Faculty of Physics - University of Bucharest

UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS

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2024-11-22 2:13

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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2013 Meeting

Section: Physics Education

Title:

Mobile phones in the modern teaching of physics

Authors:

M. OPREA(1,2), Cristina MIRON(1)

Affiliation:

(1)Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, 405 Atomstilor, Magurele-Ilfov, 077125, Romania

(2)Mihai Viteazul School, Calarasi, Romania

E-mail

opreamarin2007@yahoo.com

Keywords:

physics class, smartphone, accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, ANDROID,open source mnobile applications

Abstract:

Nowadays, smartphones have become an indispensable part of students’ lives. Used mainly for communication purposes and for entertainment applications, their educational uses are almost universally ignored by teachers and students alike. The greatest challenge for a physics teacher is to unlock the great potential of these devices during the teaching process and shed new light on the diverse and enticing ways in which students could grasp a better understanding of physics through the simple use of their pocket-fitting gadgets. Hence, the purpose of this article is to show how smartphones operating on Android may take physics classes to the next level, as they can be used both as data collection systems and as data processing systems through their inbuilt sensors (such as the accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, and the location and proximity sensor). With the help of open-source applications, these sensors enable the device to perform a series of measurements, such as the acceleration and speed of a moving person or vehicle, to establish the user’s location through the method of triangulation or to measure the angle value of a slope. Therefore, along with the functions of smartphones themselves, the numerous free applications available on Google PlayStore are a precious educational resource for a modern physics teacher and deserve to be explored in a thorough study which will show a new and more comprehensive way to approach the teaching of physics.