Investigating Students’ Explanations about Friction Concepts after Interacting with a Visuohaptic Simulation with Two Different Sequenced Approaches

The current study investigates the differences in students’ explanations of friction concepts after the use of the visuohaptic simulation with two different of sequenced approaches: enhanced visual first to enhanced visual and haptic feedback second (V → V + H), and haptic enhanced first to enhanced visual and haptic feedback second (H → V + H). Participants were students from a midwestern university who participated as part of their physics course assignments during the Fall of 2017 (n = 29). Participants first received a lecture about friction concepts, followed by the pretest. Then, they participated in a laboratory session where they interacted with the visuohaptic simulation and completed the posttest. Participants answered two conceptual questions at the different stages of the study, the first conceptual question was regarding the role of the objects’ weight in friction, and the second conceptual question was regarding the role of the objects’ size in friction. Results suggest three major findings: (a) the visuohaptic simulation had a positive influence in students’ conceptual knowledge; (b) students in the H → V + H sequenced approach outperformed the students in the V → V + H approach; and (c) the role of the object weight in friction resulted in an intuitive concept for the students, while the role of the object size in friction resulted in a counterintuitive concept for the students. Possible explanations of our findings are further discussed.