Use of Specially Designed Simple Experimental Device Based on Raspberry Pi by Students for the Conceptual Understanding of Rotational Motion

Abstract

The present study looks into the use of Rasberry pi in an experimental device to address the concepts of rotational motion of a solid body and in particular hollow cylinders made of wood, plastic and aluminum. The concepts which were studied and were related to the rotational motion of a solid body were rotational axes, angular velocity, angular acceleration, the fundamental law of rotational motion, solid equilibrium, angular momentum, work-energy in rotational motion. The research, conducted with a number of 84 high school students as participants, employed a mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative). For the purposes of this study and in order to find possible answers to the research issues, a questionnaire was administered, student class observation was implemented and a focus group discussion was conducted. The findings of the questionnaire results indicate an improvement of students’ performance in the instructive target concerning the rotational axes, angular/linear velocity, angular/linear acceleration as well as their positive attitude towards the experimental process. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.