THE USEFULNESS OF PHYSICS FORMULAS IN THE OPINION OF STUDENTS: AN EYETRACKING STUDY

Abstract

For the purpose of this work, 16-year-old students gave their opinions on the usefulness of physics formulas from the school curriculum. The average students regarded below 30% of the presented formulas as useful, whereas for winners of a physics competition it was over 60%. Using the SMI Hi-Speed1250 eyetracker, a relationship between 52 students' eye fixation times on 16 presented formulas and their opinion on the formulas' usefulness was designated. For the best students, the Pearson correlation coefficient was close to zero. For average students, it was 0.6. Key words: physics formulas, public schools, school curriculum.