# Visuo-Haptic Simulations to Understand the Dependence of Electric Forces on Distance
## 2 Related Work  
In recent years, TICs have focused on education to improve and update knowledge and skills acquisition in different areas. In STEM, E-learning courses and Technology-Enhanced Learning  
Figure 1: User interacting with a visuo-haptic simulator. (TEL) practices have started to be applied in courses to improve or complement classes [21; 22]. Computer applications and systems have experienced exponential growth in the creation of simulators and learning stations, and nowadays they are a feasible and novel solution to improve learning and training [22]. The current trend focuses on the addition of haptic devices to simulators to provide force feedback [12; 13; 14]. In the area of Electricity and Magnetism, virtual simulators have also been studied in recent years. [PERSON] et al. developed a visuo-haptic simulation to teach physics concepts related to the learning of nanotechnology [23]. They implemented various simulations of point charges and their interactions aimed to improve student learning. A control study was performed to assess the impact on their learning. Half of the participants used three visuo-haptic simulations while the others were assigned to an only-visual one. Moreover, [PERSON] et al. performed a study to assess students' conceptual change in electricity and magnetism using simulations [20]. The authors used simulations to situate interactive engagements and to explicit visual representations regarding students' learning of these concepts. Moreover, they performed a modified diagnostic exam of Electricity and Magnetism to assess the impact of their approach. Results indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in students' conceptions of electromagnetism concepts. As technology progresses, the current trend in teaching simulators is the addition of haptic devices in simulators to also provide force feedback [3; 24; 25]. Recent visuo-haptic simulators for Electricity and Magnetism have concentrated on helping students to determine the direction of the electric/magnetic forces to infer the corresponding geometry of the electric/magnetic fields [14]. [PERSON] et al. created a haptic simulation to teach freshmen engineering students about electromagnetism [12]. The aim of their study was to examine the efficacy of these simulations in the students' learning process. The authors performed a quasi-experimental experiment where students were divided into two groups, one where the participants used visual-only simulations and the other where their visuo-haptic simulation was used. [PERSON] et al. found that the group that used the visuo-haptic simulation had a more positive conclusion and understanding of the task than those who only used the visual representation. On the other hand, [PERSON] et al. developed three 3D simulators to enhance the understanding of how charges interact with different force fields. They have incorporated multimedia principles for supporting the conceptual learning of electricity and magnetism to design their visuo-haptic simulators for different charge distributions [26]. Students were able to increase their knowledge regarding the direction of the electric field around charge distributions. Results from this study suggest that students significantly improved their conceptual understanding of electric field interactions for distributed charges after being exposed to a visuo-haptic simulation guided activity. Although they found find promising results in terms of conceptual learning gains determined from the comparison of pre-test and post-tests, on the one hand, and very positive students' perceptions on the use of their simulators, on the other, they mention that more studies of the impact of visuo-haptic simulators to understand the nature of electric and magnetic interactions are still needed. Among different possible research lines, [PERSON] et al. point that an interesting aspect to explore would be the force calibration for different charge distributions.