Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments

We investigated physics students’ behavior in a second-year laboratory by analyzing transcribed audio recordings of laboratory sessions. One student group was given both a problem and procedure and asked to analyze and explain their results. Another was provided with only the problem and asked to de...

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Autores principales:	Bei Cai, Lindsay A. Mainhood, Ryan Groome, Corinne Laverty, Alastair McLean
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2021
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/cd1451f61c524f73b6ac46340403255a
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:cd1451f61c524f73b6ac46340403255a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:cd1451f61c524f73b6ac46340403255a2021-12-02T17:05:13ZStudent behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.0201092469-9896https://doaj.org/article/cd1451f61c524f73b6ac46340403255a2021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020109http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020109https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896We investigated physics students’ behavior in a second-year laboratory by analyzing transcribed audio recordings of laboratory sessions. One student group was given both a problem and procedure and asked to analyze and explain their results. Another was provided with only the problem and asked to design and execute the experiment, interpret the data, and draw conclusions. These two approaches involved different levels of student inquiry and they have been described as guided and open inquiry, respectively. The latter gave students more opportunities to practice “designing experiments,” one of the six major learning outcomes in the recommendations for the undergraduate physics laboratory curriculum by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Qualitative analysis was performed of the audio transcripts to identify emergent themes and it was augmented by quantitative analysis for a richer understanding of student behavior. An important finding is that significant improvements can be made to undergraduate laboratories impacting student behavior by increasing the level of inquiry in laboratory experiments. This is most easily achieved by requiring students to design their own experimental procedures.Bei CaiLindsay A. MainhoodRyan GroomeCorinne LavertyAlastair McLeanAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 17, Iss 2, p 020109 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Bei Cai Lindsay A. Mainhood Ryan Groome Corinne Laverty Alastair McLean Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments
description	We investigated physics students’ behavior in a second-year laboratory by analyzing transcribed audio recordings of laboratory sessions. One student group was given both a problem and procedure and asked to analyze and explain their results. Another was provided with only the problem and asked to design and execute the experiment, interpret the data, and draw conclusions. These two approaches involved different levels of student inquiry and they have been described as guided and open inquiry, respectively. The latter gave students more opportunities to practice “designing experiments,” one of the six major learning outcomes in the recommendations for the undergraduate physics laboratory curriculum by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Qualitative analysis was performed of the audio transcripts to identify emergent themes and it was augmented by quantitative analysis for a richer understanding of student behavior. An important finding is that significant improvements can be made to undergraduate laboratories impacting student behavior by increasing the level of inquiry in laboratory experiments. This is most easily achieved by requiring students to design their own experimental procedures.
format	article
author	Bei Cai Lindsay A. Mainhood Ryan Groome Corinne Laverty Alastair McLean
author_facet	Bei Cai Lindsay A. Mainhood Ryan Groome Corinne Laverty Alastair McLean
author_sort	Bei Cai
title	Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments
title_short	Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments
title_full	Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments
title_fullStr	Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments
title_full_unstemmed	Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments
title_sort	student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: designing experiments
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/cd1451f61c524f73b6ac46340403255a
work_keys_str_mv	AT beicai studentbehaviorinundergraduatephysicslaboratoriesdesigningexperiments AT lindsayamainhood studentbehaviorinundergraduatephysicslaboratoriesdesigningexperiments AT ryangroome studentbehaviorinundergraduatephysicslaboratoriesdesigningexperiments AT corinnelaverty studentbehaviorinundergraduatephysicslaboratoriesdesigningexperiments AT alastairmclean studentbehaviorinundergraduatephysicslaboratoriesdesigningexperiments
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Student behavior in undergraduate physics laboratories: Designing experiments

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