A CLASSROOM INTERVENTION USING A COMPUTER-AUGMENTED CURRICULUM FOR MECHANICS

A set of teaching materials was developed for the teaching of mechanic s, as part of the research carried out for the 'Conceptual Change in S cience' project. These incorporated a series of interactive computer s imulations, associated written materials and a number of practical act ivities; their aim was to promote change in learners' conceptual under standings of natural physical phenomena. The materials were described in the preceding issue of this journal (Hennessy et al. 1993). This pa per presents the results of an empirical evaluation undertaken over a seven-week period with a class of 29 12- to 13-year-olds. The interven tion was found to promote conceptual change, in that the children disp layed more sophisticated reasoning at immediate and delayed post-tests than their counterparts in comparison classes. Specifically, explanat ions asserting that motion implies a force in the same direction and t hose excluding friction as a force opposing motion were significantly less prevalent. An interesting phenomenon was observed in that both pr ior and goal (Newtonian) conceptions in this domain increased over the experimental period.