Physics homework often boils down to solving end-of-chapter quantitative problems. For targeting different learning goals of physics education, different types of homework are needed. The aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of simulation-based, video-based, and paper-and-pencil homework in developing an understanding about Newton’s laws and forming positive attitudes towards physics homework. 150 first-year students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) were randomly assigned to one of the three above-mentioned homework approaches. After, students had lectures and seminars on Newton’s laws, they were administered a pre-test. In the next three weeks, the students completed three homework assignments on Newton’s laws, after which they completed a post-test. For students from all three homework approaches a substantial improvement in conceptual understanding has been observed. Although the three approaches proved to be equally effective when it comes to developing understanding, the simulation-based approach was found to be superior when it comes to developing positive attitudes towards physics homework. If one controls for target knowledge, the modality of the homework assignment does not affect cognitive outcomes, but it does affect students’ attitudes towards homework. Keywords: conceptual understanding, experimental study, simulation-based homework, video-based homework

Students’ learning outcomes in physics are significantly affected by the quality of outside-of-classroom learning experiences. A rich source of these experiences may be the physics homework. In this study, the effects of technologically-rich physics homework were evaluated. To that end a pretest-posttest experimental design has been used. 67 first-year students from the First Bosniak Gymnasium were randomly assigned to one of the three homework approaches. In the control group students received conventional homework about work and energy. Within the simulation-based approach students were expected to interact with simulations to investigate work and energy phenomena, whereas in the video-based approach students learned by analyzing a video in which the teacher interacted with the same simulations as mentioned above. Based on analysis of covariance we could find that the between-group differences on the conceptual posttest were not statistically significant, F(2, 47)=0.59, p=0.56. At the same time, students who learned by interacting with simulations expressed significantly more positive attitudes towards homework, compared to students from the video-based group (mean difference=1.88, p=0.038), as well as compared to students from the conventional group (mean difference=2.02, p=0.03). Simulation-based physics homework may be a powerful tool for helping the students to reach important affective learning outcomes.