Leveraging immersive environments in physics labs and flipped classrooms for engineering courses

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the use of immersive (panoramic) video with hotspots (links to videos and texts for further explanation) as a pre-class activity for an investigative physics laboratory on the topic of oblique launches, in conjunction with the flipped classroom methodology. The goal is to study the effectiveness of immersive (panoramic) videos with hotspots as pre-class materials within the flipped classroom approach. This paper presents the implementation of this technology in a classic physics experiment on oblique launches, conducted with approximately 400 first-year engineering students at Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia. These students were divided into laboratory classes, working in teams of three to four, and were required to answer two perception quizzes (pre- and post-class). The post-class quiz included additional problems beyond those in the pre-class quiz. After 15 days, the groups were required to submit a scientific paper on the experiment. It was found that immersive video technology serves as a complement to traditional materials, though some aspects need improvement. Moreover, it was concluded that students recognized their improvement in laboratory tasks, such as physics modeling, constructing graphs and tables, and interpreting graphs. Regarding problem-solving in the post-class quiz, it was observed that problems involving two types of motion required additional practice.