Comparing physical analogue and traditional videos for learning and emotional engagement

The lack of diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a vital issue that carries into the workforce. This study aims to enhance underrepresented students’ learning experience and emotional engagement by replacing mathematical abstractions with physical analogues. In the context of a post-secondary STEM course, we developed four video modules to compare the effects of physical analogues against a more traditional framing and assessed both the impact on learning and students’ emotional engagement with the material. Results suggest that the physical analogue videos significantly increased students’ emotional engagement, with more impact for women and non-native English speakers than for men and native speakers. Furthermore, students from other disciplines who were taking the course as part of their minor program found the physical analogue videos to be more helpful than the traditional videos in terms of understanding the course content. Students also suggested that compared to the traditional videos, the physical analogue versions helped them build mental models through visualization and analogies. However, we observed no statistical evidence that student performance on quizzes varied between the two treatments.