Interactive white board in physics teaching: beneficial for physics achievement?

Schools have invested massively in interactive white boards (IWB). Interactive white boards can be used for powerpoints and films but they can also support enhanced teaching strategies i.e. more active learning and learner-centred teaching, which can lead to higher order learning and enrich teaching through the use of multimedia, as the IWB acts as a digital converging medium for all ICT resources available to teachers. However, research done on the benefits of IWB use, has still to provide evidence that IWB use, can contribute to physics understanding. This research is focused on the difference between teaching using an ordinary whiteboard and using the interactive whiteboard and compares students' achievement in physics. This study was a crossover study with two 9th grade classes in a Dutch high school. The interventions comprised seven lessons on mechanics and seven lessons on electricity. One class was experimental group in mechanics and control group in electricity. The other class was control group in mechanics and experimental group in physics. After the interventions students’ achievement was compared and students gave feedback on the difference between IWB lessons and “common” white board lessons. Only one of the two interventions showed a significant difference in physics achievement, but the students were very positive about the use of IWB to aid physics teaching