Modern Computer Applications in Science and Education Providing science efficiently in Physics and Computer Science in Kyrgyzstan remote schools by using Simulation and Virtual Reality ANGELO MUSAIO, ROBERTO REVETRIA, SARDARBEK OMURBEKOV Genova University, Via Balbi, 5, 16126 Genova, ITALY roberto.revetria@unige.it, musaio@unige.it, sardarbekomurbekov@gmail.com Abstract Abstract: Most remote schools in Kyrgyzstan can t provide efficiently physics experiments due to lack of proper laboratory facilities. Graphically modelling and simulating Physics laws and concepts will help students understand profoundly physics and improve their modelling and simulating skills. In this current article is considered the modelling Newton s three laws of Mechanics. It will help students to analyse processes occurring during implementation of these laws. Creating virtual laboratories by Proof Animation, Bler simulation software programs on Physics for remote schools in Kyrgyzstan will be able to provide economically cheap methods of teaching and it gives opportunity for remote school students to learn physics profoundly. Key-Words: Proof Animation, modeling, simulating, computer science, physics, joint-subject, remote schools, Kyrgyzstan. want to work at schools, they choose other jobs with higher salary. The second reason 1 Introduction that there are not enough books and laboratory facilities in science at remote schools. The last but not least reason is economic condition of Kyrgyz Republic, and many student of remote schools work in fields to help their parents, mostly this is the only resource of their income. According to OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) performance in science of students in Kyrgyz Republic is very low. Kyrgyz students took 62 th place among 65 participant countries. [1] They checked the performance of students in writing, reading, mathematics, and science. The poorest results of Kyrgyz students were in mathematics and science. This is because of lack of qualified teachers and lack of proper laboratory facilities in science, especially in physics, chemistry and biology. There are many reasons which bring education of Kyrgyzstan to these results. The main reason that there are not enough qualified teachers is low salary, because of that, young graduates do not Many remote schools now have computer classes by the government program of supplying all schools with computers. Economically simulation and virtual laboratories would be the best solution of remote school problems because you do not need to buy expansive laboratory equipments. Simulating science will improve efficiency of teaching science and improve science achievements of students. For example teaching physics by simulating physics concepts and laws will ISBN: 978-960-474-363-6 229
Modern Computer Applications in Science and Education give more opportunities for students to understand better by visualising and intuitively feeling how these physics concepts and laws work and learn simulation techniques at that. In this sample we will try to use Proof Animation Program to simulate famous three Newton s law of Mechanics. 2 Problem Formulation The three Newton s laws of mechanics are about Force and Motion. What is the Force? It is something that makes objects move or stop. It also acts on an object. In other words it pushes and pulls objects. Force is a vector quantity which means that it will act on an object with magnitude and gives directions to objects which way to move. Forces can be either a contact force or a long range force. For example contact forces are forces that act on an object by touching it, and magnetism is a sample of long-range force. There are many types of Forces in our world: gravity, spring force, tension force, normal force, friction, drag force, electric and magnetic forces. Sir Isaac Newton formulated three laws of mechanics. We will simulate these laws in two dimensions with Proof Animation P5 student version, because it will be very good for school students to start learning simulation in two dimensions. Simulation will help students who are have weaker mathematical background. [2] Virtual animation now gives us opportunities to do physical experiments economically cheap and ecologically safe. Now nuclear scientists use supercomputers to do nuclear reaction experiments. [3] In countries like Kyrgyzstan students do not interested in science not only because of economic condition but also they do not have access to high technology educations. School children are always happy to see animated movies so animated experiments also will be attractive to them, and doing those animated experiment by themselves will improve their achievements not only in physics but in computer science too. In this article we will do basic animations of three Newton s law of mechanics with basic commands which will be very easy to do it by school children who are beginners in animation. 3. Problem Solution Newton s first law: An object that is at rest, or an object that is moving will continue to move in a straight line with constant velocity, if and only if the net force acting on the object is zero. [4] Newton s first law is also known as law of inertia. An object, on which the net force is zero, is said to be in mechanical equilibrium. According to Newton s first law there are two forms of mechanical equilibrium. The object at rest is static equilibrium. The object is moving in a straight line with constant velocity is dynamic equilibrium. [4] We can indicate it by adding messages in our simulation. 3.1 simulation of Newton s first law Now we can simulate what process is going on in the definition of first law. First we have to draw in a class mode a skateboarder, which is shown in Fig. 1, because it is ease to visualise skateboarder in move and a skateboarder at rest. It is n a m e d i n c l a s s m o d e a s c l a s s 1 skateboarder1. ISBN: 978-960-474-363-6 230
Modern Computer Applications in Science and Education Fig 1: Skateboarder message dynamic equilibrium Fig. 3. The second message has to be saved as message2 and written as dynamic equilibrium. First message is placed next to skateboarder and second message is placed under the path since it devoted to moving objects. Messages can be appeared on the screen in any scheduled time by stream of commands. At the we must save the layout one more time. Skateboarder at rest is a good example of static equilibrium. Now we have to simulate a skateboarder which is moving in a straight line with constant velocity. To do that we need to define a path on which skateboarder will move. In our case the path is named as skateboarder path and the speed is defined as 2. We are going to choose accumulating path which will allow objects to stop in a line. [5] Also by clicking again on the line we will define the direction for our moving objects. Back in draw mode there are added two more skateboarders. It can be done by clicking add object button which is shown in Fig. 2 and were named as skateboarder2 and skateboarder3. Fig. 2 The layout must be saved by clicking file - save layout as: firstlaw.lay [5] Now we can add messages (texts) in animation. In our case the first message is static equilibrium and the second Fig. 3: of animation Finally the stream of commands has to be created by Microsoft WordPad program, the sample is shown bellow. create class1 skateboarder1 place skateboarder1 on skateboarder path time 5 write message1 static equilibrium time 15 write message2 dynamic equilibrium time 25 place skateboarder2 on skateboarder path time 150 This stream of command must be saved as: firstlaw.atf. After saving stream of command you have to reload Proof Animation Program P5. Press file open layout + trace (atf). Choose firstlaw.lay. Then press run button. Skateboarder3 will stay stationary. Skateboarder1 and skateboarder2 will move smoothly in constant velocity. ISBN: 978-960-474-363-6 231
Modern Computer Applications in Science and Education 3.2 simulation of Newton s second law Second law of mechanics explains what happens when the net force acting on an object is not zero. Assume that an object of mass m is pulled along a frictionless horizontal surface. In this case, the net force acting on the object is F and the object gains an acceleration a. If the force is increased to 2F, the acceleration increases to 2a. From such experiment it can be concluded that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. Newton s second law: The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. [6] This law was formulated by Newton as: Fnet = m * a (1) Force and acceleration are vector quantities. Now we can simulate the example which was mentioned above. A box will be used as an object which moves horizontally above a frictionless surface. First we need to draw a box in a class mode. The class named as class1 box1 and coloured in red. An arrow which will show the direction of exerted force has to be created in class mode. It is named as class2 arrow2. The path on which the box will move has drawn in path mode and named as second law path. In draw mode the layout object (box) is placed on the surface of the path and layout object named as box2. Object layout arrow also attached to the box, this arrow will show to which direction the force exerted. A different path will be created for arrow, and that path will be invisible, The path is called path arrow Fig. 5. Fig. 5 Messages F (force) and a (acceleration) are added. The layout file is saved as secondlaw.lay. Here below is shown the stream of commands for animation. write message1 F time 15 place box2 on second law path place arrow3 on path arrow time 30 write message2 a time 150 3.3 simulation of Newton s third law Newton realised that a single isolated force could not exist. Forces always occur in pairs. Thus, Newton stated the third law as follows: When one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object exerts an equal but opposite force on the first. [6] These forces have following properties: a) Action-reaction forces are equal in magnitude, but opposite in direction, and they act along the same line. ISBN: 978-960-474-363-6 232
Modern Computer Applications in Science and Education b) Action-reaction forces can act on the same object or on different objects. However when they act on the same object they cancel each other. We can simulate several examples to demonstrate Newton s third law of mechanics. For example: lifting-off rocket and moving car. First in class mode the rocket and car have to be drawn. Also we need to simulate the gas coming out from rocket. To do that we will draw a model of a gas in class mode as in Figures 6 and 7. Fig. 6: A model of gas coming out from the rocket. Fig. 7 In draw mode the paths for rocket and a car were defined, then they made as invisible paths. Also messages are added to show the interaction of forces. This layout is saved as thirdlaw.lay. Below you can see the stream of commands for animation: place rocket1 on rocket path time 6 create class2 gass place gass on rocket path time 12 write force1 F write force2 -F time 50 place car1 on car path time 60 write car F write car1 car write earth -F write earth1 earth time 130 4. Building Presentation Teaching these laws will be easier if these all three animation are collected in one presentation. So presenter during the presentation will not reload the program a f t e r p r e s e n t i n g e a c h l a w. T h e presentations can be built as linear or hierarchical. Linear presentation is very simple. It has only simple ordered list of commands [5]. Each command is executed once, in sequence, unless a user intervenes. In hierarchical presentations, commands are organized as a groups, with optional subgroups, allowing the user to quickly navigate through a presentation [5]. Here below is shown the trace of command for building three Newton s laws of Mechanics linier presentation. group Three Newton's Laws of Mechanics item first law run dissolve firstlaw item second law run dissolve secondlaw item third law run dissolve thirdlaw ISBN: 978-960-474-363-6 233
Modern Computer Applications in Science and Education group Presentation trace commands stream have to be written by Word Processor or Note Pad, and must be saved as text only. 5. Conclusion 6. Ahmet Aki, Salim Gur. 2004 Mechanics, modular system, 79-85 7. James O. Henriksen 2000 Adding animation to a simulation using PROOF TM Winter Simulation Conference 191-196 These animations could be used by teachers to demonstrate Newton s laws and to raise their interest in science. These animations are very easy to make because there were used only basic commands and figures. Learning how to animate will also be very interesting for school children. So learning will be fun for them. That is exactly what we need while teaching students. Simulation can be very useful during solving the problems in Physics. Before solving the problems students can animate the problem which will help to understand the problem profoundly. 6. References 1. OECD 2013 results. Volume 1. PISA. OECD publishing. 2. C r a i g M. S a v a g e, M i c h a e l Williamson. 2012 Developing a virtual Physics world. Australian Journal of Educational Technology 28(3), 504-521 3. Hsingtzu Wu, 2011, Internet and virtual nuclear engineering laboratory, mastering thesis, University of Illinois. 4. Randall D. Knight. 2008 Physics for Scientists and Engineers. Second edition, 137-194 5. Using Proof Animation 4 th edition. 2 0 0 8. Wo l v e r i n e S o f t w a r e Corporation. ISBN: 978-960-474-363-6 234