scholarly journals Mixed results from a multiple regression analysis of supplemental instruction courses in introductory physics

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249086
Author(s):  
Eric Burkholder ◽  
Shima Salehi ◽  
Carl E. Wieman
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Physics Education ◽  
Supplemental Instruction ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Introductory Physics ◽  
Physics Education Research ◽  
Course Performance ◽  
Improve Student Performance ◽  
Math Preparation ◽  
Positive Effect

Providing less prepared students with supplemental instruction (SI) in introductory STEM courses has long been used as a model in math, chemistry, and biology education to improve student performance, but this model has received little attention in physics education research. We analyzed the course performance of students enrolled in SI courses for introductory mechanics and electricity and magnetism (E&M) at Stanford University compared with those not enrolled in the SI courses over a two-year period. We calculated the benefit of the SI course using multiple linear regression to control for students’ level of high school physics and math preparation. We found that the SI course had a significant positive effect on student performance in E&M, but that an SI course with a nearly identical format had no effect on student performance in mechanics. We explored several different potential explanations for why this might be the case and were unable to find any that could explain this difference. This suggests that there are complexities in the design of SI courses that are not fully understood or captured by existing theories as to how they work.

scholarly journals REVIEW OF TRENDS IN PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH USING TOPIC MODELING

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunjeong Yun
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Physics Education ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Introductory Physics ◽  
Research Trend ◽  
Physics Education Research ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Gender

For both physicists who teach students in university and physics educators, how physics should be taught is a vital question. This study reviewed the trends of research in the field of physics education to identify the status of physics education research and help researchers in future studies. 2,959 articles were collected from the American Journal of Physics (AJP) and 745 articles from the Physics Review Physics Education Research (PRPER). Abstracts of the collected articles were used for the study. After preprocessing the texts of the abstracts, topics were extracted from the texts using topic modeling. The Late Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model of Mallet was used for topic modeling. A total of 13 topics were extracted from the two journals. In recent years, “pedagogical content of knowledge (PCK),” “assessment” of achievement and “gender” of student have been topics of increasing interest; “teacher education” and “students’ reasoning process” have been topics with continuous high interest, and “introductory physics” and “problem solving” in physics have been topics with decreasing interest. Keywords: physics education research, physics education, research trend, topic modeling.

Comparing Normalized Gain g and Effect Size Cohen’s d to Measure the Improvement of Student’s Scientific Literacy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adib Rifqi Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Physics Education ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Physics Education Research ◽  
Cohen’S D ◽  
Cohen's D ◽  
Normalized Gain

In this work I investigate about my curiousity. My investigation focused on the implications on claims about student learning that result from choosing between one of two metrics. The metrics are normalized gain g, which is the most common method used in Physics Education Research (PER), and effect size Cohen’s d, which is broadly used in Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) including Biology Education Research (BER). Data for the analyses came from the research about scientific literacy on Physics and Biology Education from courses at institutions across Indonesia. This work reveals that the bias in normalized gaing can harm efforts to improve student’s scientific literacy by misrepresenting the efficacy of teaching practices across populations of students and across institutions. This work, also, recommends use effect size Cohen’s d for measuring student learning, based on reliability statistical method for calculating student learning.

scholarly journals Impact of evidence-based flipped or active-engagement non-flipped courses on student performance in introductory physics

2018 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nafis I. Karim ◽  
Alexandru Maries ◽  
Chandralekha Singh
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Physics Education ◽  
Introductory Physics ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Physics Courses ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

We describe the impact of physics education research-based pedagogical techniques in flipped and active-engagement non-flipped courses on student performance on validated conceptual surveys. We compare student performance in courses that make significant use of evidence-based active engagement (EBAE) strategies with courses that primarily use lecture-based (LB) instruction. All courses had large enrollment and often had 100–200 students. The analysis of data for validated conceptual surveys presented here includes data from large numbers of students from two-semester sequences of introductory algebra-based and calculus-based introductory physics courses. The conceptual surveys used to assess student learning in the first and second semester courses were the Force Concept Inventory and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, respectively. In the research discussed here, the performance of students in EBAE courses at a particular level is compared with LB courses in two situations: (i) the same instructor taught two courses, one of which was a flipped course involving EBAE methods and the other an LB course, while the homework, recitations, and final exams were kept the same; (ii) student performance in all of the EBAE courses taught by different instructors was averaged and compared with LB courses of the same type also averaged over different instructors. In all cases, we find that students in courses that make significant use of active-engagement strategies, on average, outperformed students in courses using primarily LB instruction of the same type on conceptual surveys even though there was no statistically significant difference on the pretest before instruction. We also discuss correlation between the performance on the validated conceptual surveys and the final exam, which typically placed a heavy weight on quantitative problem solving.

scholarly journals Impact of Practicing Mindful Breathing in Class

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Rajkumar ◽  
Christine Dubowy ◽  
Ahmad Khatib
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Consistent Difference ◽  
Deep Breathing ◽  
Course Performance ◽  
Contemplative Practices ◽  
Breathing Techniques ◽  
Improve Student Performance ◽  
Exam Stress

Many community college students experience high levels of stress due to the demands of coursework and stressors outside of the classroom. Contemplative practices such as deep breathing can reduce stress and increase focus, but students may not be familiar with or feel that they have time to engage in these practices. We hypothesized that introducing students to mindful breathing in our accounting and biology classes would help students manage stress during the semester, reduce test anxiety, and improve student performance.   To test this hypothesis, we introduced some sections of our courses to mindful breathing techniques such as square breathing, alternate nostril breathing, and victorious breathing and set aside time at the start of each class to allow students to engage in these practices. At the end of the semester, we surveyed students to assess their past and present experiences with contemplative practices and their perceptions of the benefits of mindful breathing. We also asked students to rate their levels of exam stress and to rate the general feelings of stress they experienced during the semester, comparing their responses with responses from students in control sections that were not introduced to mindful breathing. The survey results indicated that mindful breathing was a new practice to some students and a familiar practice to others. Most students felt that the practice of deep breathing at the start of each class helped them reduce stress, develop a sense of connectedness, and improve focus. However, there was no consistent difference in self-reported exam stress or general stress between students in sections with and without in-class contemplative breathing. There was also no difference in course performance, as reflected by overall course grade, between sections with and without in-class contemplative breathing. Although it was not the focus of this study, we observed that in-class contemplative breathing practice seemed to improve the learning environment and helped build trusting relationships with students.   

scholarly journals What factors impact student performance in introductory physics?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0244146
Author(s):  
Eric Burkholder ◽  
Lena Blackmon ◽  
Carl Wieman
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Introductory Physics ◽  
Concept Inventory ◽  
Act Scores ◽  
Course Performance ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Physics Courses ◽  
Exam Scores

In a previous study, we found that students' incoming preparation in physics—crudely measured by concept inventory prescores and math SAT or ACT scores—explains 34% of the variation in Physics 1 final exam scores at Stanford University. In this study, we sought to understand the large variation in exam scores not explained by these measures of incoming preparation. Why are some students’ successful in physics 1 independent of their preparation? To answer this question, we interviewed 34 students with particularly low concept inventory prescores and math SAT/ACT scores about their experiences in the course. We unexpectedly found a set of common practices and attitudes. We found that students’ use of instructional resources had relatively little impact on course performance, while student characteristics, student attitudes, and students’ interactions outside the classroom all had a more substantial impact on course performance. These results offer some guidance as to how instructors might help all students succeed in introductory physics courses.

An Exploratory Study of the Online Learning Environment

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia J. Khanlarian ◽  
Rahul Singh
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
It Use ◽  
Environment Impact ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Improve Student Performance ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Relevant Factors ◽  
Significant Factors

ABSTRACT Web-based homework (WBH) is an increasingly important phenomenon. There is little research about its character, the nature of its impact on student performance, and how that impact evolves over an academic term. The primary research questions addressed in this study are: What relevant factors in a WBH learning environment impact students' performance? And how does the impact of these factors change over the course of an academic term? This paper examines and identifies significant factors in a WBH learning environment and how they impact student performance. We studied over 300 students using WBH extensively for their coursework, throughout a semester in an undergraduate class at a large public university. In this paper, we present factors in the WBH learning environment that were found to have a significant impact on student performance during the course of a semester. In addition to individual and technological factors, this study presents findings that demonstrate that frustration with IT use is a component of the learning environment, and as a construct, has a larger impact than usefulness on student performance at the end of a course. Our results indicate that educators may benefit from training students and engaging them in utility of co-operative learning assignments to mitigate the level of frustration with the software in the WBH learning environment and improve student performance.

The Value of Handwritten Notes: A Failure to Find State-Dependent Effects When Using a Laptop to Take Notes and Complete a Quiz

2020 ◽  
pp. 009862832097989
Author(s):  
Roni M. Crumb ◽  
Ryan Hildebrandt ◽  
Tina M. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Incongruent Condition ◽  
Note Taking ◽  
Sole Purpose ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Improve Student Performance ◽  
Teaching Implications

Background: Many students use laptops in the classroom to take notes; however, even when laptops are used for the sole purpose of taking notes they can negatively impact academic performance. Objective: The current study examined state-dependent effects, and the potential for a match in note taking and quiz taking methods to improve quiz performance. Method: Participants were placed into a congruent (take notes by hand and complete the quiz by hand or take notes using a laptop and complete an online quiz) or an incongruent condition (take notes by hand and take an online quiz or take notes using a laptop and complete the quiz by hand). Results: The results revealed that participants who took notes by hand performed better on the quiz overall, and better on conceptual questions, then students who took notes using a laptop. We failed to find evidence for state-dependent effects. Conclusions: The current study suggests that taking notes by hand may improve how students encode material, and result in higher quality external storage used by students when studying for quizzes. Teaching Implications: Reinforcing the notion that taking notes by hand may benefit quiz performance for lecture-style information and could improve student performance in class.

Refining Learned Repertoire for Percussion Instruments in an Elementary Setting

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
Upper Elementary ◽  
Elementary Music ◽  
Orff Schulwerk ◽  
Rehearsal Strategies ◽  
Percussion Instruments ◽  
Improve Student Performance

The purpose of this study was to examine teaching effectiveness in an elementary music setting using student achievement as a dependent measure. Because Orff Schulwerk instruction is one of the most prevalent pedagogies in elementary music education, this study examined the rehearsal strategies of recognized Orff Schulwerk teachers as they worked to refine learned repertoire for percussion instruments. Eight instructors and their upper elementary students were videotaped in four regular rehearsals each. Systematic analyses of rehearsal frames in which teachers were working to improve student performance revealed fast teacher pacing and a predominance of instructional directives that were procedural (e.g., where to begin playing) rather than musical (e.g., how to perform more accurately or expressively). The majority of students' performance problems were related to precision, often caused by rushing the underlying pulse. Instructional targets were most often related to technique. Students successfully accomplished proximal goals in 63 % of the performance trials in which the targets were verbalized by the teacher prior to performance and in 74 % of the performance trials when the targets were verbalized by the teachers while students were playing. Students were most successful when teachers used clear, explicit directives and positive modeling.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document