessary for IT spesialists to master the tools of such laboratories.
Let us mention one more group of specialists who also need to master the tools of
virtual physics laboratories during their professional training. It is worth noting that
the facilities of educational institutions do not have modern quality physical
equipment because of its high cost. At the same time, the outdated equipment is not
used or even written off. Instead, educational institutions are trying to replace the lack
of physical equipment with information equipment – they buy specialized software.
We should add that the introduction of modern equipment in the educational process
provides solutions to the problems of modernization of the educational base and
informatization of education, which are formulated in the National Strategy for the
Development of Education in Ukraine for 2012-2021 [1] and in the Concept of the
state target social program for improving the quality of school science [2], which
stated the need for natural and mathematical subjects teachers‟ training and the
introduction of modern information technologies in the educational process,
equipping chemistry, biology, physics, geography, mathematics laboratoties with
modern equipment. Compliance with the legislative requirements for improving the
quality of school natural and mathematical education results in the advanced future
physics teachers‟ training who are able, among other things, to work and organize
research in laboratories of this type.
Therefore, virtual physical laboratories are means of both educational and
professional activities of physicists, physics teachers, computer science teachers and
IT specialist. Therefore, research of the effect of their use in professional training is a
relevant pedagogical problem.
Professional training in the field of use of information technologies is the subject
of many scientific and pedagogical findings:
theoretical principles of the informatization of the education, including
professional (M. I. Zhaldak, L. P. Martirosjan, I. V .Robert);
the involvement of the specialized software in the training of IT specialists
(V. S. Kruhlyk, T. V. Voloshyna, A. M. Striuk);
the introduction of ICT in the professional computer science teachers‟ training
(T. V. Pidhorna, H. V. Tkachuk, V. V. Chernykh);
the use of IT in the physicists‟ and physics teachers‟ training (A. M. Andrieiev,
A. Yu. Yurchenko).
The review [3] presents the attempt to synthesize recent (up to 2005) empirical
studies that focus on comparing learning outcome achievement using traditional lab
(hands-on) and non-traditional lab (virtual and remote). It is found out that student
learning outcome achievement is equal or higher in non-traditional lab versus tradi-
tional lab across all learning outcome categories (knowledge and understanding, in-
quiry skills, practical skills, perception, analytical skills, and social and scientific
communication).
The features of organizing and conducting a physical experiment based on virtual
laboratories are studied in the foreign researchers‟ findings. The problem of choosing
a virtual laboratory and mastering it in the process of physics teachers‟ training is
solved in [4]. The finding [5] deals with the use of virtual physical laboratories for
educational experiments in physics in the future engineers‟ training. The use of an
innovative 3D virtual reality learning environment, which aims to help students in
learning and teachers in explaining the various processes of the physics course is de-
scribed in [6]. The results of the impact of the use of virtual laboratories on the
improvement of creative abilities of future physics teachers is highlighted in [7]. The
finding [8] reports of a novel approach of computer science students‟ teaching using
virtual laboratory.
The analysis of the mentioned and other findings confirmed the effectiveness of
involvement of IT in the professional specialists‟ training. At the same time, we
recorded the findings about the negative impact on the educational achievements [9,
10].
Given the ambiguity of the findings and the constant development of specialized
software, in particular the development of virtual physical laboratories, the problem
arose: is it advisable to use the virtual physics laboratories instead of ordinary
physical devices in the study of physical disciplines. Finding the solusion of this prob-
lem led to the organization and conducting of a pedagogical experiment, the results of
which are presented in this article.
2 Dynamics of students’ academic achievement in the process of
virtual physics laboratories use
The pedagogical experiment lasted for 2015-2019. Students of Makarenko Sumy
State Pedagogical University, future physics teachers (27 people), computer science
teachers (44 people) and IT specialists (specialty “Computer Science”, 18 people)
were participants of the experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to clarify the
nature of the impact (positive or negative) of the use of virtual laboratories on the
level of educational achievement of students – future physics teachers, computer
science teachers, IT specialists.
The use of virtual physical laboratories in the future specialists‟ training is
summarized in Table 1. The disciplines that required the mandatory use of virtual
physics laboratories are mentioned in the Table.
Table 1. General information about the period of the virtual physics laboratories use
Semester The
Specialty Discipline Note
of study volume
Maple, Electronics
014 Secondary The fundamentals
5 5 Workbench (EWB),
education. Physics of microelectronics
Multisim
014 Secondary
The fundamentals Maple, Proteus,
education. Comput- 5 5
of microelectronics Multisim
er Science
122 Computer sci- The fundamentals Maple, Proteus,
5 5
ence of microelectronics Multisim
The special course on which the experiment was conducted involved the study of
the following topics.
1. The calculation of the differential resistance of the diode.
2. Non-equilibrium and equilibrium bridges.
3. Measuring the parameters of the bipolar transistor.
4. Amplifiers.
5. TTL and CMOS basic elements.
6. Decoder modeling.
7. Relaxation generators.
8. Triggers.
9. Modeling of arithmetic and logic devices.
Each topic was mastered at a laboratory session (4-6 hours each). Comments and
instructions for getting started with the mandatory use of a virtual physical lab were
offered to get the job done.
In order to confirm the assumption that “the use of virtual physical laboratories to
demonstrate physical phenomena and processes is positively impact on the level of
educational achievement”, we applied the sign test as a non-parametric method of
statistical evaluation of educational achievements. This method is intended to
compare the status of some properties of members of a sample based on
measurements made on an ordinal scale.
At the beginning and at the end of the pedagogical experiment, respondents were
asked two modeling tasks in any virtual physics laboratory of physical (for example,
simulation of the operation of a resistance transistor, a majority amplifier, etc.). Such
tasks could be solved by students, because the general physics course was provided
for each specialty at the first year, and the study of physical and mathematical
laboratories was foreseen at the second year. Let us note that unlike future computer
science teachers and IT specialists, future physics teachers have studied different
physics branches for 4 semesters. This gave reason to talk about the possible highest
level of educational achievements in physics before conducting the experiment. But
we studied the dynamics of educational achievement, and therefore this fact was
neglected.
The results of solving physical problems were recorded on a 5-point scale for each
respondent. Since a different number of students of these specialties were involved
the experiment, it was decided to take 15 paired results randomly (Table 2-4).
Table 2. The results for the specialty 014 “Secondary education (Physics)”
Students
1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Average
(№) 6
The first
3 2 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 2 2 3 3,13
control
The second
3 3 4 3 4 5 4 5 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 3,67
control
Sign of
0 + + 0 + + + + - 0 0 - + + +
difference
Hypothesis H0: "The use of virtual laboratories does not impact on the level of
academic achievement". The alternative hypothesis Ha is "The use of virtual labs has
a positive effect on the level of students‟ academic achievement".
Table 3. The results for the specialty 014 “Secondary education (Computer Science)”
Students
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Average
(№)
The first
3 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 4 2 3 4 3 3,13
control
The second
4 2 4 5 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 5 5 3,87
control
Sign of
+ - + + 0 + + + 0 + 0 + 0 + +
difference
Table 4. The results for the specialty 122 "Computer science”
Students
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Average
(№)
The first
3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 3 3,13
control
The second
5 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 5 4 4 3 3 5 4 3,93
control
Sign of
+ + + 0 + + + 0 + + 0 0 0 + +
difference
We apply the one-sided sing test [11]. We need to calculate the value of the
statistics T of the test, which is equal to the number of positive differences (last row
of tables). The value of n is calculated as the number of non-zero results. To
determine the critical values of statistics at the significance level of 0.05, we use the
appropriate table [11] for n <100 (Table 5).
Table 5. The Grounds for hypothesis
Conclusion on the Dynamics of
Specialty Т n Тcrit acceptance of the educational
hypothesis achievements
014 “Secondary education
9 15-4=11 8 Ha (9>8) +0,54
(Physics)”
014 “Secondary education
10 15-4=11 8 Ha (10>8) +0,74
(Computer Science)”
122 “Computer science” 10 15-5=10 8 Ha (10>8) +0,80
Therefore, according to the decision rule for all specialties the null hypothesis is
rejected at the significance level α=0.05 and the alternative hypothesis is accepted.
This allows concluding that statistical improvement of educational achievement in
physics is due to the use of digital laboratories.
Analysis of the dynamics of academic achievement on the basis of comparison of
averages suggests that at the beginning of the experiment the initial level of
educational achievement for all three samples was the same on average (average score
3.13), but at the end of the second control it differs. The largest dynamics were
recorded for specialty 122 “Computer science”, and the smallest dynamics were
recorded for specialty 014 “Secondary education (Physics)”. In the sense of our
experiment, this means that the level of educational achievement in physics is more
influenced by information technology training, not physics training: modeling.
Therefore future IT specialists than by future physics perceive awareness of physical
processes better teachers.
3 Conclusion
Thus, the study allows us to state the following.
1. The use of virtual physical laboratories in the teaching of courses in physics, in
particular, the basics of microelectronics, has a positive effect on the level of academ-
ic achievement of students of specialties 014 “Secondary education (Physics)”, 014
“Secondary education (Computer Science)” and 122 “Computer Science”. According
to the results of the pedagogical experiment on the statistical sign test at the signifi-
cance level of 0.05, a positive shift in the levels of students' academic achievement
was confirmed.
2. The dynamics of the averages for each of the samples is set at: +0.54 for the
specialty 014 “Secondary education (Physics)”; +0.74 for specialty 014 “Secondary
education (Computer Science)”; +0.80 for specialty 122 “Computer Science”. The
better dynamics of the results of students‟ academic achievement for the IT specialties
gives reason to recommend the inclusion in the professional training of physics teach-
ers more courses related to the study of information technology, because we consider
it the reason for these results.
3. According to the results of the pedagogical experiment, the following questions
are open. How the use of digital physical laboratories influences the level of educa-
tional achievements in physics? Do either digital laboratories or virtual ones have a
greater impact on the level of academic achievement in physics? Is it important to use
two types of physical laboratories in the professional training of specialists?
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