Cross‐time attitudes, concept formation, and achievement in college freshman physics

Willson, Victor L.; Ackerman, Cheryl M.; Malavé, César O.

doi:10.1002/1098-2736(200012)37:10<1112::aid-tea5>3.3.co;2-d

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…They are: focusing the class on conceptual understanding, conducting labs that address students' beliefs about the world, discussing currently relevant science, discussing the benefits of being a scientist, and encouraging students to take science classes. The first finding, that a conceptual understanding focus is positively related to physics identity, dovetails with a host of other research that finds a link between physics conceptual understanding and performance (e.g., Eryilmaz, 2002;Hazari et al, 2007;Willson, Ackerman, & Malave, 2000), reasoning ability (e.g., Cavallo et al, 2004;Chin & Brown, 2000), self-efficacy (e.g., Cavallo et al, 2004), and interest (e.g., Otero & Gray, 2008). These latter domains are embedded in our theoretical framework for physics identity.…”

Section: Research Question 2: Predictors Of Physics Identity-high Schsupporting

confidence: 67%

Connecting high school physics experiences, outcome expectations, physics identity, and physics career choice: A gender study

et al. 2010

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This study explores how students' physics identities are shaped by their experiences in high school physics classes and by their career outcome expectations. The theoretical framework focuses on physics identity and includes the dimensions of student performance, competence, recognition by others, and interest. Drawing data from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project, which surveyed college English students nationally about their backgrounds, high school science experiences, and science attitudes, the study uses multiple regression to examine the responses of 3,829 students from 34 randomly selected US colleges/universities. Confirming the salience of the identity dimension for young persons' occupational plans, the measure for students' physics identity used in this study was found to strongly predict their intended choice of a physics career. Physics identity, in turn, was found to correlate positively with a desire for an intrinsically fulfilling career and negatively with a desire for personal/family time and opportunities to work with others. Physics identity was also positively predicted by several high school physics characteristics/experiences such as a focus on conceptual understanding, real‐world/contextual connections, students answering questions or making comments, students teaching classmates, and having an encouraging teacher. Even though equally beneficial for both genders, females reported experiencing a conceptual focus and real‐world/contextual connections less frequently. The explicit discussion of under‐representation of women in science was positively related to physics identity for female students but had no impact for male students. Surprisingly, several experiences that were hypothesized to be important for females' physics identity were found to be non‐significant including having female scientist guest speakers, discussion of women scientists' work, and the frequency of group work. This study exemplifies a useful theoretical framework based on identity, which can be employed to further examine persistence in science, and illustrates possible avenues for change in high school physics teaching. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 978–1003, 2010

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Section: Research Question 2: Predictors Of Physics Identity-high Schsupporting

confidence: 67%

Connecting high school physics experiences, outcome expectations, physics identity, and physics career choice: A gender study

et al. 2010

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“…Here we examine male and female students' motivational characteristics longitudinally, i.e., over the course an introductory physics sequence. We note that there have been relatively few longitudinal studies of students' motivation in physics [16,[93][94][95][96][97][98]. In the study by Bates et al [93], researchers used the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) to investigate how undergraduate physics students' attitudes changed over a period of three years.…”

Section: Longitudinal Studies Of Factors Related To Students' Motimentioning

confidence: 99%

A longitudinal analysis of students’ motivational characteristics in introductory physics courses: Gender differences

et al. 2018

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The lack of diversity and the under-performance of underrepresented students in STEM courses have been the focus of researchers in the last decade. In particular, many hypotheses have been put forth for the reasons for the under-representation and under-performance of women in physics. Here, we present a framework for helping all students learn in science courses that takes into account four factors: (1) the characteristics of instruction and learning tools, (2) student characteristics, (3) implementation of instruction and learning tools, and (4) the students’ environments. While there has been much research on factor 1 (characteristics of instruction and learning tools), there has been less focus on factor 2 (students’ characteristics, and in particular, motivational factors). Here, we focus on the baseline characteristics of introductory physics students obtained from survey data to inform factor 2 of the framework. A longitudinal analysis of students’ motivational characteristics in two-semester introductory physics courses was performed by administering pre- and post-surveys that evaluated students’ self-efficacy, grit, fascination with physics, value associated with physics, intelligence mindset, and physics epistemology. We found that female students reported lower levels of self-efficacy, fascination, and value associated with physics, and held a more “fixed” view of intelligence in the context of physics compared to male students. Female students’ fascination and value associated with physics decreased significantly more than males’ after an introductory physics course sequence. In addition, females’ view of physics intelligence became more “fixed” compared to males’ by the end of an introductory physics course sequence. Grit was the only factor on which females reported averages that were equal to or higher than males throughout introductory physics courses. The findings inform the framework and have implications for the development and implementation of effective pedagogies and learning tools to help all students learn.

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“…There has also been continual interest on sex differences in science achievement (Blickenstaff, 2005;Greenfield, 1996;Osborne, Simon, Collins, 2003;Turner & Lindsay, 2003;Willson, Ackerman, & Malave, 2000). In college chemistry, Turner & Lindsay (2003) looked at sex differences in cognitive factors (ACT, spatial-visualization, introductory chemistry scores) and noncognitive factors (confidence, anxiety, motivation, usefulness) related to organic chemistry achievement.…”

Section: Affective Domain In Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of peer-led team learning (PLTL) on student achievement, attitude, and self-concept in college general chemistry in randomized and quasi experimental designs

Chan

Bauer

2015

J Res Sci Teach

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This study investigated exam achievement and affective characteristics of students in general chemistry in a fully-randomized experimental design, contrasting Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) participation with a control group balanced for time-on-task and study activity. This study population included two independent first-semester courses with enrollments of about 600. Achievement was measured by scores on exams written by an instructor blind to student participation. Established instruments were used to assess changes in attitude to chemistry and self-concept as a chemistry learner. No differences were found in achievement, attitude, or self-concept for students who participated in PLTL vs. those who participated in documented alternative study activities. Overall, certain aspects of attitude and self-concept showed a slight but significant decline from beginning to end of semester, consistent with previous studies. Males have higher positive attitude and self-concept than females, and first-year students have higher positive attitude, selfconcept, and achievement than non first-year students. In a quasi-experimental comparison of 10 other course sections over seven years, students who self-selected into PLTL showed stronger exam achievement than those who did not choose to participate. These findings suggest that past reports of improved student performance with PLTL may in part be a consequence of attracting students who are already motivated to take advantage of its value. #

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Cross‐time attitudes, concept formation, and achievement in college freshman physics

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Connecting high school physics experiences, outcome expectations, physics identity, and physics career choice: A gender study

Connecting high school physics experiences, outcome expectations, physics identity, and physics career choice: A gender study

A longitudinal analysis of students’ motivational characteristics in introductory physics courses: Gender differences

Effect of peer-led team learning (PLTL) on student achievement, attitude, and self-concept in college general chemistry in randomized and quasi experimental designs

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