Initial Study of Neutral Post-Instruction Responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey
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| Title: | Initial Study of Neutral Post-Instruction Responses on the Maryland Physics Expectation Survey |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Saltzman, J., Price, M. F., Rogers, M. B. |
| Source: | Physical Review Physics Education Research. Jan-Jun 2016 12(1):013101-13101. |
| Availability: | American Physical Society. One Physics Ellipse 4th Floor, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Tel: 301-209-3200; Fax: 301-209-0865; e-mail: assocpub@aps.org; Web site: http://prst-per.aps.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 6 |
| Publication Date: | 2016 |
| Sponsoring Agency: | National Science Foundation (NSF) |
| Contract Number: | 0536246 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Physics, Surveys, Student Attitudes, Science Instruction, Responses, Beliefs, Scientific Concepts, College Students, College Science, Scores, Pretests Posttests |
| Geographic Terms: | New York |
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101 |
| ISSN: | 2469-9896 |
| Abstract: | Epistemological studies generally focus on how students think about their construction of knowledge compared to how experts think about the same ideas. Instruments such as the MPEX and CLASS use a Likert scale to gauge whether students agree or disagree with how experts think about the same ideas. During analysis, five point scale responses are typically reduced to favorable, neutral, and unfavorable with neutral being treated as a nonresponse. What if students are actively selecting neutral and not treating it as a "does not apply?" To address this question we chose to analyze the postinstruction neutral responses of students in our Physics I course using data from multiple years, multiple sections, and multiple instructors. We found that classroom average postinstruction neutral responses were consistently within a band of 15%-25% and that this was also consistent with other published results. It is not yet clear what this pattern means. Is this a measure of students receiving mixed messages from instructors or a measure of a transitional stage that students go through when learning how to be a good college physics student? These initial findings are interesting enough that we are presenting them here with a more detailed question-byquestion analysis to be published in the near future. For example, high levels of neutral responses to applied questions (e.g., "All I need to do is. …") may indicate that students are receiving mixed messages from instructors. On the other hand, high levels of neutral responses to conceptual questions (e.g., "Knowledge in physics…") may indicate that students are in a transitional stage between novice and expert. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Number of References: | 27 |
| Entry Date: | 2016 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1106917 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Epistemological studies generally focus on how students think about their construction of knowledge compared to how experts think about the same ideas. Instruments such as the MPEX and CLASS use a Likert scale to gauge whether students agree or disagree with how experts think about the same ideas. During analysis, five point scale responses are typically reduced to favorable, neutral, and unfavorable with neutral being treated as a nonresponse. What if students are actively selecting neutral and not treating it as a "does not apply?" To address this question we chose to analyze the postinstruction neutral responses of students in our Physics I course using data from multiple years, multiple sections, and multiple instructors. We found that classroom average postinstruction neutral responses were consistently within a band of 15%-25% and that this was also consistent with other published results. It is not yet clear what this pattern means. Is this a measure of students receiving mixed messages from instructors or a measure of a transitional stage that students go through when learning how to be a good college physics student? These initial findings are interesting enough that we are presenting them here with a more detailed question-byquestion analysis to be published in the near future. For example, high levels of neutral responses to applied questions (e.g., "All I need to do is. …") may indicate that students are receiving mixed messages from instructors. On the other hand, high levels of neutral responses to conceptual questions (e.g., "Knowledge in physics…") may indicate that students are in a transitional stage between novice and expert. |
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| ISSN: | 2469-9896 |
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.013101 |
