Presenting Physics Content and Fostering Creativity in Physics among Less-Academically Inclined Students through a Simple Design-Based Toy Project

Nazir Amir (Greenview Secondary School, Singapore) and R. Subramaniam (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Copyright: © 2015 |Pages: 196
EISBN13: 9781466674431|DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6375-6.ch007
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Abstract

One of the emphases of 21st century science education is in producing students who are creative and who can contribute to the economy. Physics affords immense scope in this regard. This study illustrates an instructional teaching approach to present the physics concepts of density and forces in liquids to kinesthetic students and, at the same time, offers an avenue to foster creativity among them through the fabrication of variants of a popular physics toy: the Cartesian diver. It was conducted during curriculum time in a physics laboratory. Results showed that the students were able to showcase their creative abilities through knowledge from physics in this design-based toy project. Students found the pedagogical approach suitable for learning physics content and also a fun way to showcase their creative abilities through knowledge from physics. They also developed positive attitudes towards studying physics after going through this project.
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