Usability of Developed Smartphone-Based Acoustics Experiments Using Phyphox

Date of Award

5-1-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Science Education

First Advisor

Ivan B. CulabaRamon M. Delos Santos, PhD

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the usability of developed smartphone- based acoustics experiments (SBAEs) for an introductory physics laboratory in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. An initial accuracy test comparing the experimental values acquired from a standard laboratory equipment, Phyphox on an Android device, and Phyphox on an Apple device showed comparable results. In this study, the SBAEs were implemented on a class of at least 10 non-physics major, undergraduate students who are enrolled in a laboratory class onsite (SG). The students completed laboratory worksheets and questionnaires which served as the bases for the usability measures. It was found that all four developed experiments have ‘good usability’, as their effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction had positive results. Even so, student responses from an open-ended questionnaire exposed challenges they experienced in their conduct of the experiments. Furthermore, a comparison of the effectiveness of the SG to a non-smartphone group (NSG) using conventional laboratory materials through independent t-test showed that there was no significant difference in the students’ quality of outcome on all experiments except the one on determining the frequencies of multi-frequency sources [t(6) = 2.91, p = .03], with the SG scoring lower. The results were collated and formed the bases of the revisions for the SBAEs.

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