Practical Work, Simulations and Feedback to Address Undergraduate Physics Students’ Challenges in Understanding Circular and Rotational Motion

This analytic paper explores the challenges that undergraduate students face in understanding introductory physics concepts on circular and rotational motion. Challenges are drawn from researchers' own experiences and from the research literature. An innovative method is proposed that combines practical work, PhET simulations, and a systematic feedback and feed-forward process following after the Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick (2006) model. Providing feedback at critical junctures of the teaching and learning process is pertinent for the efficacy of the approach. The experience of implementing the approach suggests positive prospects for efficacy for learning circular and rotational motion by pre-service physics teachers.