In this research we asked the fourth year students (N = 50) of a technical faculty of the University of Split (Republic of Croatia) to solve a partially specified physics problem related to gravitational force. The task for the students was to decide whether the situation described in the problem is feasible or not. Nevertheless, the formulation of the problem is such that it does not give students any explicit advice regarding what to calculate or how to judge the feasibility of the given situation in the real world. The research was carried out using a structured written exam method. The worksheet was structured in order to assess explicitly a few elements of the students' problem-solving performance. Based on their results, the examinees were classified into four categories, depending on what they could or could not accomplish during problem solving. A majority of students were not able to solve the given physical problem completely. A selection of students' and professors' observations is also included. Our results show that traditionally formulated numerical exercises, which are mostly used in physics teaching, do not develop students' abilities in higher-order thinking (i.e. planning, decision making or result evaluation) to a desirable extent. We suggest that partially specified problems should be given to students, both in problem-solving sessions and exams, in order to prepare them for dealing with ill-structured tasks in real life.
During a one-semester-long research project with high school students, we deployed and gauged efficiency of two different reform teaching methods: reading, presenting, and questioning (RPQ) and experimenting and discussion (ED). In this paper we report on changes in students’ attitudes and beliefs about physics and learning physics. We used the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS v3) to assess the relative effectiveness of the two methods. The data show that both methods improved student attitudes and beliefs but to different extents. The RPQ group (91 students) achieved an overall improvement of +5.8% in attitudes and beliefs, while the ED group (85 students) attained an improvement of +25.6%. These results suggest that both methods may have a substantial potential for improving students’ attitudes and beliefs about physics and physics learning, with the ED method being more promising than the RPQ. metho
This study is based on two exploratory questions with the aim of determining the relative effectiveness of two different student activities, called Reading, Presenting and Questioning (RPQ) and Experimenting and Discussing (ED), in changing students' perceptions and attitudes about the impact of physics learning on the development of logical and creative thinking. One-semester of data from this high school project for RPQ group (91 students) showed a shift of 11% in their attitudes related to the development of logical thinking, while student attitudes about the development of creative thinking showed a shift of 20.9%. The results for the ED group (85 students) showed a considerable shift in positive attitudes about the role of physics in the development of logical thinking of 31.7% while student attitudes towards the development of creative thinking made a significant progress of 36.4%. These results indicate that both forms of active learning improve student perceptions about the impact of teaching physics on the development of logical and creative thinking, although students in ED group show much bigger improvements.
Objective. To assess the degree of change in the level of scientific reasoning in first-year pharmacy students by applying active-learning methods during a physics course. Methods. The efficiency of the active-learning methods of experimentation and discussion in the development of scientific reasoning in 90 pharmacy students was determined by comparing it to the efficiency of using traditional learning methods (eg, lecture) with 60 students. The Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning was used to measure change. Results. The data from this five-year study showed that of all pharmacy students in the active-learning group who were functioning on a stable or transitional level of thinking at the time of the pretest, 28.6% achieved a shift towards a higher level of scientific thinking. The active-learning group also achieved better overall results in the course. Conclusion. Using active-learning methods (experimentation and discussion) in a physics course enabled pharmacy students to better master the content. By elevating students' level of scientific reasoning, a foundation for using evidence-based medicine was established.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.