Chapter 9: Real-Time Experiments and Images (RTEI) as Open Learning Environments for Building Physics Knowledge

Experimental laboratory activities play a key role in the process of the construction of physics knowledge, both in scientific research and in science education. Real-Time Experiments and Images (RTEI) is a type of labwork that empowers educational laboratory activities thanks to the pedagogical opportunities offered by computer acquisition of measures in real-time. The didactic value of RTEI is nowadays widely acknowledged, the field having been the object of research and experimentations for many years.

The role of labwork to overcome some inadequacies of current physics education is discussed and the specific educational opportunities offered by RTEI are outlined.

These potentialities can be fully achieved only when RTEI is interpreted as an Open Learning Environment (OLE), where the learners are the main actors of the knowledge construction process. In this case, RTEI approaches allow addressing different levels of knowledge, ranging from topical knowledge (related to a specific topic) to networked knowledge (related to the links among different topics and abilities) to meta-knowledge (related to the ability to build new knowledge). Some examples illustrating the pedagogical wealth of RTEI OLE are presented in the area of Classical Mechanics.