The Effectiveness of Simulation methods in teaching Physics on Students’

Academic success.

Background

Nowadays students have been using technology so much in each and every domain of their lives;
this makes educators think about the integration of educational technology in the learning-
teaching process in order to facilitate learning, and to make students perform better in their
school subjects. This paper describes of an integrating simulation method to teach physics.
Physics is a science that uses quantitative measurement and experimental observations in order
to understand natural events. Physics is generally recognized as being conceptually difficult as a
subject both to learn and to teach. Physics teachers use various pedagogical techniques such as
lecture, demonstration, discussion, and questioning in teaching. However, the traditional
pedagogical techniques of lectures, demonstration, discussion, and questioning often fail to
replicate the real world. This scenario creates a learning environment where rote learning is
encouraged, if the students indeed want to be successful. Besides, the traditional pedagogical
techniques only benefit the auditory learners, while leaving behind, and creating boredom for
visual and kinesthetic learners.

Therefore, there is a need to find innovative ways to motivate students and help them learn. One
possible way is the inclusion of technology in the classroom because it is familiar environment
for these students, the digital natives. Research on learning shows that students learn better when
they construct their own understanding of scientific ideas within their framework of existing
knowledge. According to the results of studies done by Kotob.M and Habli.H.Abeer (2019),
students prefer the use of technology in every aspects of their lives; thus, to help them learn and
achieve good result academically and school should be well equipped with technological tools
and well trained personal to promote students academic progress. This means the right use and
implementation of technological tools in any subject will be will be an inspiration and good
choice for replacing old teaching strategies and methods with modern ones that address student’s
learning styles, and help them acquire skills and competencies in more feasible ways.
Simulation based learning led to better outcomes than traditional laboratory learning when
learning was supported by powerful modelling environments involving physics concepts and
process. It is more useful to students whose background knowledge was more solid, whose
inquiry skills was more profound and more importantly, whose mind-set was more open to self-
exploration. Tyav and Demenongu.A (2017) defines simulation is a computer aided instruction
(CIA) strategy that mirrors, anticipates, or amplifies real situations with guided experiences in a
fully interactive way. Carl.E ,Wendy .K (2008) explains that students usually finds exploring the
simulations fun and through this exploration, discovers new ideas about science. They prefer
more simulations over real equipment. It proves that simulations have several positive impacts
on students’ academic progress through providing them with immediate access to an abundance
of quality information and plenty of resourceful materials. Tvay and Demenongu.A (2017)
explains that simulation scientifically improved the learning content presented to the students,
and positively affected students’ achievement and retentions. Furthermore, the researcher finds
that, the impressive performance observed in the result is due to the visually enriched learning
environments created by simulation.
Problem Statement

The researcher finds that most of students in the middle secondary school in Bhutan find
difficulty in achieving successful results in the science subjects, particularly in the physics,
although they are taught sciences from class four. According to the reports of BCSEA, students
performed poorly in science and mathematics every year, which hampers the students for
qualifying for science stream in higher studies. The Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA) which has been conducted in our country in 2018 also shows that our
students have performed poorly in the science paper. Of all the sciences, physics is the one that
students experience the most difficulties with because most of the physical notions are abstract.
Also, when compared to other lesson, although there are many relationships between main
subjects and number of the subjects to be learned, simply knowing definitions is not enough to
learn the subject. Theories and numerical expressions also make it difficult to understand physics
and to make a connection between the subjects. The consequences of this poor achievement of
middle secondary students in physics are not limited to low academic advancement status but
also in unemployment, low income, quality of living, and slow space in national development in
future. This critical point poses a problem that requires attention which if neglected, can lead to
more youth related issues like crimes, violence, and drug abuse.

The problem occurring in physics education are a result of traditional education methods.
Students who are taught using traditional education methods could not participate in the lesson
actively and were just acting as listeners. Due to the lack of technology equipment that helps
them develop comprehension of a physics phenomenon, which is different from theirs. Because
Physics represents the most basic of daily-life experiences, the argument can be made that
learning science should be a natural or automatic result of relevant curriculum. However, in
many instances, neither the curriculum nor textbooks reflect the commonality and relevance of
physics. However, since the ICT affords, the opportunity of creating visually enriched learning
environment such as simulation, it is imperative to investigate if the use of simulation would
influence better achievement of the middle secondary students of Bhutan.
Significance of the study

While education in the past has been centred on the teaching and learning, now due to
advancement in technology the aims of education has been affected. Therefore, now education is
increasingly perceived as the process of creating, perceiving, integrating, transmitting, and
applying knowledge. The perceptions of knowledge itself have also changed whereas knowledge
could once have been perceived as unchanging, now it should be perceived as refinery, creative,
personal and pluralistic. The researcher wants to show that many students in the middle
secondary in our country face difficulty in achieving good result in the science stream, specially
in the physics examination. Many students choose for Arts and Commerce stream after
completion of class ten. With respect to the students, the physics subjects appear to be a big
challenge. This research is about the important role of using computer simulation in promoting
students’ motivation and academic performance in the physics subject, it may be a greater help to
students, for they will be more aware about the effectiveness of using computer simulation
method to enhance their learning performance and improve their weakness in the physics subject.

Moreover, the researcher may help other physics teacher to be more aware of the use of
computer simulation to enhance their performance in teaching the physics concepts in the
classrooms, and to notice how computer simulation motivates students and make them more
attentive through the sessions. Thus, the significance of this study is to understand the needs of
physics students in a classroom setting, and to explore how computer simulation can be
potentially helpful for students to achieve academic success, as well as teachers, in order to
encourage both acquisition and learning of the content of the physics subject in the Bhutanese
education system.
Research Question

The research is supposed to provide direct answer to the question, and to help the audience draw
possible conclusions about the effectiveness of using simulations in teaching physics and
promoting student’s performance and accomplishments in learning physics. The question is how
effective is the simulation methods in teaching physics promotes student’s performance?

Sub questions

I. What are the major difficulties faced by middle school students when applying the
concepts of Physics?
II. What are the effects of the use of simulations on the student’s performance?
III. Does the use of simulations help students develop scientific model?