The Combination of Just-in-Time Teaching and Wikispaces in Physics Classrooms

The general student population enrolled in today's physics classrooms is diverse. They come from a variety of different educational backgrounds. Some demonstrate a good knowledge of natural laws of physics with a better understanding of mathematical concepts, while others show a fair knowledge...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Physics teacher Vol. 51; no. 1; pp. 44 - 46
Main Author Mohottala, Hashini E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Association of Physics Teachers 01.01.2013
Subjects
College Science
Computer Uses in Education
Physics
Science Instruction
Student Diversity
Student Motivation
Teaching Methods
Web 2.0 Technologies
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0031-921X
1943-4928
DOI10.1119/1.4772039

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Summary:The general student population enrolled in today's physics classrooms is diverse. They come from a variety of different educational backgrounds. Some demonstrate a good knowledge of natural laws of physics with a better understanding of mathematical concepts, while others show a fair knowledge in fundamentals of physics with a minimum knowledge in mathematics. There are few who have not been exposed to physics or mathematics in their high schools (or at least they claim it to be the case). In addition, now we have “nontraditional” students: working part-time students, older students, commuting students, and, occasionally, military veterans. Regardless of the background, the majority of the students show little or no interest in physics and exhibit anxiety toward learning the subject. In order to address such a diverse and often unmotivated student population, and excite them about physics in a timely manner, we should deviate from conventional teaching techniques. Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) combined with wikis is an excellent way to accomplish this goal.
ISSN:0031-921X
1943-4928
DOI:10.1119/1.4772039