Interactive-engagement vs. cookbook laboratory procedures in MBL mechanics exercises

In recent years, much work has been done to investigate physics teaching techniques that facilitate conceptual learning in mechanics. This study compared the effectiveness of microcomputer-based laboratory procedures that were written in a traditional “cookbook” style to interactive-engagement procedures that covered the same material with the same experimental apparatus for equal times.; Two lab sections in an introductory trig-based physics course at a small private college participated in different lab exercises for nine weeks. One section completed nine chapters of the interactive-engagement lab curriculum, RealTime Physics. The other participated in cookbook labs that were written for this study to cover the same material. Gain in conceptual mechanics understanding was measured with a pre-instruction/post-instruction administration of the Force Concept Inventory. Both groups completed the conceptual homework included in the RealTime Physics exercises. This procedure was repeated in a second nine-week phase, in which neither group was assigned the homework.; Average normalized gains for the interactive-engagement and cookbook groups were h = 0.471 and h = 0.392, respectively. In the second phase (without the homework), they were h = 0.480 and h = 0.334. In the second phase, the normalized gain for the interactive-engagement group was 0.568 s.d. higher than the cookbook group (N = 27, p = 0.076).; For the interactive-engagement groups in the two phases, the homework did not make a difference in FCI gains. The pooled average normalized gain for these two groups was equal to h = 0.476 (N = 27), which is comparable to the average gain measured for the interactive-engagement groups in Hake's large data set in 1998.; Small differences in satisfaction and perceived effectiveness were measured between the interactive-engagement and cookbook groups. These differences generally favored the cookbook labs.