Games and Learning

An Orrery vision of the galaxy: Apparently not to scale. Photo by Skittledog

Research out next month in the journal Computers & Education finds that students who used iPads for as little at 20 minutes improved their understanding of difficult-to-grasp issues of scale when it comes to the study the universe.

The study, headed by Matthew Schneps of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, found students did better on a series of tests that focused on understanding the scale of the galaxy after using a more realistic application on classroom iPads.

The study found that the iPad’s ability to zoom by pinching or expanding your fingers created an implicit sense of scale that students often misunderstand when it comes to things like the size of the sun compared to the Earth or a particle compared to a planet.

Schneps told National Geographic that the goal of the research was to test “does the iPad actually allow you to simulate things that students couldn’t otherwise experience?”

Their answer was a definite “yes.”

The study took place at a public high school in Bedford, Mass. and involved students taking a pre-exam to gauge understanding of the subject and then doing two, 10-minute self-guided lessons using the Solar Walk app as well as a series of readings assigned by the team.

The results indicated that students showed significant improvement in their understanding of the size and scale of our galaxy because they had to “pinch-and-zoom” through the app versus seeing the more traditional display of the sun and planets.

“[S]tudents are able to build these intuitions with minimal instructional support, invoking cognitive processes that are likely largely implicit,” the authors wrote. “Even brief exposures to such experience is useful in helping students successfully address deep-seated misconceptions in phenomena covering a diverse range of concepts.”

As part of the study, students spent one session using the traditional “Orrery” version of the galaxy, which features abnormally large planets. They also used the iPad’s pinch and zoom movements to allow students to see the true scale of the planets compared to the sun and to the see their size in comparison to the orbit.

At the end the students retook the 20-question survey to gauge their understanding. These tests allowed researchers to not just assess the 600 students who participated, but also to compare them to a national test of the same material and earlier studies of 2-D tools that showed little improvement.