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Using skateboarding to develop a culturally relevant tutorial on static equilibrium

Physics Education 2026-01-05 v3

Abstract

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), initially developed by Ladson-Billings, is an instructional framework for supporting diverse learners by drawing on their cultural backgrounds and experiences. In line with the CRP framework, we developed a tutorial on static equilibrium using skateboarding, a popular activity on university campuses, as a culturally relevant context. To help students refine their conceptions about static equilibrium documented in the physics education research (PER) literature, we used the elicit-confront-resolve (ECR) strategy to develop the tutorial. In this paper, we provide a detailed account of how we operationalized the ECR strategy in designing the sequences of questions in the tutorial. Additionally, we present anecdotal evidence to show that this research-based culturally relevant tutorial appears to effectively engage students and motivate their interest in learning physics.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.17625,
  title  = {Using skateboarding to develop a culturally relevant tutorial on static equilibrium},
  author = {Gian Viray and Isaac Cheney and Tong Wan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.17625},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:18:47.638Z