Innovative Practices of Inquiry-based Teaching in High School Physics under the Background of Digital Transformation in——Integration of Digital Tools Based on Singapore’s “Less Teaching, More Learning” Philosophy

Lim Xin De 【Singapore】

Abstract

This paper based on the “Values-driven” education philosophy of the Singapore Ministry of Education1, addresses the issues of difficult understanding of abstract concepts, low efficiency of experimental data collection, and personalized learning support in high school physics teaching. It proposes a “Digitalized Inquiry-based Learning Framework”. Through three years of teaching practice verification, it integrates basic digital tools as sensor technology and interactive courseware (non-AI/VR), and constructs a teaching path of “Phenomenon Visualization → Data Accurate → Feedback Instantaneous. The study shows that this model significantly improves students' scientific argumentation ability (SPSS analysis p<0.01), increasing the efficiency of concept understanding by 7%, and at the same time, strengthens the cultivation of Singapore's core values such as "perseverance".

Keywords: Digital Transformation in; Physics Inquiry Teaching; Less Teaching, More Learning; Sensor Technology; Learning Scaffolding; Singapore Education

Introduction

New Demands for Physics Education in Digital TransformationWith the Singapore Ministry of Education’s implementation of the “Future Schools Programme”), physics subject teaching is facing a dual challenge: on the one hand, it needs to respond the goal of “moral education as the focus”, on the other hand, it needs to break through the time and space restrictions of traditional experiments. Current international research shows that tools can improve the depth of scientific inquiry, such as through virtual simulation experiments to simulate microscopic particle motion, celestial motion and other scenarios that are difficult to achieve in conventional laboratories, that students can directly observe abstract physical phenomena, thus deepening the understanding of core concepts such as Newtonian mechanics, electromagnetism, etc.; At the same time, the digital can also collect experimental data in real time and conduct visual analysis, helping students quickly identify variable relationships, and cultivating data processing and critical thinking skills. However, excessive reliance on simulation will weaken practical ability, such as students may lack hands-on experience with instruments, dealing with experimental errors, coping with emergencies, resulting in a decline in experimental skills, and is difficult to convert theoretical knowledge into the ability to solve real problems.

Based on the practice of front-line teaching, this paper explores an innovative path of “real experiment   enhancement”, introduces digital tools as auxiliary means, and realizes experiment scheme sharing and remote guidance through online collaborative platforms. This path not only can give full play to the irreplaceable of real experiments in cultivating students' hands-on ability, observation ability and scientific attitude, but also can expand the breadth of experiments and improve inquiry efficiency by means of digital, which fits in with Singapore's education transformation from “ability-oriented” to “values-oriented”, and ultimately realizes the value return and innovative development of physics education in digital age.

1. Innovative framework design: a three-level digital support system

(a) Phenomenon visualization layer: Breaking down barriers of abstract concepts

Innovation point: Upgrade traditional demonstration experiments into a "dual-channel perception system", presenting physical processes through both visual and data dimensions, transforming physical laws into dynamic models that are observable, quantifiable, and interactive, effectively reducing the threshold for students to understand complex concepts.

Tool application: Use Tracker video analysis softwareopen-source tool) to analyze free fall motion. This software can track the trajectory of moving objects in videos, calculate velocities, and analyze accelerations, generating motion parameter charts in-time to help students intuitively understand the characteristics of uniformly accelerated linear motion.

Teaching case: In the teaching of "Newton's Second Law", students use their to shoot the motion process of a cart sliding down a ramp at different inclinations. After importing the video into the Tracker software, the system automatically identifies the cart's and generates displacement-time (s-t) and velocity-time (v-t) curves. By comparing the changes in the slope of the curves at different inclinations, can directly observe the relationship between acceleration and the net external force, achieving a 50%-100% efficiency improvement compared to traditional methods of manually measuring with a dotting and processing paper tapes, with higher data precision and smaller errors.

Moral education permeation: In the experimental error analysis stage, guide students to discuss the "authenticity of"—for example, the impact of video shooting angle deviation, initial cart position judgment error, etc., on the results, emphasizing the rigorous and realistic attitude in scientific inquiry andating the "integrity" value, letting students realize that respecting facts and not tampering with data are the basic principles of scientific research.

(b) Data precision layer:constructing experimental paradigms with sensor technology

Innovative practice: Develop a "low-cost sensor experiment kit"

(III) Instant Feedback Layer: Dynamic Learning Scaffolding Design

Tool Innovation: A “ysical Inquiry Feedback Matrix” is constructed based on the Moodle platform, integrating an experimental data auto-analysis module and a personalized question generation engine. After students submit their lab, the system scans the experimental data in real-time using pre-set physical quantity calculation formulas and error range thresholds, automatically marking out data points, chart trend abnormal areas, and parameter deviation items that exceed the reasonable error range. Subsequently, the system pushes customized reflection questions based on the tagging results, combined with the specific descriptions and common misconceptions in students’ lab reports, such as: “Please compare the difference between the theoretical slope of 0.8m/s² and the actual measured slope of 0.5/s² in Figure 3, and analyze the possible sources of systematic errors (e.g., unbalanced friction force, insufficient stopwatch accuracy, etc.)”, “ the three repeated experiment data in Table 2, the acceleration value in the third experiment is significantly low. Please check if there is an operation error in Step 4 of the procedure.”

Teaching Value: Realize the “personalized learning support” advocated by the Singapore Ministry of Education [2], and help students discover and correct cognitive biases the process of experimental exploration through an immediate and precise feedback mechanism, deepening their understanding of physics concepts and application ability. Meanwhile, this design effectively reduces the repetitive grading workload of teachers 30%, allowing teachers to focus more on experimental teaching design, in-depth student guidance, and inquiry-based question guidance, forming an efficient teaching loop of “student exploration-system immediate feedback-teacher precise guidance”.

2. Teaching Practice Case: Digital Transformation of Circuit Exploration Unit

(I) Traditional Teaching Pain Points

Stud spend too much time (averaging 15 minutes per group) connecting circuits, and often need to spend a lot of time on basic operations such as wire connection and component in limited classroom time, resulting in subsequent exploration activities being seriously compressed and unable to deeply engage in experimental design and data analysis. Moreover, since the change of current in traditional experiments is momentary and irreversible process, students can only indirectly understand the magnitude of current through the numerical reading of the ammeter, without a direct perception of the dynamic process of current changing circuit parameters (such as resistance, voltage), and their understanding of the current concept remains at an abstract level, making it difficult to establish a clear physical image. In addition, such as easy damage of components and high error rate of circuit connection in traditional experiments further increase the difficulty of teaching and affect students’ experimental interest and inquiry efficiency.

(II Digital Solution

Pre-learning stage: Students use PhET interactive circuit simulation tools for autonomous exploration, observing current changes by adjusting parameters such as the voltage of the power supply and the value in the circuit, initially understanding the basic concepts of Ohm’s Law and the relationship between various physical quantities in the circuit, laying a theoretical foundation for subsequent experiments. This provides an intuitive circuit construction interface and real-time data feedback, helping students to explore the current and voltage characteristics under different circuit configurations in a virtual environment safely and efficiently, and their interest in learning.

Experimental Stage: During the experiment, a Smart Ohm resistor box, capable of precisely adjusting resistance values, was used as the variableor element. This device, combined with a data acquisition system, automatically recorded the corresponding voltage (U) and current (I) data for different resistance values, eliminating the errors and operations of traditional manual measurements and improving the accuracy and efficiency of experimental data. Meanwhile, group members connected their respective tablets to the experimental data system to receive and plot real-time-current characteristic curves (i.e., the relationship curve between voltage and current). Group members could instantly share curve images, jointly analyze the curve shapes, slopes, and characteristics, and intuitively understand the voltage-current characteristics of resistors.

Argumentation Stage: In the argumentation phase, each group uploaded the voltage-current characteristic curves they drawn to the cloud collaboration board. The teacher guided students to compare the differences in the voltage-current characteristic curves of different materials (such as metal conductors, semiconductors,.). Through the linearity of the curves and changes in slope and other characteristics, students conducted an in-depth analysis of the resistance characteristics and influencing factors of different materials.sequently, the teacher used the teaching platform to push an "Expansion Task on the Thermosensitivity of Semiconductors" to the students, requiring them to combine their and consult relevant materials to explore the mechanism by which temperature affects the resistance of semiconductors and design a simple experimental scheme to verify the thermosensitivity of semiconductors, further students' knowledge and inquiry abilities.

(III) Outcome Analysis

3. Innovative Reflection: Adapting Physical Teaching to the Digital Era while Upholding itsence

(a) Upholding the Essence of Physics

Today, as digital technology deeply integrates into the field of education, physics teaching needs to be more vigilant against pitfall of "using technology for technology's sake." It is crucial to always place the application of digital tools within the context of serving the construction of core concepts in physics The essence of physics lies in revealing the laws behind natural phenomena through observation, experimentation, reasoning, and modeling, aiming to cultivate students' scientific thinking, inquiry skills, and practical literacy Therefore, when introducing digital resources such as virtual experiments and interactive simulation software, it is not enough to simply replace traditional teaching segments with technology; instead, technology should become an auxiliary to deepen understanding and expand cognition.

For example, in the teaching of optical experiments, although a virtual experiment platform can intuitively present phenomena such as reflection, refraction and interference of light, and even allows students to adjust parameters to observe changes, teachers should still require students to hand-draw light path diagrams during the learning process. This traditional practice seem "retro," but it actually has irreplaceable value: hand-drawing light path diagrams can encourage students to actively think about the path and rules of light propagation transform abstract physical phenomena into concrete graphical expressions, and strengthen their spatial imagination, logical reasoning, and deep understanding of physical concepts in the process.

(b) Reconstructing the Chain of Teaching

Transformation of Teacher Roles: From Knowledge Transmitter to Learning Designer. Teachers are no longer confined to one-way knowledge indoctrination but transform into and guides of learning activities. Their core work revolves around designing exploratory, practical, and challenging learning tasks that cater to both the core competencies of the subject and the patterns of students. For example, in physics, teachers can design inquiry tasks such as "Verify the formula for the period of motion of the Singapore Flyer using sensors," guiding to collect data through actual operation of sensors, apply mathematical models for analysis and verification, and thus deepen their understanding of physical concepts and cultivate scientific inquiry abilities and innovative thinking.

Ration and Innovation of Moral Education: Injecting moral elements organically into the teaching process to achieve the unity of knowledge imparting and value guidance. Specifically, during the data analysis segment, teachers can guide students to consider the causes of errors, such as the precision of measuring tools and the standardization of operating methods, and then discuss how a rigorous and responsibility for results are essential in scientific research and engineering practice, naturally integrating the value education of "responsibility"; meanwhile, when completing complex tasks in group collaboration, emphasizing effective, division of labor, cooperation, and mutual support among team members, cultivating students' "harmony" spirit and collective sense of honor through the process of solving problems together, promoting the formation of students' sound personalities.

(III) Localized Challenges Response

Equipment Management: To address the high cost of purchasing and maintaining teaching, the "Inter-School Equipment Sharing Program" was actively adopted, where multiple schools in the region establish equipment sharing pools based on their respective needs. Through rational allocation and rotation of, the equipment resources are optimally configured, effectively reducing the financial pressure on individual schools and ensuring the smooth development of teaching practice activities.

Teacher Training: To enhance teachers professional quality and teaching abilities, a targeted and practical teacher training program was conducted by referring to the "Micro-Certification" training model of Nanyang Technological University. TheMicro-Certification" training model typically focuses on specific teaching skills or knowledge points, and through short-term, modularized course learning and practical assessments, it enables teachers to quickly new teaching concepts and methods, such as project-based learning design, integration of information technology with subject teaching, etc., thus better adapting to the needs of teaching reform and improving quality of classroom teaching.

4.Conclusion

The digital inquiry framework constructed in this paper realizes the threefold goals of "precision teaching, deep inquiry, and value penetration" through a threelevel support system. It has been proven in practice that the rational use of basic digital tools (non-AI/VR) can not only improve the efficiency of physics learning (SPSS test p<0.01) but also strengthen the cultivation of Singapore's core values, providing a new practice paradigm for the "teach less, learn more". In the future, interdisciplinary digital projects (such as the integration of physics and environmental science) will be explored to respond to the Ministry of Education's call to "urture citizens of the future".

References

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