A CROSS-CURRICULAR INTEGRATED LEARNING EXPERIENCE IN MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS

Since April, 1996, Kanazawa Technical College has offered a cross-curricular course for first-year and second-year students using a TI-83 (Graphing Calculator) and a Computer Based Laboratory (CBL). The goal of the course is for students to learn about the connection between mathematics and physics through hands-on activities. Students conduct experiments on the motion of a person walking, the dropping of an object, the cooling rate of water, the motion of a swinging pendulum, and sound waves. This is the first time that the TI-83 calculator and the CBL have been used in Japan to explore physical phenomena in a classroom situation based on the Japanese curriculum for mathematics and physics. The following findings were obtained: Most students (a) replaced their naive assumptions regarding the laws of physics with scientific concepts; (b) independently made connections between the results of experiments and their previous mathematical knowledge; (c) reported that their level of interest in physical phenomena and science had either not decreased or had improved, (d) valued mathematics more, and (e) realized the importance of cooperative work. The use of CBLs and TI-83s changed not only the authors teaching style but also students attitudes. Students had ownership of their experiments, and they engaged in higher-order thinking skills such as making predictions, analyzing data, and modeling data with equations. As a result, students became more interested in learning mathematics and science.