Abstract:

Currently, the teaching of physics or computer science is not talked about separately, but both of these subjects are often included in a wider set of subjects known as STEM teaching. STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. An approach that leads to the integration of knowledge from various teaching subjects, with the goal to achieve a higher development of student skills. This approach is linked to the following aspects of education: problem solving, creativity, critical analysis, teamwork. independent thinking, initiative, communication and also digital literacy. We must not forget this reason for the integration of individual subjects: (1) the need to introduce pupils to new digital technologies and to acquire the necessary skills requires the introduction of new subjects; (2) this would lead to an increase in the number of teaching hours and thus a higher burden on pupils and students; (3) reduction of teaching in other subjects is not always desirable; (4) it is therefore appropriate to integrate teaching so that when teaching one subject, students simultaneously work on problems from subjects from other subjects. Such an approach is possible thanks to STEM teaching and projects that lead to the development of students' skills in several fields at once. An example of such student projects is presented in this article. The article is devoted to the teaching of physics and hydromechanics using experiments that are automated using the ARDUINO platform, which is used to teach programming and robotics. This article presents a student project designed to teach the following problems: the continuity equation for a flowing liquid, Bernoulli's equation and the law of conservation of energy for an ideal liquid, determining the efficiency of a water turbine in the production of electricity. The experiments are carried out with the help of an Arduino microcomputer, a trio of flow meters for the YF -S201, a dynamo for a bicycle and several hoses and two plastic water canisters. The program for measuring the values of water flow, water speed and electrical power was created by the students in the scratch environment, which is a programming language taught for These experiments develop the technical thinking of students, lead to the acquisition of skills in the field of programming and hydromechanics. These projects were implemented in teaching at several secondary schools and were implemented in classes that were created by merging classes that were originally dedicated to the teaching of the separate subjects of physics and computer science. after the end of the project, the students were asked how they evaluate the lessons conceived in this way. The students evaluated the work very positively and showed great interest in the issue, which indicates that teaching conceived in this way also has a significant effect on student motivation.

Keywords:

Physics, STEM education, Arduino, hydromechanics, Bernoulli's principle, flow velocity, hydroelectric power.