Interactive-engagement vs Traditional Methods in Mechanics Instruction*

Abstract

One of the more dramatic demonstrations of the failure of introductory mechanics courses occurred in 1985 when Halloun and Hestenes2 (HH) published a careful study of pre/post testing of 560 Arizona State University students enrolled in both calculus and non-calculus-based courses. HH used their Mechanics Diagnostic2a (MD) test, 36 multiple-choice questions assessing students’ ability to discriminate between the applicability of scientific concepts and naive alternatives in common physical situations. A typical MD test question is shown below: