Building an interactive mobile application to enhance students’ problem solving skills in higher education physics

Problem solving is a major part of the learning process that students need to acquire in their university education as it combines several skills within, such as comprehension, memory recall, critical thinking, and mathematical skills. Even though instructors and students recognize the importance of problem solving, generally both groups fail to culminate this corner step in the learning process. Students fail to realize that it is not the final answer of an assignment that is the important outcome, but rather the learning process and skills that are gained through problem solving. Technology and mobile applications can harvest the students’ attention in the process of problem solving and make them more willing to learn. We discuss the case of building an interactive mobile application that fosters the major steps in problem solving. The application is built to guide, help, encourage, motivate the students, and create a more interactive and exciting environment. It is built on an algorithm that relies on the major steps of problem solving. The first version of the mobile (Android) application is produced.