Pilot study on the application of collaborative online tools and technologies in physics instruction

Current work is about technology-based curricula part assessment in the form of a pilot study. The developed activity was implemented in a high school in the USA. About 50 students participated in the pilot. The research team received 5 written surveys from the students who completed the whole activity part and a written teacher’s survey; conducted an in-person interview with the teacher and classroom observation. Based on the feedback the activity was revised, new hardware and software tools were implemented, and the updated activity was presented during two conference workshops for physics teachers and educational researchers. The paper discusses the conditions of implementation of technology in the classroom, presents background information on the pilot and workshops, implemented changes, and overall outcomes. The results show general interest and prospects for implementation of the technologies used with several conditions.


Introduction
In recent years, classroom instruction has undergone profound transformations, giving rise to diverse pedagogical approaches such as the flipped classroom, collaborative group work, case studies, individualized instructions, problem-based learning, project work, etc.Each of these approaches has advantages and limitations that depend on the teaching goals and setting.Educators and researchers are engaged in rigorous investigations to determine which methods prove to be most compelling in a particular learning environment.This also includes introducing new learning tools and technologies in the classroom.The present paper is dedicated to the usage of multimedia and sensors in the classroom as an educational tool for students and support for teachers.
The presence of multimedia and technologies in the classroom has been debated for generations by educators already.Since the appearance of the first teaching aids, their effectiveness and necessity have been discussed and questioned.Researchers and educators are working on assessing whether the implementation of technologies is beneficial for student learning and engagement [1].One of the arguments for their implementation is fostering so-called 21st-century skills and competencies.Under 21st-century skills, we commonly understand digital literacy.According to Skov [2], "Digital competence is a combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes with regards to the use of technology to perform tasks, solve problems, communicate, manage information, collaborate, as well as to create and share content effectively, appropriately, securely, critically, creatively, independently and ethically."Most children today grow up with smartphones or other mobile devices in their hands, but it does not necessarily mean that they can use the devices most efficiently for skills and knowledge development [3].
Technologies can help educators perform new experiments and demonstrate phenomena that previously were only discussed verbally.An illustrative experiment of using digital technologies and digital sensors in education is shown by von Kotzebue and Fleisher's work [4].They experimented with a candle affecting CO2, O2, and humidity levels in a closed space.Normally, these processes are not visible to the naked eye, but sensors and data analysis software make it possible for teachers to demonstrate and for learners to observe them in the classroom.The concept that burning a candle can affect chemical compounds in its vicinity is an example of everyday science [5].Understanding the underlying processes can help students to make a connection between science and real-life experiences, which can help to form a deeper understanding of science concepts.
With the abundant availability of online tools and resources, there has been a shift toward including multimedia and technologies and fostering digital literacy in the educational process.This is confirmed by the rise of numerous digital competencies frameworks for schools, educators, and students.For example, the European Commission developed the Digital Competence Framework for Educators -DigCompEdu [3].This document aims to define vital digital competencies for educators and give directions for implementing technologies in teaching.It defines six major areas of development for educators in three spheres: professional, pedagogic, and learner-supporting competencies (figure 1).Each area describes different aspects and gives examples of possible professional activities.Despite its undoubtful usefulness, this framework does not provide any subject-related information or any guidelines for teacher training to develop presented competencies.Two other models are the TPACK and DPACK model.TPACK stands for Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge and can be visualized as an intersection diagram describing the interconnection between different aspects of educators' professional development.It was developed by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler [8] to outline the successful integration between pedagogy and educational technologies.To complement and extend this model, the DPACK model was developed [9].In this acronym, D stands for Digitality-Related and it highlights the perspective and cultural shift not only to the thorough use of technologies but towards a complete digitalization of all areas of our lives.
A group of scientists from the Physics, Biology, and Chemistry fields developed the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) oriented DiKoLAN framework (Digital Competencies for Teaching in Science Education).It is intended to help science teachers in their digital competencies development [10].DiKoLAN specifies important aspects of teaching the natural sciences in a very structured manner and can be used as a base for developing criteria and content for teacher training materials.As an example of using the framework, Henne [11] implemented the DiKoLAN Framework for the university course for teaching future teachers.
As can be seen, the work on developing guidelines for including multimedia and technologies in classrooms is ongoing.Researchers as well as state and regional authorities such as the European Commission are working on outlining important knowledge and competencies of modern students in the digital world.However, most of the aforementioned frameworks are still too general for teachers to take and directly implement in their classrooms.Our goal is to find the most effective ways and applicable solutions to provide in-service physics teachers with the knowledge and techniques for the best possible learning outcome.In order to do that we are working on developing new technology-based activities to help students to better understand physics principles, conduct physics experiments and, at the same time, facilitate students' digital skills and competencies.The activities are designed together with experienced in-service teachers and tested in real classroom settings.In this manuscript, we describe first the pilot project background information and the way our research team uses technologies in the classroom; our methodology, and early results from a classroom pilot and two instructor workshops.

Background information
We conducted a pilot project at Liberty High School, Hillsboro, Oregon (USA) in Spring 2023.During the pilot, the topic of Waves, Sound, and Sound Propagation was introduced to students.For the pilot, we used LEGO and Arduino sets, and the curriculum was presented using multiple different online platforms, such as Wizer.me,Formative.com,Miro.com, and Google Docs.It was collected all together in Google Classroom.The pilot aimed to conduct a trial of the developed materials and gather preliminary information on general students' opinions about hardware and equipment use in the classroom, in particular: which set was preferred by students at this particular academic level.In total 50 students in the 9th grade aged 14-15 years participated in the study.The pilot was over two periods of 90 minutes over the course of one week.The lessons were conducted by an experienced science teacher with a master's degree in teaching, a master's degree in science education, and 24 years of teaching experience.The teacher is advanced math and physics certified and was involved in all the stages of the pilot starting from the development of the curricular materials to teaching in the classroom.Based on the teacher's prior use in the classroom one of the tools (Formative.com) was used for student assessment and content delivery.
In the first lesson, students had an introduction to the topic, basic theory, concepts, and several demonstrations: an online visualization of waves on a string and an in-person demo of a longitudinal wave on a slinky.After that, students started exploring the topic further on their laptops using a selfpaced Formative.comassessment tool.The materials included individual work with videos, interactive visualizations, and group work, such as exploring how the thickness of the rubber band or guitar string affects its vibration.
The core practical part of the pilot was an acoustic experiment based on LEGO and Arduino.It was given to the students as an extra activity which they could do after finishing the main theoretical part.The idea of the experiment was to use an ultrasonic distance sensor that measures the distance to the obstacle and converts the distance into the frequency of the corresponding piano note.For example, 132 cm corresponds to the wavelength of C4 piano note, so when the sensor data is equal to x = 132 cm, the program plays a C4 note (where x is a distance between the sensor and an obstacle in front of it, for example, a wall).The LEGO Spike Education set and Arduino Uno with ultrasonic distance sensors was chosen as hardware for the experimental setup.
LEGO is a flexible and easy-to-use tool that can be used for the visualization of physics concepts.The LEGO sets are accessible in most locations.They have the potential to interest people of any age and when used properly, can engage more students in learning science.Educational LEGO sets can be programmed visually using the LEGO Spike language.The Spike language is similar to Scratchanother popular language suitable for beginners and educational purposes designed, developed, and moderated by the Scratch Foundation.
Arduino is a well-known open-source technology also available globally.It includes different kinds of programming boards, compatible sensors, and an integrated development environment where one can write code in a programming language based on C++.From the very beginning of the project, it was clear that text programming might be too challenging for those students who have no experience in programming.Hence, we implemented the curriculum with Arduino using the visual language Snap4Arduino developed by Joan Guillén and Bernat Romagosa [12].
Both tools were prepared for students in advance to make the difference in usage between LEGO and Arduino as small as possible: sensors were already attached to the programming boards; the program was pre-coded so that students do not have to spend time learning programming and can concentrate on the physics concepts.The resulting setups are shown in Figure 2.

Methodology
The objective of the overall research is to assess students' engagement level and attitude toward science after implementation of newly developed teaching materials based on modern technologies.As a main research approach, Participatory Action Research (PAR) was chosen.According to the Participatory Methods resource at the Institute of Development Studies [13]: "PAR is an approach to inquiry that has been used since the 1940s.It involves researchers and participants working together to understand a problematic situation and change it for the better".PAR was chosen due to its ability to establish reciprocal rapport between researchers and in-service teachers.It implies that all participants (researcher and teachers) are equal, possess knowledge and experience, and are learners and researchers.
In order to assess the engagement of the students during the pilot project, a set of methods was used: • Written and oral interviews with the participating teacher.
1) A written teacher's survey was conducted using Google Forms.Its aim was to gather general data about the teacher, her previous experience, overall opinion about the developed materials, and any observed deviations from usual classroom dynamics.
2) The in-person interview was unstructured; it was conducted in a way of informal discussion between colleagues.The interview aimed to gather more information if it was comfortable to use the material in the classroom, get a deeper understanding of the teacher's opinion about the curriculum, and what should be changed and improved.
3) The students who participated in the activity were asked to fill in the online assessment form to give their feedback about it.It was voluntary and we received written feedback from five students.
4) During all four teaching periods a member of the research group was observing the classes.It was structured according to a standard observation protocol and followed the rules and policies of the school, including personal information protection.For the observations the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) was chosen [14].
Based on the outcomes of the pilot study, the curriculum was modified as presented in the results section of this paper.The updated curriculum content was then presented as a teacher workshop during two international Physics Education conferences: GIREP (Groupe International de Recherche sur l'Enseignement de la Physique) 2023 conference (3-7 July 2023 in Košice, Slovakia) and the Multimedia in Physics Teaching and Learning (MPTL) 2023 conference 7-9 September 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic).The aim of both workshops was to present the curriculum and the technological tools to other teachers and get feedback on their ability to implement these tools in their classrooms.The first workshop was attended by approximately 20 participants, the second workshop by 6 participants.During the workshop participants, mainly physics education researchers and teachers, tried working with hardware and software as if they were students in a normal physics lesson.Apart from this, they could look "behind the scenes" -to see the lesson from the teacher's perspective: in particular how the teacher can preview students' progress, answer, and give immediate feedback.After the workshops, the research team members were able to talk to participants and they were asked to submit an online form to provide feedback about the curriculum and the tools used in the workshop.The survey was optional, and we received four completed forms with feedback.

Pilot study results
For the pilot study at Liberty High School, there were several hardware constraints due to district cyber security policies.In particular, students were unable to install some of the required software for working with Arduino on school-provided computers.Only those students who had their own devices could work with Arduino.This factor can be a limiting factor in general when students use school-owned hardware.Alternatively, the LEGO sets were easier to work with.The Bluetooth connection ran smoother, no wires were needed which gave movement freedom, no lag connection issues were found.Below are the comments from the teacher's survey supporting these findings: -What did you find particularly beneficial in using the aforementioned tools?"LEGO was easy" -Which problems have you encountered during your work with the aforementioned tools?"I always have a hard time with Arduino.The school doesn't let the kids use Arduino" Additionally, based on the written interview, in-person discussion and observations, we could conclude the following: • Using Miro during the lesson was a bit problematic because the tool itself is very complex, takes a long time to load, and sometimes lags during the lesson, which can cause additional distractions.The teacher mentioned this aspect in her written survey: -Which problems have you encountered during your work with the aforementioned tools?(meaning software) "I struggled making my own miro board, but it reinvigorated me to use OneNote".
• Some students who typically are less involved in class work, participated and completed more tasks than usual.This can be an effect of novelty, interest in the topic's interaction with hardware tools, or the prospect of doing an independent interactive project.This finding was also highlighted by the teacher in her written feedback: -Have you noticed any changes in your classroom dynamics, i.e. students were unusually interested, frustrated, active, etc.? "I had some kids who never do the honors work, but jumped in to do this one" From the students' perspective, they have generally enjoyed the activity.In particular, they specified that it was interactive, independent, and satisfying.Assessing their learning outcomes of the lesson, four of the respondents emphasized the hardware used, talking about learning how piano and distance sensors work.Two respondents concentrated on the topic learned -waves and sound propagation.Generally, students enjoyed using LEGO in the classroom.Below are responses from the student survey supporting our findings: -What did you enjoy about the assignment?"It was satisfying to make the music at the end" "I enjoyed the idea of using the legos" "The music.It was very interactive and independent."Although Arduino was significantly more complicated to use even for those who were able to to use it with their own device.It was difficult to connect and required more skills from the teacher and students in setting it up for programming.The students who tried the activity using Arduino experienced more complications but still completed the activity successfully.This was illustrated by a student response to the following question: -What parts of the assignment were frustrating to you? "Setting up the Arduino and getting the code to work was really frustrating, it felt like there was a lot of luck involved in whether it would work or not.Sometimes it would work, and then the very next second it would break for some reason." The pilot study showed us the need for expanding hardware and software tool options for teachers and students.The research group outlined several general requirements for hardware and software.For a successful classroom implementation, new hardware: should be more robust, easy to connect to computers, easy to program, have multiple sensors, and be affordable; should not be too trivial, have a toy-like appearance, and be reliable.
In terms of hardware, among numerous available options on the market, we have chosen to try Micro:bit -a programmable board (figure 3) that can be coded using simple visual language.In terms of complexity Micro:bit is somewhere between LEGO and Arduino.Micro:bit already has a lot of preinstalled electronics, such as a microphone, speaker, radio antenna, compass, accelerometer, etc., and gives a possibility to connect other electronic sensors available on the market.
When considering software for theoretical instruction and presentation, we recognized that while utilizing multiple platforms may offer a broader range of features compared to a single platform, the constant switching between multiple websites proved to be confusing and ultimately had more adverse effects than benefits.Hence it was decided to limit the number of tools used and find one platform that has the maximum functionality.Preliminary list of the requirements are the following: • Possibility of teacher-paced and student-paced material presentation mode.
• Real-time tracking of students' progress and answers.
• Multiple interactive assessment tools (surveys, open-ended questions, polls, etc.) • Possibility to insert other multimedia such as videos and simulations.
• Collaborative tools such as a common discussion forum and a whiteboard.
• Clear and simple lesson statistics.After a closer consideration of the aforementioned points and the research on available options on the market, Nearpod (https://nearpod.com/) was chosen as a presentation tool.It is an online slidecreating tool with additional educational features (figure 4).It was implemented for the MPTL workshop and showed significant user experience improvement compared to previous solutions.Although it is a presentation-creating tool, it has the possibility to integrate video content, quiz, poll, whiteboard, openended questions, etc. Nearpod allows work on material in self-paced and teacher-paced modes.Teachers can see what the students are working on at a particular moment, and, importantly, it is accessible without a user account or registration, only by using the instructor-generated access code.Compared to, for example, Formative.com it is more visual, and presentation slides are more difficult to skip, and students are less likely to miss important information.Both of the workshops showed overall interest in technology implementation among teachers.Both groups were interested in software and hardware aspects to implement in their classrooms.We received feedback on improving the instructions for students and, most importantly, received positive feedback about a new hardware set implemented -Micro:bit.
One of the wishes about the software from the teacher's side in our survey was: "Integration of different tools" which is now partially covered by implementing Nearpod.This system presents a considerable advantage over alternative approaches to multimedia integration.However, the complete embedding of all content types may not always be feasible, and there may be instances where certain websites necessitate opening in a new browser tab.The existing solution represents an overall enhancement in comparison to its predecessor.Nevertheless, it is important to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of its effectiveness within authentic classroom settings.
Another aspect of the work in the future is the overall integration of the technologies in the physics classroom.Presently, a considerable amount of time is expended in configuring the requisite hardware prior to starting the laboratory.A partial mitigation of this issue has been realized by dividing the laboratory into two distinct parts: technical preparation with full instructions and implementation with room for experimenting and thinking.Nonetheless, a primary objective of the research team is to optimize the seamless integration of the hardware tools to such an extent that the principal focus remains on the physics principles, rather than the intricate mechanics of the equipment themselves.

Discussion
Despite the widespread use of modern technologies in the classroom, it is still not clear if they help or distract students during the lesson.Karolína Schubertová and her colleagues in their work [16] discuss multimedia implementation in education.The results of their research show that increased multimedia usage affects neither learning outcomes nor maintained situational interest.For our pilot project two of the student survey answers focussed solely on the hardware setup and programming part rather than on the actual physics part.The same was true for teachers and researchers during the workshop: they also spent a lot of time on the hardware itself and not the physics behind it.In the scope of the present research, the integration of digital skills development such as basics of coding, understanding the hardware, etc. and digital literacy is an indispensable part.
However, the implementation for a single activity aiming mostly to teach physics concepts might not be feasible since it needs a lot of time to first get a solid understanding of how the hardware and software works.Implementation as a main experimentation tool during the whole semester, would help to reduce the relative time spent on hardware and software-related learning.On the other hand, if the main goal is to introduce students to technology and improve digital competencies, using the digital tools one or two times will be in accordance with learning goals.Therefore, to benefit from technology usage in the classroom, teachers and researchers should, first of all, understand what are the goals that they want to achieve and the competencies they want their students to obtain.

Conclusion
Based on the results of the pilot study and subsequent workshops, the research team can conclude that it was beneficial to be able to use different hardware options (LEGO and Arduino) unified by one curriculum for differentiating instructions for different level of competencies of students.However, there is also a possibility of implementing one hardware set (Micro:bit) that combines the programming simplicity and more complex assembly and look.Overall, students and teachers were interested in the activities and engagement of the students was higher than usual.In the future, the research team is going to focus on the improving the teaching materials, developing new curriculum topics and making the activities hardware and software platform independent.

Figure 1 -
Figure 1 -The general structure of The European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators [6].

Figure 2 -
Figure 2 -The experimental setups a) LEGO programming block with distance sensor, b) Arduino Uno board with distance sensor.3.MethodologyThe objective of the overall research is to assess students' engagement level and attitude toward science after implementation of newly developed teaching materials based on modern technologies.As a main research approach, Participatory Action Research (PAR) was chosen.According to the Participatory Methods resource at the Institute of Development Studies[13]: "PAR is an approach to inquiry that has been used since the 1940s.It involves researchers and participants working together to understand a problematic situation and change it for the better".PAR was chosen due to its ability to establish reciprocal rapport between researchers and in-service teachers.It implies that all participants (researcher and teachers) are equal, possess knowledge and experience, and are learners and researchers.In order to assess the engagement of the students during the pilot project, a set of methods was used:• Written and oral interviews with the participating teacher.•Post-instruction students' survey.•Classroom observation.

Figure 4 -
Figure 4 -Nearpod lessons library of the current curricular implementation