CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1. The simulation mimics reality, with outcomes that depend on the users decisions and
actions (Geisart andFutrell, 2000). Simulations are best used by the students after
they have mastered a set of concepts and are ready to apply the acquired knowledge
(Norton and Sprague, 2001).
2. Effective simulation-using teacher employ three unique types of knowledge: content
knowledge about the specific topics that they teach; pedagogical knowledge, or the
understanding of how to teach and manage students (Shulman, 1986);
3. Simulation knowledge, which involves an understanding of the unique characteristics
of simulation software that lend themselves to a particular aspects of the teaching and
learning processes (Pierson, 2001).
4. At this state, the teacher plays the role as instructor to guide the students using the
simulation model. Guided practice is students opportunity to interact with the
material in a sheltered, assisted environment, often with the teacher leading the way
through the necessary steps of an exercise (Bitter and Legacy, 2008).
5. Educational simulations have been found to be effective in motivating students to
learn (Ke, 2008; Papastergiou, 2009; Tuzun, Yilmaz-Soylu, Karakus, Inal
&Kizilkaya, 2009). Dentons 1994 study supports the motivational power of
simulation.
6. Malone and Lepper (1987) noted that curiosity is one of the primary factors that
drive learning. Students are always curious about new things and new experiences. By
using simulation, the motivation in them can be bringing out as the students are
presented with something that connects their present knowledge or skills with a more
desirable level.
7. Students who were allowed to choose the amount and the context of practice
problems reported more positive attitudes (Morrison, Ross and Baldwin, 1992) and
providing students control led to increased motivation and greater learning (Cordova
and Lepper, 1996). Simulation also helps students to focus at one part of the
processes if the event involves a series of processes by slow down the progress or
 isolate it (Norton, P &Sprague, D, 2001). By using simulation, all these obstacles
can be overcome and the result obtained also has high accuracy compared to the real
worlds result.
8. The students can match their knowledge and skill with the simulation level and speed
up the simulation (Norton, P & Sprague, D, 2001) if they already understand the
process and observed the result come from their decisions and the sequences of
interaction of different variables in the simulation.
9. Besides that, Maddux et al (1997) also stated that immediate consequences of
decisions revealed by simulations can sometimes be threatening and produce more
apprehension than traditional teaching methods. Moreover, disadvantage also occurs
when the simulation results are difficult to be interpreting by the teacher and students

10. (Zietsman & Hewson, 1986; Geban, Askar, & zkan, 1992). In particular, the
availability of computer simulations to demonstrate scientific concepts has led to their
increased use in science classrooms (Rutten et al., 2012).
11. In this paper, I investigate how students engage with these simulations to learn about
physics. The focus is on how simulations are effectively used in high school settings
and how they can be used to enhance traditional instruction. In particular, I focus on
how simulations can be used to present subject matter which has been traditionally
hard to visualize in order facilitating conceptual understanding in high school
students. My goal with this research is to consider concrete suggestions of how to best
implement simulations in a high school physics classroom.
12. According to de Jong and van Joolingan (1998), a computer simulation is defined
as a program that contains a model of a system (natural or artificial; e.g., equipment)
or a process (p.180). Computer simulations allow students to investigate
phenomena which are difficult to experience in a classroom or lab setting because it is
extremely complex, technically difficult or dangerous, money-consuming or time-
consuming, or happen too fast (Jimoyiannis & Komis, 2001).
13. Thus, the use of these simulations provides teachers with an opportunity to present
students with a unique learning environment. One question that this paper focuses on
is how the illustrative power of simulations can be utilised for topics such as
electricity and magnetism to help students with conceptual change transforming their
 understanding of concepts in terms of content as well as the concepts organization. I
believe that teachers need to make evidence-based decisions in their classrooms.
14. One of the most popular resource websites for this is the Physics Education
Technology Project simulations developed by the University of Colorado at Boulder
Weiman et al., 2008).
15. Theoretical Framework I will be approaching this topic from the theoretical
framework of constructivism, in which a students understanding of a concept is
subject to progressive knowledge construction (zdemir & Clark, 2007). Students
construct their knowledge through individual and social experiences.
16. (Rutten et al., 2012, p. 136) This list emphasizes that simulations provide powerful
modelling environments which may not be possible to experience in a traditional
classroom because of time, expense, supervision, safety, repeatability, and situations
that cant traditionally be recreated in the classroom. While all of these reasons are
valid considerations, the focus of this paper is on conceptual change. A number of
studies have suggested that the use of online simulations can enhance traditional
instruction by facilitating students understand of physical concepts.
17. For example, Jimoyiannis and Komis (2001) investigated computer simulations as a
type of teacher intervention aimed to help students' alternative conceptions
transform (p. 183) for concepts related to kinematics. They found that students who
took part in the experimental group with computer simulations exhibited significantly
higher scores on a conceptual understanding test than the control group. This suggests
that computer simulations can be used complementary or alternative to other
instructional tools in order to facilitate students' understanding of velocity and
acceleration (p.201).
18. Zacharia (2007) found a comparable result when it comes to enhancing students
conceptual understanding of circuits. Conceptual tests were used to test an
experimental group that was exposed to both traditional labs and simulations and a
control group that was only exposed to traditional labs. They found that the use of
implemented through simulations can enhance physics learning when properly
integrated within a substantial physics curriculum emphasizing the evolution of
conceptual understanding (p. 129), as the students who used simulations performed
much better. From this result, it can be inferred that the combination of real and
simulated labs can support student learning.
19. In a similar study, Finkelstein et al. (2005) investigated the effects of using a
computer simulation to carry out a DC circuits lab substituting simulation for
traditional lab. They found that students who used computer simulations in lieu of
real equipment performed better on conceptual questions related to simple circuits,
and developed a greater facility at manipulating real components One caveat to this
finding is that the simulations should not be implemented simply due to cost
consideration they must be properly designed and applied in the appropriate
contexts It may be that the concepts involved in a unit on circuits are well suited to
simulation over hands-on labs where the realistic limitations of the equipment may be
detrimental to effective learning. This concern for applying the simulations in an
appropriate context is echoed by de Jong and van Joolingan (1998).
20. Rutten et al. (2012) suggest that by placing emphasis on the learner as an active
agent computer simulations can support authentic inquiry practices (p. 136). These
authentic inquiry practices can provide an environment for conceptual change
(Windschitl & Andre, 1998). They show that a contradictory simulation experience
could be more effective in altering learners misconceptions than a confirmatory
simulation experience (p. 158). This supports the conclusion that students will learn
concepts better if they do it themselves, rather than being shown.
21. Windschitl & Andre (1998) also point out that simulations are particularly adept at
representing complex processes (p. 148) which gives this tool an advantage when
presenting a complex process or hard-to-visualize concept.
22. Perkins et al. (2006) discuss the construction of, and emphasize that sims are
specifically designed to support students in constructing a robust conceptual
understanding of the physics through exploration (p. 18).. This is because the
research based designs of these simulations are specifically planned and designed to
help students undergo conceptual change. Other computer simulations often do not
reflect this consideration