Chao Jung Wu

A Study of High School Students Doing Physics Experiments with Arduino and Other Data-Logging Devices

Conventional high school physics labs rely on manual data logging or logging devices with a slow data acquisition rate and low precision. This study aims to design data-logging devices and a modelling tool for high school physics labs with low-cost modern electronics, including smartphones, Lego Mindstorms NXT and Arduino, equipped with an ultrasonic sensor. For NXT and smartphones, experimental data were first logged in the devices and then manually copied to a personal computer for data analysis. For Arduino, experimental data were transmitted to a PC via Bluetooth in real time. With the data in a PC, each student used a modelling tool on a Web browser to try to find an equation that fitted the data with a small error. The equation was a function that related one variable to another. For example, in a free-fall experiment, the equation expressed distance as a function of time. With each submitted equation, the tool plots the model against a background of lab data with a measure of error. Based on the visual plot and the error information, the student can then try to reduce the error by revising the equation. The results indicated that both students and the instructor enjoyed using the modern data loggers and the acquired data to find equations that fitted the data well.

Mobile devices and a modelling tool for physics experiments in high school

Traditional physics labs in high school suffer from slow data acquisition so that dynamic values of variables are hidden from students. Modern mobile devices such as Lego Mindstorms NXT, smartphones and Arduino can acquire data at a fast rate and can be used to measure dynamic variables in physics experiments. A case in point is the changing angle of a pendulum experiment. With a tool called InduLab, students in three groups using the mobile devices mentioned above in pendulum experiments collected data and built their model s with the data. Results reviewed the Arduino group achieved the highest success rate of building correct models, followed by the smartphone group and then the NXT group. This suggested that modern low-cost mobile devices can be used to improve physics labs in high school.