Examining the impact of a play-based middle school physics program
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21744145 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jonathan Margolin (American Institutes for Research, corresponding author), Harouna Ba (New York Hall of Science), Lawrence B Friedman (American Institutes for Research), Andrew Swanlund (American Institutes for Research), Sonica Dhillon (American Institutes for Research), Feng Liu (0000-0002-3570-4222, American Institutes for Research) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 125-139 |
| Publication date | 2021-04-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Research on Technology in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1539-1523 • E-ISSN: 1945-0818 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/15391523.2020.1754973 |
| OpenAlex | W3033683496 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 39 |
The Playground Physics program combines informal, play-based, embodied learning experiences to support middle school students’ engagement with and motivation to learn about complex and abstract physics concepts. This experimental design study examines the impact of Playground Physics on students’ science motivation, classroom engagement, and physics knowledge. The study involved 24 treatment teachers using Playground Physics with 1,928 students, and 21 control teachers teaching their regular physics curriculum to 1,478 students. Results indicate that students of treatment teachers showed significantly greater physics knowledge at posttest than students of control teachers. No differences were noted for positive student engagement and motivation in science class. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between student engagement, motivation, and learning while using Playground Physics
Curriculum · Embodied cognition · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Physics Education · Science education · Student engagement · Computer Science · Education Methods and Practices · Educational Games and Gamification · Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function · Psychology
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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations
Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference
Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |