Recognition of interference and diffraction patterns is a difficult task for both high-school and university students. Many students fail to observe important features of particular patterns and identify the differences among similar patterns. In this study, we investigated if performing students’ investigative experiments can help high-school students in recognition of typical interference and diffraction patterns. Students in the experimental group were exposed to a teaching intervention that included five students’ investigative hands-on experiments on wave optics whereas the control group had the standard lecture-based physics teaching. We measured eye movements of students from both the experimental and control groups while they were identifying patterns produced by monochromatic light on a double slit, single slit, and diffraction grating, and by white light on a diffraction grating. Students from the experimental group had a higher percentage of correct answers than students in the control group that indicated that students’ investigative experiments had a positive effect on their recognition of interference and diffraction patterns. However, the low percentage of correct answers, even in the experimental group, confirms that distinguishing of the typical interference and diffraction patterns remains a difficult task for high-school students even if they had performed investigative hands-on experiments. Eye-tracking data showed that students from the experimental group had a shorter dwell on multiple-choice patterns, possibly because they were more familiar with interference and diffraction patterns and felt more confident in choosing the correct pattern. All students attended more to those patterns which they chose as the correct answer and that corroborates the previous findings. Overall, the results indicate that students’ recognition of interference and diffraction patterns can be improved by introducing hands-on investigative experiments in the classroom.

中文翻译：

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学生的调查实验对学生识别干涉和衍射图样的影响：一项眼动追踪研究

对于高中生和大学生而言，识别干涉和衍射图样都是一项艰巨的任务。许多学生没有观察到特定模式的重要特征，也没有发现相似模式之间的差异。在这项研究中，我们调查了进行学生的研究性实验是否可以帮助高中生识别典型的干涉和衍射图样。实验组的学生接受了教学干预，其中包括五个学生的波光学研究性动手实验，而对照组则进行了基于讲座的标准物理教学。我们测量了实验组和对照组的学生的眼球运动，同时他们确定了由双缝，单缝和衍射光栅上的单色光产生的图案，并通过衍射光栅上的白光。实验组的学生正确答案的百分比比对照组的学生高，这表明学生的研究性实验对他们对干涉和衍射图样的识别有积极的影响。但是，即使在实验组中，正确答案的比例也很低，这证实了即使对高中生进行了调查性动手实验，对典型的干涉和衍射图谱进行区分仍然是一项艰巨的任务。眼动数据显示，实验组的学生对多项选择模式的停留时间较短，这可能是因为他们更熟悉干涉和衍射模式，并且对选择正确的模式更有信心。所有学生都更多地参与了他们选择作为正确答案的模式，从而证实了先前的发现。总体而言，结果表明，通过在课堂上进行动手调查研究，可以提高学生对干涉和衍射图样的认识。