Teaching about the persistence of vision and the sampling rate of the human eye using STEM methodology: An empirical study

Many things around us make sense through the illusion of motion. This fact is based on a ‘rawback’ of the human eye"s function, referred to as ‘persistence of vision (POV)’. This paper focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of a project for teaching and experimentally explaining this phenomenon using Arduino and S4A as learning tools in a STEM education framework. Thirty-two (32) pre-service teachers, forth-year university students, voluntary participated in the research. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of such educational activities in a STEM methodology framework, the suitability and usability of the tools used as well as the intention of pre-service teachers to adopt such tools and methods in their teaching practice. The results highlight the effectiveness of the tools and the method to achieve the expected learning outcomes as well as the positive views of the participants towards Arduino and S4A as teaching and learning tools in a STEM methodology context and their willing to adopt them in their classroom.