Exploring Multimedia to Adapt Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) for Home Use

ABSTRACT

With the need for distance learning materials thrust upon us alarmingly and suddenly by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is not unreasonable that many have fallen back on passive presentation of lectures and black/whiteboard notes using some mode of video conferencing. But is it possible to maintain some element of active learning for our introductory physics students? This paper will describe attempts to use the wealth of multimedia materials currently available (videos, simulations, photos, computer-based laboratory graphs, etc.) to adapt Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) into a form that can be used by students at home. While recognizing that small-group discussions—and sharing in any way—may be difficult for many, these Home-Adapted ILDs retain student predictions as an essential element in engaging students in the learning process. This paper will review the design features of ILDs, describe some of the multimedia resources that are freely available, and present some examples of Home-Adapted ILDs. As we enter an uncertain future, this approach could have important applicability for pre-service and in-service teacher preparation programs, as well as for undergraduate physics students. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.