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GIREP-MPTL 2018 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1287 (2019) 012057 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1287/1/012057

Learning Physics with Interactive Videos – Possibilities,

Perception, and Challenges

Stefan RICHTBERG, Raimund GIRWIDZ

Chair of Physics Education, LMU Munich, Theresienstr. 37, 80333 Munich, Germany

Abstract. Videos on YouTube are very popular among students and therefor the number of
educational videos is growing. In general, such videos are a learning opportunity with unique
features like visual highlighting or multiple representations and can be watched as often as you
like. Moreover, videos can be used in many different ways: to repeat things, to learn something
new, or for entertainment. Here the paper presents a study among n=260 German students to
determine how often and why students are watching educational videos in Physics, Chemistry,
and Biology. Furthermore, the study shows unfortunately that students often just watch
learning videos passively; whereas, learning needs an active processing. So making already
available online videos more interactive with tasks, questions, and quizzes can foster an active
processing and students should perceive interactive videos as more helpful when learning
online. To do so the paper presents the free and open source tool H5P, which can be easily
used by every teacher to enrich learning videos with tasks, feedback, summaries, or additional
information.

1. Options for Learning with Online Videos

YouTube is the most popular web service among children and adolescents in Germany between the
age of 12 to 19 and more than 60% are watching videos on YouTube more than once a week [1]. Also
more than 60% use videos on YouTube to get news and information. In general videos on YouTube
cover all conceivable topics, and are available for free. Therefore, even learning videos in STEM
subjects can reach thousands of students [2]. Such videos can be paused and replayed. Also videos can
contain visual highlighting, animations, multiple representations [3], and visualizations of invisible
things like electrons or concepts like electric or magnetic fields. Moreover, online videos are available
24/7, can be watched on Smartphones, and can be used nearly without copyright concerns. So the
large number of available educational videos on YouTube seems to be an ideal learning opportunity
for students.
Unfortunately, students watching videos on YouTube are mostly passive recipients even if the videos
are educational videos. On the other hand, most theories of learning with multimedia, for example
Mayer’s “Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning” [4], are based on an active processing
assumption. Thus, learning needs active processing of the given information. Such theories are
supported by a wide range of studies, which show that active learning increases student performance
(a meta-analysis see [5]). So it seems to be necessary to make these already available videos more
interactive to foster learning [6].

1.1. How often and why are students watching educational videos
However, it is largely unknown how often and why students watch online learning videos in physics,
chemistry, and biology. Do students watch educational YouTube videos for entertainment, do they
want to learn something new, or do they want to repeat a topic they did not understand in class? These

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GIREP-MPTL 2018 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1287 (2019) 012057 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1287/1/012057

aspects influence the students’ selection of videos, the amount of time they spend watching a video,
and their whole learning process when watching an educational video. For example, it is more likely
that a student watching an educational video on YouTube as preparation for a test in school is
interested in explanations and summaries than a student watching a video for entertainment. Probably
this student is more interested in new insights, and spectacular effects and interactive elements could
scare him off.

1.2. Watching videos related to school

In general, educational videos do not have to be related to class but definitely some students are
searching for such videos. Also teachers consider the use of videos in their classes nowadays more
often and the technical equipment in most schools is improving so teachers can easily use online
videos hosted on YouTube in their classes. They also can recommend videos to their students or use
videos as part of their homework. Here the students’ attitude towards the videos and their learning
process are again different. For teaching in a flipped classroom concept or for MOOCs videos are
essential and students attending such a course have to watch the provided videos. Usually such videos
are embedded in the course and tasks related to the videos are provided. As mentioned before this
should foster learning with the videos.
However, here again it is largely unknown how often videos are used in class, are recommended by
teachers, or are part of the homework. Also the students’ attitude against educational videos in class is
unknown. All these aspects affect, what a good educational video for a certain user group has to
contain. So we developed a questionnaire with 27 questions about the students’ use and perception of
educational videos on YouTube in physics, chemistry, and biology.

2. Questionnaire Study about Using Educational Videos

To gain knowledge about the students’ use of educational videos on YouTube, their attitudes towards
interactive videos and the use of educational videos in schools we performed a questionnaire study
with students.

2.1. Structure and content of the questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of different sections, each with a different focus. In the first part we tried to
determine how often students are watching educational videos related to their classes in physics,
chemistry, and biology and how much time they spend watching such videos. Also, we asked for
subscribed channels and their additional activities when watching an educational video (reading or
writing comments, doing related exercises, writing a summary). Moreover, we asked how much time
they spend watching online videos on YouTube in general without a relation to their classes.
A second part was about the students’ attitude towards educational videos, their experiences (for
example with errors in videos), and their interest in the integration of interactive task in videos.
Moreover, we asked about the perfect length of an educational video and helpful elements like tasks
with solutions, explanations, or applications in everyday life.
The third part was a comparison online videos and other typical References used in school and when
learning online (books, websites, Wikipedia).
The last part contained personal questions about age, sex, type of school, grades in physics, chemistry,
and biology and total time doing homework and preparations for classes.
Most questions were single choice questions and in questions about personal attitudes Likert scales
with four or five options were used.

2.2. Conduction of the survey

The study was carried out with support of the school labs: the PhotonLab – the laser laboratory for
school students, and the DLR_School_Lab Oberpfaffenhofen. The PhotonLab is a cooperation
between the Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics, the Faculty of Physics at the Ludwig Maximilian
University (LMU) and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ). It is located in Garching
near Munich designed for students in the 9th grade and above. The DLR_School_Lab

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GIREP-MPTL 2018 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1287 (2019) 012057 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1287/1/012057

Oberpfaffenhofen is also located near Munich, but visited by schools from all over southern Germany.
So students from different schools participated in the study.
Data collection took place in a short period of time in June 2018 where students could fill out the
paper-and-pencil questionnaire voluntarily after visiting one of the two school labs.

2.3. Data processing and basic characteristics of the participants

Subsequently, the data was digitized and transferred into a SPSS-database and all evaluations and
analyses were performed with SPSS 25. In total the collected data of n=260 students were usable. 184
students (more than 70%) were at the age of 16-17, 61 students were at the age of 14-15, and only 9
students were 18 or older (see table 1). 6 students choose the “no answer” option. 148 female students
(57%) and 106 male students (41%) participated (again 6 students choose the “no answer” option). All
students visited a Gymnasium (advanced secondary education).

Table 1. Basic characteristics of the participants.

Age 14-15 Age 16-17 Age 18+ no answer Total

Male 25 71 8 1 106
Female 36 110 0 2 148
no answer 0 3 0 3 6

3. First Results
Initial analyses show that there are no major differences between male and female students in our data.
Even if male students watch slightly more online videos in general, the use of educational YouTube
videos related to class is almost identical. Therefore, in all subsequent analyses, the entire sample was
always considered and not distinguished between the sexes.

3.1. Frequency of using educational videos in physics, chemistry, and biology

About 40% of the students watch YouTube videos without relation to class more than 4 hours per
week. Additional 20% watch between 2 and 4 hours. Only 18 watch online videos less than 30
minutes per week. In contrast, about 60% of the participants watch educational videos related to
physics, chemistry, or biology less than one a week. 28% watch such videos only 1-2 times. So 76% of
the students spent less than 15 minutes per week watching online videos related to class. Nevertheless,
65% of the students subscribed a YouTube channel related to physics, chemistry, or biology and about
60% is able to name the channel. Among the students in Germany “The SimpleClub” and
“100SekundenPhysik” are most popular.

3.2. Use of educational videos by teachers

Moreover, students report that many teachers regularly use YouTube videos in class. 15% of the
teachers use videos once a week or more often. In total about 60% of the teachers use videos more
than once a month and only 6% of the students state that their teachers never use videos in class.
In contrast, teachers rarely use videos as part of their homework, and they rarely recommend
educational videos to their students. 36% never use or recommend videos and 18% less than once a
semester.

3.3. Attitude towards educational videos on YouTube

Students show a positive attitude towards educational videos on YouTube. On a 5-point Likert scale
from always (4) to very rare (0) students answered the question “At the end of an educational video,
did you feel that you understood the content?” with an average of 2.82 (SD=.62). Also 76% of the
students rated the quality of the educational videos as good or very good. 52% of the students never
noticed a mistake in an explanatory video in physics, chemistry, or biology and 24% very rarely
noticed a mistake.

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GIREP-MPTL 2018 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1287 (2019) 012057 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1287/1/012057

Asked if educational should be shown more frequently in physics, chemistry, and biology classes,
50% of the students fully agreed with tis statement. Another 33% rather agreed and only 5% disagreed
with the statement. Basically, the students want the use of YouTube videos especially when
introducing new content and for repetitions.

3.4. Tasks related to the video

Finally, we asked if tasks related to an educational video should be presented at the end of the video
and if such task should be integrated in the video. Here 46% totally agreed to present task at the end of
the video and another 40% rather agreed. Regarding the integration of tasks in videos, the results were
somewhat less positive, but still 24% totally agreed and 30% rather agreed. Only 9% disagreed.

4. Discussion and Conclusions

As mentioned in chapter 1 videos provide unique learning possibilities and can be easily accessed. So
educational videos can be used by teachers in their classes and students can use videos to foster their
learning in physics, chemistry, and biology.

4.1. Frequency of use by students and teachers

Our results show that most students use educational videos related to class on YouTube but much less
common than they watch YouTube videos without a connection to their classes or homework. An
aspect that can explain that difference is, that teachers rarely recommend videos and very rarely use
videos as part of the given homework. On the other hand, most teachers use educational YouTube
videos in their classes. Here further research is necessary to answer why teachers rarely use videos as
part of exercises and why they do not recommend videos to their students for example as preparation
for a test. Maybe teachers do not know many different YouTube channels where educational videos
can be found or teachers judge differently about the quality of available educational videos. But as
videos become more and more the students' central information medium, it seems necessary for
teachers to deal with them more and to use videos more often.
In comparison to the rare use of school-related videos, it is surprising that nevertheless 65% of the
students have subscribed to an educational YouTube channel. A possible explanation is that students
just “bookmark” channels that may be helpful in the future by subscribing. Another possible
explanation is that students like educational videos from specific channels like “The SimpleClub” and
just watch their videos even if they have no relation to the class.

4.2. Attitude towards educational videos and quality of educational videos

Our results show a positive attitude of students towards educational videos. At the end of the most
videos students feel that they understand the contents of the video. However, it is critical to note that
this may be a misperception. After watching a 5-minute video on quantum physics, you can hardly
reproduce the central concepts correctly, even if you feel you have understood the video. This also
applies to less complex content. Again, problems are to be expected when solving tasks following the
video. Nevertheless, the videos give students the feeling that they understand the content. This can be
used in particular for the motivation of the students and for a positive self-concept in physics,
chemistry, and biology.
Somewhat surprisingly were the results regarding errors in the videos. Here, most students stated that
they had never or rarely discovered errors in videos. In contrast, discussions and comments on the
videos suggest that at least some of the videos contain bugs. This suggests that students cannot reliably
detect errors in videos when they are unfamiliar with a topic. Here further research is necessary to
determine the actual quality of educational videos in physics, chemistry, and biology.

4.3. Videos and tasks

The results of the study make it clear that students want exercises related to educational videos. The
students prefer it when the tasks are present at the end of an educational video. Integrated tasks are not
considered as positive as tasks at the end. A possible explanation for this is that students have very

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GIREP-MPTL 2018 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1287 (2019) 012057 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1287/1/012057

limited experience with interactive videos where tasks are integrated. Another reason could be that
videos with integrated tasks are more challenging. When watching an interactive video, a student
cannot be some passive recipient. This could seem daunting at first. Nevertheless, taking into account
different learning theories the integration of task into video appears more promising.

5. Conclusion: Creating Interactive Videos with H5P

According to multimedia learning theories and the active processing assumption learning videos
should be more interactive to foster an active processing of the presented information. According to
our results videos should include tasks related to the presented content (at the end of the video or
integrated).
Therefore, it seems advantageous to make learning videos more interactive by including tasks directly
in the video. Unfortunately, new videos must be recorded to realize such a scenario. A more promising
way is to adapt videos with H5P that are already available by just adding interactive tasks.

5.1. Adapting already published videos with H5P

H5P (www.h5p.org) is a free and open technology, licensed with the MIT license and developed to
create, share, and reuse HTML5 content and applications. H5P can be used for creating quizzes,
memory games, fill in the blanks task, and in particular for creating interactive videos. For this
purpose, only the URL of a YouTube video is copied to H5P and any interaction can then be added via
a web interface. No programming knowledge is necessary for this and every teacher can easily create,
share, and adept interactive videos. Furthermore, H5P provides plugins for Learning Management
Systems (LMS) like Moodle and can be used for learning analytics. Another tool which can be used to
create interactive videos is Adobe Spark Video.

Figure 1: Interactive question on a YouTube video created with H5P.

With H5P various ways can be used to improve learning with videos. For example, a specific question
can be placed at the beginning or a quiz can be placed at the end of the video. Moreover, H5P enables
real adjustments on YouTube videos. Additional text can be displayed, the playback rate can be
modified, and most important different tasks and questions (single-choice, multiple-choice, fill the
blankets, drag-and-drop tasks) can be displayed as overlay over the video. For example, figure 1
shows a single choice question in the video frame. Thus, after the presentation of the experimental
setup in the video, students have to predict the result of the experiment. A short interactive video with
many different interactions is available under https://h5p.org/node/274069.

5.2. Feedback for students and teachers

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GIREP-MPTL 2018 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1287 (2019) 012057 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1287/1/012057

Computer-based feedback is another advantage of interactive videos. For most types of tasks students
receive an individual feedback after they submitted their answers. The positive effect of feedback for
learning has been proven for example by Hattie in his meta-study [7]. Figure 2 shows the feedback a
student receives after solving a “Fill in the Blanks”-task. In addition, it is possible to jump to a specific
scene in the Video based on the student’s answers. For example, if a student did not properly name the
parts of an experimental setup, the video may jump back the setup.
In addition, the teacher also receives feedback about the student’s success in answering the questions
in a video. This allows the teacher to control whether a student has watched the video and how
successful he has learned with the video. Hattie and Timperley describe such feedback as particularly
effective for teachers [8].
So on one hand, interactive videos can activate students and thus promote learning with videos. On the
other hand, the feedback and control options can lead teachers to more intensively use videos and their
unique learning potential.

Figure 2: Feedback for a “Fill in the Blanks”-task with H5P.

Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Joachim Herz Stiftung, Hamburg (https://www.joachim-herz-
stiftung.de/en/).

6. References
[1] Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest. JIM-Studie 2018: Jugend, Information,
(Multi-)Media. Basisstudie zum Medienumgang 12-bis 19-Jähriger in Deutschland. Available
from https://www.mpfs.de/fileadmin/files/Studien/JIM/2018/Studie/JIM_2018_Gesamt.pdf.
[2] Coates RL, Kuhai A, Turlej LZJ, Rivlin T, McKemmish LK. Phys FilmMakers: teaching
science students how to make YouTube-style videos. Eur. J. Phys. 2018;39:15706.
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[3] Ainsworth S. The functions of multiple representations. Computers & Education. 1999;33:131–
52. doi:10.1016/S0360-1315(99)00029-9.
[4] Mayer RE. Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In: Mayer RE, editor. The Cambridge
Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2014. p. 43–71..
[5] Freeman S, Eddy SL, McDonough M, Smith MK, Okoroafor N, Jordt H, Wenderoth MP.
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[6] Zhang D, Zhou L, Briggs RO, Nunamaker JF. Instructional video in e-learning: Assessing the
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[7] Hattie JAC. Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.
New York: Routledge; 2008.

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[8] Hattie J, Timperley H. The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research. 2007;77:81–
112. doi:10.3102/003465430298487.