Analysis of the use of a collision simulator to solve a traffic accident

Abstract

We analyse how secondary students use a collision simulator within an applied physics project about traffic accidents, in which students act as experts, lawyers and judges. The results show that this simulator is the most used resource by students in their arguments, compared to other resources such as real experiments with toy cars and other kinematic analyses such as graphs or calculations. We also note that these arguments are often incomplete, and they include misconceptions about the virtual and idealized nature of simulations. We identify, therefore, the need to address not only the conceptual and procedural understanding of simulations, but also its epistemology.