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Multimedia-Aided Technologies for Effective Learning of Quantum Physics at the University Level

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Abstract

Physics education has been identified as one of the public sectors that are mostly influenced by technological developments. This paper adopted the quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design to assess the effects of multimedia-aided technologies (MAT) on undergraduate students’ performance in quantum physics (QP) at the University of Rwanda College of Education (UR-CE). The researcher used purposive sampling to get 385 undergraduate students. Participants were randomly allocated into experimental (group A) and control (group B) groups. Group A (187 students) students were taught selected topics of quantum physics (blackbody radiation, photoelectric effect, Compton effect, wave aspects of particles, De Broglie’s hypothesis, diffraction, interference and double-slit experiment, model of the atom, uncertainty relations, wave function, and Schrodinger equations) for 6 weeks using multimedia-aided technologies and engage, predict, observe, and explain (EPOE) method, whereas group B (187 students) was taught same topics during the same period with a lecture method. The results of ANCOVA revealed that the group’s performance was the same (p > .05) before learning with no effect size (.000), while they diverged after learning with different teaching interventions. The significance was very high and statistically different (p < .001) with a large effect size (> .5). This implies that students taught with multimedia-aided technologies (experimental group) outperformed those students taught with lecture teaching methods (control group). Thus, the study recommends that educators should adapt teaching using MAT and EPOE strategy not only in QP but also in other domains of physics to improve active engagement, understanding levels, and academic achievement.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the Mendeley repository: dataset from the UR-CE during learning QP (https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/gm49fmx86t/5, https://doi.org/10.17632/gm49fmx86t.5). Readers can view the raw data, replicate the study, and re-analyze and/or reuse the data (with appropriate attribution).

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Acknowledgements

The study acknowledges the African Center of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science, for their support in conducting this study. We would like to acknowledge that although we had strong reason to believe that the MAT would benefit the participants, they had not been tested in this specific population before. Our decision to use both MAT and EPOE method to enhance student performance in QP was based on a thorough review of the literature and the expert opinions of professionals in the field. We are grateful to the participants for their willingness to participate in this study and contribute to our understanding of the potential benefits of the methods mentioned above in the teaching and learning of quantum physics. We hope that the findings of this study will pave the way for further research in this area and inform the development of evidence-based teaching strategies that can improve students’ learning outcomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. African Center of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science (ACEITLMS), PO. Box 55, Rwamagana, Rwanda

    Pascasie Nyirahabimana

  2. University of Rwanda – College of Education (UR-CE), PO. Box 55, Rwamagana, Rwanda

    Pascasie Nyirahabimana, Evariste Minani & Mathias Nduwingoma

  3. Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), PO. Box 1411, Mbarara, Uganda

    Imelda Kemeza

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  1. Pascasie Nyirahabimana
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All authors are major contributors to this study. The corresponding author conceived the study, designed the research instruments and conducted data analysis and manuscript writing. All co-authors revised and polished the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Pascasie Nyirahabimana.

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Trained masters students from the UR-CE supported in data collection from the participants. The research project successfully passed through the UR-CE ethical committee by following the established ethical process (University of Rwanda, 2022): (1) presentation of the research proposal, (2) submission of the application and tools to be used for ethical research clearance, and (3) review and approval of the application by the ethical research committee. Before data collection was initiated, ethical clearance was applied to and provided by the UR-CE research ethical committee.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Nyirahabimana, P., Minani, E., Nduwingoma, M. et al. Multimedia-Aided Technologies for Effective Learning of Quantum Physics at the University Level. J Sci Educ Technol 32, 686–696 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-023-10064-x

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