Inquiry-based undergraduate teaching in physics at technical universities

Abstract

Physics is one of fundamental subjects in the curriculum of engineering studies at a university. The quality and creativity of engineers strongly depend on the level of assimilation of the fundamental principles of physics and students' ability to apply them through analysis and by solving scientific and technical problems. The observed fall in the session grades in physics (by 1.5 points) over the last 10 years induced the authors to transform the practice lectures in physics to more inquiry-based and interactive formats. For each practice lecture, students had to study thoroughly the indicated portion of theory applied for analysis, modelling physical phenomena, solving problems and thinking over the obtained results. Thus, the mindset for research was developed. Students also received individual control quizzes consisting of a theoretical question and problem. The effectiveness of the implementation of the inquiry-based teaching during the later four years was assessed by determining the correlation between the test and examination results. The gradual improvement in students' knowledge in physics and their positive attitude towards the test system show that the inquiry-based teaching should be implemented more widely and developed in undergraduate studies.