Re-examining the power of video motion analysis to promote the reading and creating of kinematic graphs

Early in his life, the physicist Enrico Fermi resolved “to spend at least one hour a day thinking in a speculative way” (Ulam, 1976, p. 163). Although it may not be practical for researchers to engage in speculation to that extent, it is healthy to take a step back every once in a while and consider some of those fundamental issues that rigorous and specialized research all too often forces us to put aside. This paper was a result of such thinking on the topic of how to assist students in their difficulties to read and create kinematic graphs. Looking at the literature, as was described at the beginning of the paper, I found interesting ideas for teaching kinematic graphs. However, I agree with Mitnik, et al., (2009), that though the majority of such approaches have proved effective, they lack real world experience, not allowing the students to explore nor immerse themselves into the simulated situation. As regarding to Mitnik et al.'s (2009) suggestion to use robotic technology, I had a feeling that while the idea is intriguing it may not fit the needs of the teachers who have to deal with significant time limitations in covering the curriculum and have no luxury and ability to use such tools as robotics. I also felt that on our journey, as educators, in this rapidly changing world we may miss the benefits of some good old tools. So, I believe that since graphing abilities are crucial in developing not only scientific knowledge but scientific thinking as well, we have to stop and re-think the ways we, as research educators, can assist teachers to design efficient learning environment that will enable students to develop a deep understanding of graphs. In doing so, I thought, we do not need another research that will show us how good the tools we examine in a particular research are. Rather, it is time, I felt, to thoroughly examine the topic theoretically. I found that the by now old – but rejuvenated through new characteristics – video analysis tool is a powerful tool that could be easily used by teachers. It has, as I showed, pedagogic advantages other tools lack.

I called this section 'where next?' Indeed, I think that video analysis can develop even further. First I believe that haptics – perception through touch technology – can be used. I mentioned that one of the video analysis benefits is the "body knowledge" that it enables the students to build. I argued, that this knowledge, if appropriately built and discussed with students, may serve as a basis for deep conceptual understanding of physics concepts. It is my belief that this can be taken one step further. I think that we can use a computer mouse designed to move through applying a certain amount of force depending on the situation. For instance, in a predesigned activity the student can analyze the movement of two identical balls on two inclined plans, one steeper than the other. I suggest that the force for moving the computer mouse should depend on the inclined plane's angel. The steeper it will be the more, or less, force will be required to move the mouse depending on whether the object moves up or down. I know that in such cases the scenes should be pre-designed as well as the computer mouse, so that the freedom to choose the scene is lost. However, including such activities may add the power to be yielded through "embodied knowledge" activities, which will serve as a stable ground upon which the scientific concepts could be later built.

Because of its benefits, I recommend also "bringing" video analysis to the laboratory. In experiments, once the student has collected the data, the connection between the real world and the data and graphs are lost. As I explained in this article, this may pose a significant problem for the students. So, it is my belief that the MBL and video analysis be brought together. I recommend that the MBL system will videotape the experiment and that the data collected by the MBL sensor will correspond to that of the position of the object in the video. In such a way, the students will be able to analyze the graph they see in connection with what is seen in the video. From the reasons discussed in the article, this might assist the students to better connect between the different representations and to gain deeper understanding, not only of the physics phenomena they are examining, but also of those skills required for creating and interpreting graphs.

To conclude this paper, I call on physics teachers to utilize video analysis techniques for improving their instruction, while taking into account the points discussed in this article. I also call on educational technology developers to raise us, educators, one step higher and bring to video analysis the haptic technology. The best way to achieve this would be to combine efforts.

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Esty Magen from Fourier Systems company who introduced me to the whole idea of video analysis techniques and to Fourier Systems company that allowed me to use their software.