Edunesia : jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan
Vol. 7 No. 3 (2026)

Effect of PhET-Assisted Problem-Based Learning on Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Motion Dynamics

Muhammad Raihan (Universitas Bengkulu)
Desy Hanisa Putri (Universitas Bengkulu)
Bodi Gunawan (Universitas Bengkulu)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Jul 2026

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study examined the effect of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) assisted by PhET simulations on students' conceptual understanding of motion dynamics. The participants were 64 eleventh-grade science students at SMA Negeri 6 Bengkulu, divided into an experimental class receiving PhET-assisted PBL and a control class receiving PBL only. Students' conceptual understanding was assessed using essay tests based on the SOLO Taxonomy. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney U test, normalized gain (N-Gain), and rank-biserial effect size. The results revealed no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups (p = 0.204). Nevertheless, the experimental group achieved a moderate N-Gain score (0.313) and a small effect size (r = 0.158), indicating that PhET-assisted PBL produced moderate learning improvement without providing a significant advantage over PBL alone. These findings suggest that PBL remains the primary contributor to conceptual understanding, while PhET serves as a complementary visualization tool that supports learning consistency.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

edu

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Mathematics Social Sciences Other

Description

As an National or international, multi-disciplinary, the scope of this journal is in education which provides a platform for the publication of the most advanced scientific researches in the areas of education, learning, development, instruction and teaching. The journal welcomes original empirical ...