Researcher's corner

Presentation title: DiST Tutor - A Scratch-Arduino based application to understand the relationship between Distance, Speed and Time

Presentation type: Research Presentation

Symposium details: Accepted for presentation at the 2020 AECT INDIA Summer International Research Symposium which was canceled due to COVID-19

Abstract:
Students’ comprehension of essential relationships between physical dimensions is at the heart of many cognitive theories. One such fundamental relationship in physics is between speed, distance and time. It is observed that students often face difficulties in understanding this relationship. In school curriculum textbooks, several word problems & solved examples are given which involves constructing graphs for better understanding of this. However, students are unable to visualize the mathematical equations and relationship between the entities in these graphs. DiST tutor is a Scratch-Arduino based application that provides students a simulation-based environment to understand the relationship between distance, speed and time. DiST Tutor is developed using Scratch for Arduino (S4A) as the software and Arduino board along with physical components (printed using 3D printer) as the hardware.

Learning objective is: Student will be able to analyze the constructed graph(s) and infer the relationship between distance, speed and time (D-S-T). It is based on theoretical underpinning of embodied cognition. Embodied cognition involves how the body and mind work in tandem to create the human experience. Embodied cognition literature suggests that the physical actions we perform, as well as the actions being performed around us, shape our mental experience. This is realized in DiST tutor by using physical components such as accelerator and de-accelerator to manipulate variables D-S-T.

The learning activities are based on the constructivist learning theory. As opposed to just memorizing the relationship between D-S-T variables, the learner builds the graph by interacting with the system. Students thus get to construct their understanding of the relation between D-S-T through reflection on their own experience and past knowledge of D-S-T. The relationship between them is illustrated through 3 scenarios on a single screen: 1) graphical representation of D-S-T which gets dynamically updated as per real time manipulation of related parameters. This scenario also has additional controls like odometer, speedometer and timer illustrating the change in values of respective parameters. 2) Perspective view from third person angle, gives feel of the motion 3) illustrative motion of the car on the road.

Activities include D-T (distance-time) and S-T (speed-time) graphs where student has to reproduce the given graphs by manipulating speed (using accelerator and de-accelerator) at appropriate times. Visual cues and resources will be provided for guidance. To reinforce the concept, different types of graphs will be provided. At the end, a reflection activity is included that cross-checks the concepts learned and gives constructive feedback on the responses provided by the students in the reflection activity.

We believe that by using this activity setup, students can learn the relation between speed and slope of graph, how to identify and interpret the slopes and what it means, in a fun way.