Researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, have developed new teaching software to help educate primary schoolchildren about the basic physical concepts of object motion, such as direction and speed.
The researchers also conducted a study in which children aged 6-11 years old were asked to make predictions about object motion during computer simulations of a billiard ball striking another ball and objects falling from hot air balloons. The aim was to document the explicit and tacit knowledge that young children have about this subject.
The study’s findings suggest that current methods used in UK primary schools to assess how children understand object motion underestimates how much they know already. "This research suggests there's very little improvement with school tasks between the age of 6 and 11, and that children aren't being taught in the most effective way,” says Professor Christine Howe from the University of Cambridge, one of the researchers behind the new study. “The software we developed would certainly enhance the knowledge that the children already have, and help them perform better in school."
The teaching software can be download for free from this University of Cambridge webpage.
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