scholarly journals Identifying students’ difficulty in the basic of thermodynamics

2021 ◽  
Vol 2126 (1) ◽  
pp. 012010
Author(s):  
M C Sutarja ◽  
A Y R Wulandari
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Scientific Explanation ◽  
Ideal Gas ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
First Year ◽  
Basic Physics ◽  
Learning Instruction ◽  
Conceptual Problems ◽  
Test Result

Abstract Conceptual understanding is one of the main topics in physics educational research. It is important as the basic of other ability in education, such as argumentation, making scientific explanation and problem solving. This survey study aims to identify students’ difficulty to understand the basic of thermodynamics. There are 128 first year undergraduate students as the participants of the study. The data collection method is test. Result of the study shows that isobaric process of ideal gas and mechanical equilibrium state concepts are the most difficult concepts. Some difficulties are found in understanding the basic of thermodynamics: (1) because of the presence of higher cognitive load while solving conceptual problems, (2) when the question demands other ability, especially mathematical ability, to solve the conceptual problem, (3) because of students’ disability to integrate the knowledge. This study could be used to develop learning instruction or media in basic physics or introduction of thermodynamics course.

Knowledge and Attitude Toward Emergency Contraceptive Pills Among First-Year Undergraduate Students in Southern Thailand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siranee Yongpraderm ◽  
Suriyon Uitrakul
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Emergency Contraceptive Pills ◽  
Contraceptive Pills ◽  
Emergency Contraceptive ◽  
Knowledge And Attitude ◽  
The University

Abstract Background: The objective of this study was to investigation of the knowledge and attitude towards emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) among first-year undergraduate students in a university in Thailand.Methods: This cross-sectional survey study was performed using the developed questionnaires that was validated by four experts. The questionnaires were distributed to all the first-year students in the university via an online platform. The characteristic data were descriptively analyzed and the knowledge data were analyzed using Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test and one-way ANOVA.Results: A total of 335 students who responded to the questionnaires and met the eligible criteria for the study was analyzed. The mean knowledge score of all respondents was 7.76±0.15 out of 15. The most correct-answered questions were the questions relating to efficacy and safety of ECPs in pregnant women (78.5% and 72.2% corrected, respectively). On the contrary, the least correct-answered questions were about the ECP regimens and using ECPs instead of combined oral contraception (COC) (30.4% and 34.9%, respectively). In addition, the results indicated that experience in using ECPs and in ECP education were significant factors in high scores of knowledge. Moreover, most respondents trusted and would like to receive the information on ECPs from health professionals in hospitals, academic institutions, or pharmacies.Discussion: The average knowledge of ECPs of first-year students in a university in Thailand was at a moderate level. More knowledge about the regimens of the drug and using ECPs instead of COC should be advised to students, particularly at the university or pharmacies, and should be done by healthcare staff.

scholarly journals Supporting deep understanding with emerging technologies in a STEM university math class

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Brunetto ◽  
Clelia Marchionna ◽  
Elisabetta Repossi
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
First Year ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Flipped Learning ◽  
High School Mathematics ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
The One ◽  
Math Class

In this work we present an innovative learning environment format, based on student-centred activities, that may support undergraduate students to deep understanding mathematics in the first year of engineering university. In particular, we refer to the difficulties students meet in the transition from the high school mathematics to the one they meet at university, which requires a significant shift to conceptual understanding, especially in Calculus courses. The goal of this presentation is to investigate the case of multivariable functions, a topic at the foundation of many mathematical models and its application. We show the results of the first pilot study which involves 160 undergraduate students. More precisely, we report how a flipped-learning approach based on online activities and working group allows students to deep understand the main properties concerning multivariable functions.

scholarly journals The undergraduate students’ beliefs about English language learning; a survey study in Madurese context

LEKSIKA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Fithriyah Rahmawati
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
First Year ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Beliefs About Language Learning

The discussion in line with students’ beliefs about language learning is still popular nowadays since it is believed that the student’s beliefs may influence the language learning process, such as motivation, learning style, and strategies, etc. which later ultimately affected the success of language learning. This study was conducted to investigate how students of the English program at IAIN Madura (State Islamic Institute of Madura), Indonesia, express their beliefs about English language learning. This study was implemented in terms of survey study in which the data was primarily gathered by administering the questionnaire entitled Beliefs About Language learning Inventory (BALLI) of Horwitz’s (1987). The questionnaires were administered to students of English teaching and learning program through Google form. About 144 undergraduate students in the first year have participated in this study.  The finding revealed the students’ beliefs in terms of percentage of agreements in all area of BALLI, namely language aptitude, the strategy of learning and communication, the nature of learning language, motivation and expectation in learning, and the difficulty faced by students

First-Year Undergraduate Employment and Students’ Academic Motivation

2020 ◽  
pp. 152102512094735
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Jach ◽  
Teniell L. Trolian
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Student Employment ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
National Study ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Background ◽  
Paid Employment

Given the importance of academic motivation for student retention and persistence and that most undergraduate students participate in paid employment, this study investigated first-year undergraduate student employment and its relationship with academic motivation. Specifically, this study used the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS), a longitudinal survey study designed to examine student outcomes, to consider whether paid employment was associated with changes in students’ academic motivation during their first year of college. Results suggested that student employment both on-campus and off-campus was negatively associated with students’ end-of-first-year academic motivation, when controlling for students’ precollege academic motivation and a host of other student background characteristics, institutional characteristics, and college experiences. Implications for higher education faculty and staff are considered, including the importance of emphasizing connections between student employment and academic learning.

scholarly journals BARRIERS TO STUDENTS’ CREATIVE EVALUATION OF UNEXPECTED EXPERIMENTAL FINDINGS

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-428
Author(s):  
Hakki Kadayifci
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Scientific Explanation ◽  
Chemistry Laboratory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses ◽  
Experimental Errors ◽  
Unexpected Findings ◽  
Experimental Findings

Science lecturers usually do not pay special attention to giving students the chance to evaluate persistent unexpected experimental findings that they cannot explain with their existing theories, propose alternative hypotheses and develop new theories in inquiry tasks at schools, despite the importance of these processes in scientific discoveries. Students’ reactions to this type of findings have been a subject for conceptual change studies that new theories were presented to explain the findings. This research, in contrast, examined students’ ways of interpreting their unexpected experimental findings about the molar mass of the sulfur element while hiding a new theory, and their barriers to discovering the scientific explanation of these findings, which is new to them, in the framework of the creativity paradigm. The research was conducted with 155 first-year undergraduate students who were enrolled in a chemistry laboratory course. A majority of the participants said that the unexpected findings might have resulted from experimental errors or methodical problems. Few students stated that these findings might be valid and have a new explanation. The barriers to students' discovery of new scientific explanation for findings were classified as: lack of pre-knowledge, obstacles of existing structures, failure of creative cognitive processes and social-personal blocks. Keywords: creativity barriers, laboratory work, students’ explanations, unexpected findings.

scholarly journals Analyzing Student Problem-Solving With MAtCH

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Chiu ◽  
Christopher Randles ◽  
Stefan Irby
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
First Year ◽  
Physics Classes ◽  
Match Model ◽  
Car Travel ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Student Problem

Problem-solving has been recognized as a critical skill that students lack in the current education system, due to the use of algorithmic questions in tests that can be simply memorized and solved without conceptual understanding. Research on student problem-solving is needed to gain deeper insight into how students are approaching problems and where they lack proficiency so that instruction can help students gain a conceptual understanding of chemistry. The MAtCH (methods, analogies, theory, context, how) model was recently developed from analyzing expert explanations of their research and could be a valuable model to identify key components of student problem-solving. Using phenomenography, this project will address the current gap in the literature of applying the MAtCH model to student responses. Twenty-two undergraduate students from first-year general chemistry and general physics classes were recorded using a think-aloud protocol as they worked through the following open-ended problems: 1) How many toilets do you need at a music festival? 2) How far does a car travel before one atom layer is worn off the tires? 3)What is the mass of the Earth’s atmosphere? The original definitions of MAtCH were adapted to better fit student problem-solving, and then the newly defined model was used as an analytical framework to code the student transcripts. Applying the MAtCH model within student problem-solving has revealed a reliance on the method component, namely, using formulas and performing simple plug-and-chug calculations, over deeper analysis of the question or evaluation of their work. More important than the order of the components, the biggest differences in promoted versus impeded problem-solving are how students incorporate multiple components of MAtCH and apply them as they work through the problems. The results of this study will further discuss in detail the revisions made to apply MAtCH definitions to student transcripts and give insight into the elements that promote and impede student problem-solving under the MAtCH model.

Using Mnemonics to Facilitate Learning of Japanese Script Characters

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Manalo ◽  
Julie Trafford ◽  
Satomi Mizutani
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Pass Rate ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
Alphabetic Language

Extra tutorial sessions on the use of pictorial mnemonics to facilitate memorization of Japanese hiragana and katakana script characters, as well as vocabulary words and kanji characters, were offered to university first year undergraduate students taking a beginners’ Japanese language course. 27 students, most of whom were experiencing some difficulties with the course, volunteered to attend. Although the improvement in actual marks that the students evidenced subsequent to attending the sessions did not prove to be statistically significant, a significant improvement in pass rate was found. Furthermore, the students rated the sessions highly in terms of their helpfulness, and the majority indicated that they believed the sessions helped their performance in the course assessments. It is concluded that mnemonic strategies can effectively be employed in facilitating retention of the script of a foreign, non-alphabetic language within a real educational setting. 初心者対象の日本語コースを取っている大学１年生に、日本語のひらがなとカタカナ、及び語彙と漢字の記憶を促進するため、絵を用いた連想法を使った追加授業が提出された。２７名（そのうちのほとんどは、コースにおいて何らかの困難に直面している）が自主的に追加授業に出席した。追加授業出席後、学生の実際の小テストの点の向上には有意差は認められなかったものの、合格率の向上においては有意差は確認された。さらに、追加授業に出席した学生は授業が役立ったと高く評価し、大多数が追加授業がコースの成績の成果に貢献したと思うと述べた。本論は、実際の教育現場で英語のアルファベットを用いない外国語の文字を教える際、連想法を効果的に使用することができると結論づけた。

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