An interactive engagement teaching approach using Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) is being implemented as a classroom interaction system and three different aspects of the implementation are being investigated. First, how does the interactive engagement teaching approach affect the conceptual understanding and problem solving performance of the introductory physics students? Second, how does the interactive engagement teaching approach affect students' motivation to learn physics concepts? And third, how does this teaching approach being implemented by traditional research faculty affect their pedagogical orientation?
The project is making a significant and unique contribution to physics and science education by studying implementation issues associated with using PDAs as a classroom interaction system at a predominantly Hispanic institution. The curriculum materials resulting from the implementation of this teaching approach are available for physics educators and curriculum developers and the research results provide an empirical basis for improving physics and science education at minority serving institutions where the majority of students are non-native English speakers.
