Abstract:

During the last years, due to the pandemic caused by COVID 19, there has been a necessity to change from face-to-face to remote learning. Although it has been possible to adapt theoretical lectures, problem solving classes and tutoring tasks to a remote modality quite successfully thanks to applications such as Google Meet, it has not been possible to adapt a a big amount of laboratory practices, especially in STEM areas. Most of the laboratory practices require certain laboratory material that the students do not have at home, which makes them very difficult to adapt to a remote modality.

In order to develop laboratory practices that students can do from home, an app available for Android called GDE Sensors has been created. The objective of this app is that by simply using a mobile phone, students can carry out various practices related to classical mechanics or electronics.

First, using the mobile's internal accelerometer, this app measures the accelerations in the three axes and is capable of extracting various parameters such as its mean value or its Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). All the measurements are shown on the screen but, in addition, it is possible to save the raw data to treat them later. Thanks to this, it is possible to carry out numerous experiments related to classical mechanics.

Similarly, the developed app is capable of capturing the signal obtained by the microphone of the mobile as well as make the mobile vibrate or emit an audio signal at a frequency chosen by the user. It can also be programmed to make a sweep in frequency or volume, saving all the raw data in a file. Thanks to this, studying the signals captured by the accelerometer and by the microphone, depending on the volume, frequency or vibration of the mobile, various experiments related to electronics and signal processing can be carried out.

This developed app is openly available on Google Play and is intended to be used during the 2022/2023 academic year in the Micro and Nano Systems subject taught in the Physics degree at the University of Zaragoza. Finally, it is intended to leave the programming code available so that the students themselves can see how it is made and propose improvements.

Keywords:

Mobile learning, remote teaching, laboratory experiences.