Design labs: Student

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Design labs Students Expectations and Reality

• Physics Education Research Conference Salt
  Lake City, August 2005

Eugenia Etkina and Sahana Murthy Rutgers
University, New Jersey http//paer.rutgers.edu/sc
ientificabilities
Supported in part by NSF Grant DUE 0241078
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Abstract
The Rutgers PAER group has developed introductory
physics labs in which students design their own
experiments. These labs help them develop
scientific abilities such as designing an
experiment, collecting and analyzing data, and
communicating the details of an experiment. This
study investigates the social aspect of student
learning in these labs whether students
expectations are consistent with the goals of the
labs, whether students assessment of their own
learning in the labs matches the goals, and
whether students perceive labs as helpful in
learning useful skills.
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Motivation

• Theoretical approach to complex learning
  Contextual modules.
• Learning is more complex than simple acquisition
  of declarative know-
• ledge (physics concepts) and procedural skills
  (experimentation abilities).
• Goals and feelings of a learner are important
  contributors.
• C. Bereiter. Aspects of an educational learning
  theory Review of educational research,
• 60(4), pp. 603-624.
• Intentional Conceptual Change
• Learners motivation is strongly related to
  conceptual change.
• Intentional Conceptual Change edited by M. G.
  Sinatra and P. R. Pintrich, Lawrence Erlbaum
• Associates Publishers, Mahwah, NJ, 2003.
• Attitudes towards science.
• Relationship between student attitudes towards
  science with their
• science achievement.
• M.P.Freedman, Relationship among laboratory
  instruction, attitude toward science and
• achievement in science knowledge. Journal of
  Research in Science Teaching, 34 (4), (1997).
• Expectations and attitudes in physics.

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Previous work on design labs

• Scientific Community Labs (SCL), Maryland PER
  group.
• Teach students to utilize everyday skills of
  decision-making for data
• collection and analysis. Students designed their
  own experiments.
• Rutgers labs have goals similar to those of SCL,
  but explicitly focus
• students attention on the development of
  scientific abilities.
• (R. Lippmann. Students understanding of
  measurement and uncertainty in the
• physics laboratory social construction,
  underlying concepts, and quantitative
• analysis. Ph. D. thesis, University of Maryland,
  2003. )
• SCALE-UP, NCSU
• Open-ended problems, require some observations.
  Students decide
• what can be determined from a measurement and
  what has to be
• estimated. Implemented in special classrooms.
• http//www.ncsu.edu/per/scaleup.html

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Implementation

• Course
• 2-semester introductory physics course
• Majors Biology, pre-med, pre-vet, exercise
  science, environmental science, meteorology
• Enrollment 190 students
• Integrated lecture-lab-recitation
• Labs
• Open-ended, non-cookbook
• Taught via ISLE approach
• Students work in groups
• Students design experiments
• Write-up no instructions on how to perform
  experiment.
• Write-up guides students through aspects of an
  experimental process
• Rubrics guidance and self-assessment

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Scientific Abilities Rubrics
0 Missing
SCORE ABILITY
2 Needs some improvement
3 Adequate
1 Not adequate
An independent method is used to evaluate the
results. Some discussion about the differences in
the results is present, but there is little or no
discussion of the reasons for the differences.
An independent method is used to evaluate
results. The discrepancy between the results of
the two methods, and reasons are discussed.
A second independent method is used to evaluate
the results. But there is little discussion about
the differences in the results.
No attempt is made to evaluate the consistency of
the result using an independent method.
To evaluate the results by means of an
independent method
To identify assumptions made in making the
prediction
Most assumptions are correctly identified.
All assumptions are correctly identified.
An attempt is made to identify assumptions, but
most are missing, vague, or incorrect.
No attempt is made to identify any assumptions.
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Example of a lab write-up
Design two independent experiments to determine
the specific heat of the given object (made of an
unknown material). You have access to the
following equipment water, Styrofoam container,
heater, weighing balance, thermometer.

• For each method, write the following in your
  lab-report
• First, come up with as many designs as possible
  to determine the specific heat. Write a brief
  outline of each. Then choose the best design.
  Indicate the criteria that you used.
• Include a verbal description and a labeled sketch
  of the design you chose.
• Construct the mathematical procedure you will
  use.
• What physical quantities will you measure?
• List the assumptions you made. How could they
  affect the result?
• What are the sources of experimental uncertainty?
  How would you minimize them? Evaluate how they
  affect the result.
• Perform the experiment and record your
  measurements.
• Calculate the specific heat, based on your
  procedure and measurements.
• After you have done both experiments, compare the
  two outcomes. Discuss if they are close to each
  other within your experimental uncertainty. If
  they results are different, discuss possible
  reasons.

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Example of student work
Designing an experiment to determine a physical
quantity.
CommunicationPictures,words mathematical
representations
Assumptions in the procedure and their effects
Evaluating experimental uncertainties
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Study Survey on students goals
Survey on students goals and expectations at the
end of 2nd semester. Open response questions and
Likert-type questions

• 1. Describe three important things you learned in
  labs.
• (Open-response)
• 2. Below is a list of possible goals that a
  college-level science lab course can have. On a
  scale of 1 to 5, rate how important you think
  these goals are for you. (1 means it is not
  important for you and 5 means it is very
  important.)
• Learn to design your own experiment
• Learn to interpret experimental data
• Prepare for your future professional career
• Understand concepts better
• Learn to work with other people
• Learn to communicate ideas in different ways

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Survey (contd.)

• 3. Below is the same list of goals as in 2. On a
  scale of 1 to 5, rate how successful the physics
  labs were in terms achieving these goals. (1
  means they were not at all successful and 5 means
  they were very successful.)
• Learn to design your own experiment
• Learn to interpret experimental data
• Prepare for your future professional career
• Understand concepts better
• Learn to work with other people
• Learn to communicate ideas in different ways

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Results

• CLASSIFICATION OF STUDENTS RESPONSES TO Q.1 OF
  SURVEY
• OPEN RESPONSE QUESTION

STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNING PERCENT
Physics content 33
Work in groups 28
Apply physics to real world 26
Design experiments 24
Evaluate effects of assumptions and uncertainties 20
Solve problems experimentally 16
Communication 14
Operate equipment 13
Interpret data 11
Figure things independently 10
Test a concept 6
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Results

• STUDENTS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS 2 3 OF SURVEY
  
• LIKERT-TYPE QUESTIONS

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Results

• STUDENTS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS 2 3 OF SURVEY
  
• LIKERT-TYPE QUESTIONS

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Results

• STUDENTS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS 2 3 OF SURVEY
  
• LIKERT-TYPE QUESTIONS

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Implications for Instruction

• Communicate our goals of instruction to students
• Why did we choose these goals? How do we plan to
  achieve them? Why do we think they will help
  students?
• Reward students
• Assess students on exams on ability to design
  experiment, interpret data.
• Connect to students future professions
• Explicit connection between abilities and content
  learned in labs and students future careers
• Example A doctor designs and performs an
  investigation to test if the tick that bit the
  patient can cause Lyme disease