Enhancing Student Creativity through Physics Laboratories in Virtual Learning Environments

Ruzimatova, Barnokhon; Polvonov, Bakhtiyor; Akhmadaliev, Javakhir; Fozilova, Mohichekhra; Tursunov, Ikhtiyor; Dosymov, Tokhirbek

doi:Under indexing

Proceedings of International Conference on Applied Innovation in IT · 2026/07/22 · Vol. 14 · Issue 4 · pp. 1667–1674

Enhancing Student Creativity through Physics Laboratories in Virtual Learning Environments

Barnokhon Ruzimatova, Bakhtiyor Polvonov, Javakhir Akhmadaliev, Mohichekhra Fozilova, Ikhtiyor Tursunov, Tokhirbek Rakhmonov and Yelmurod Dosymov

📄 Download PDF DOI: Under indexing

Abstract

This paper presents the development and implementation of a web-based virtual physics laboratory system with embedded creativity assessment algorithms, designed to enhance student creative thinking through interactive simulation-based experimentation. The growing demand for accessible, scalable physics laboratory platforms in higher education necessitates software solutions that go beyond simple content delivery to actively engage students in creative problem-solving. The proposed system is implemented as a Flask-based Python microservice architecture with real-time WebSocket communication, integrating NumPy and SciPy numerical solvers for physics simulation (projectile motion, electric circuits, wave interference, and thermodynamic processes). A novel creativity scoring algorithm evaluates student experiment designs across four dimensions: parameter exploration breadth, solution uniqueness, experimental complexity, and result interpretation quality. The system was deployed at three technical universities in Uzbekistan and evaluated with 180 engineering students over 14 weeks. Performance benchmarks demonstrate sub-100ms simulation response times and support for 200 concurrent WebSocket connections on a single server instance. Educational evaluation showed statistically significant improvements in creative problem-solving scores (experimental group M = 74.2, SD = 8.1 vs. control group M = 58.6, SD = 9.3; t(178) = 12.4, p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.82). The complete source code, API documentation, and deployment configurations are available at https://github.com/physlab-virtual/ese2026 (commit: a3f7c2d).

Keywords

Virtual Laboratory Physics Simulation Engine Creativity Assessment Algorithm Flask Microservice REST API WebSocket Real-Time Data

References

S. Z. Lahme, J. Zylka, P. Klein, and V. Nordmeier, "Physics lab courses under digital transformation," Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., vol. 19, no. 2, p. 020159, Dec. 2023, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.19.020159.
M. Fowler, "Microservices: A definition of this new architectural term," martinfowler.com, Mar. 2014, [Online]. Available: https://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html, [Accessed: Jan. 15, 2026].
B. Arymbekov, K. M. Turekhanova, D. D. Alipbayev, and Y. R. Tursanova, "Development of augmented reality application for physics laboratory," Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., vol. XLVIII-5/W2-2023, pp. 19-24, 2023, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-5-W2-2023-19-2023.
S. Cai, C. Liu, T. Wang, E. Liu, and J. Liang, "Effects of learning physics using AR on students’ self-efficacy," Brit. J. Educ. Technol., vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 235-251, Jan. 2021, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13020.
C. E. Wieman, W. K. Adams, and K. K. Perkins, "PhET: Simulations that enhance learning," Science, vol. 322, no. 5902, pp. 682-683, Oct. 2008, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1161948.
E. P. Torrance, *The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: Norms-Technical Manual*. Bensenville, IL, USA: Scholastic Testing Service, 1974.
C. Severance, T. Hanss, and J. Hardin, "IMS Learning Tools Interoperability: Enabling a mash-up approach to teaching and learning tools," Technol. Instruct. Cognit. Learn., vol. 7, no. 3-4, pp. 245-262, 2010.
K. Burns, *Designing Distributed Systems: Patterns and Paradigms for Scalable, Reliable Services*. Sebastopol, CA, USA: O'Reilly Media, 2018.
L. S. Vygotsky, *Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes*. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press, 1978.
S. Newman, *Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems*, 2nd ed. Sebastopol, CA, USA: O'Reilly Media, 2021.
N. Dragoni et al., "Microservices: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow," in *Present and Ulterior Software Engineering*, M. Mazzara and B. Meyer, Eds. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2017, pp. 195-216, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67425-4_12.
S. Wu, X. Chen, and L. Zhang, "The usage of AI in teaching and students’ creativity," Educ. Sci., vol. 14, no. 5, Art. no. 811, May 2024, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14050811.
L. Chen, X. Li, and Y. Wang, "The impact of virtual technology on students’ creativity: A meta-analysis," Comput. Educ., vol. 215, Art. no. 105043, Apr. 2024, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105043.
J. Devlin, M. W. Chang, K. Lee, and K. Toutanova, "BERT: Pre-training of deep bidirectional transformers for language understanding," in Proc. 2019 Conf. North Amer. Chapter Assoc. Comput. Linguistics (NAACL-HLT), Minneapolis, MN, USA, 2019, pp. 4171-4186, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/N19-1423.

↑