New Perspectives in Science Education

There are many experiments carried out in laboratory to teach various subjects of physics. Since some subjects are difficult to be comprehended easily by students, teachers design various activities and experiments in both classroom and laboratories by taking into account the different learning styles and teaching strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the friction force thoroughly, discuss which factors effect the friction force and to understand the advantages, disadvantages and important applications in many engineering disciplines by doing various experiments. The experimental designs used in physics will help students to understand the cause and effect relationships better and it is an effective and enjoyable way of moving pupil from passive to active learners. There are four steps carried out in this study. In the first step, students investigated the results and effects of friction force exerted on the overlapping pages of two nested books located on their tables. In the second step, students study on a simulation and investigated the differences between static and kinetic friction force whose web address [1] is given at the bottom. Next step was about discussing the conquest of Istanbul by Sultan Mehmet the Conquerer and how he transported the fleet overland (on the road of greased logs) into Golden Horne due to the defensive chain the Byzantines had previously laid across the entrance. The aim of this step was to show the relationship between the type of the surface and the normal force. Finally, the last step was giving daily life examples about friction and discussing their effects. During the study all students were completely engaged with the activity as desired before. In the end, it was observed that students were more motivated and engaged at different steps better than others due to their skills and interests. This observation led us to the importance of recognizing and understanding students’ learning styles. As a result, using and designing different techniques in each step that suited to them had accomplished the desired learning. At the end of the study, an assessment test is distributed to students and evaluated.