A Study of Informal Learning Communities: a Tale of Two Physics Courses

Abstract

Abstract:We asked students in two second-semester introductory college physics courses to report on a weekly basis who they worked with on physics outside of class time. One course was a lecture-based course while the second was a studio-based student-centered course implementing the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE). We used social network analysis to visualize and quantify each student's position and engagement in the informal learning community that formed outside of class. Our study analyzed the relationship between students' network positions as they worked together in groups outside the classroom with their performance in the course. We interpreted our results through a participationist viewpoint on learning. Comparisons between the two courses revealed interesting similarities and differences. While the learning communities in these two distinct settings may look very different, our results showed the overarching importance of informal learning communities irrespective of course type.

Community structure in introductory physics course networks

“…All sections show an interesting contrast with earlier studies of course networks [2,9]: substantial pre-course connections exist even among students in large lecture sections, and in small interactive sections, the density of the final network is not significantly changed from the first week of classes. From Table II, only section A showed a statistically significant shift in network density, with the number of connections TABLE II.…”

“…The results diverged unexpectedly from previous work in seemingly similar circumstances [2,9] and suggest an alternate focus for instructional and departmental efforts toward building community among students. Additionally, these findings show that while classroom structure plays a large role in student network formation, what constitutes a "typical" network is also sensitive to local factors.…”

“…In a smaller studio-format section (N = 30), students also began with few connections, but by the end of the semester had formed a tightly connected class-wide network. These findings were echoed by Yang et al [9], where weekly network surveys mapped a similar division between lecture and IE course environments. Results above suggest that it is possible to characterize complex relations of student interaction through low-impact survey instruments.…”

“…Earlier studies [2,9] suggest that small interactive physics classes foster student community, while larger lecture classes do not. This tendency seems intuitive given the divergence in classroom dynamics and (often) instructor goals in those environments.…”

CourseNetworking and community: Linking online discussion networks and course success

“…Here, we focus on the network of interactions captured by forum data-not just how often a student participated, but their conversation partners and overall prominence in the aggregated structure of threads. Past results from social network analysis, outlined below, suggest that the most central students in this network may experience better course outcomes [4][5][6].…”