Unexpected Attitudinal Growth in a Course Combining Reformed Curricula

In this paper, we show data from the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey that suggests that Georgetown physics majors become increasingly expert in their attitudes towards physics learning and knowing after taking a course that combines two reformed curricula, Matter and Interactions (M...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review. Physics education research Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 010101 - 10118
Main Authors Hull, Michael M, Lindsey, Beth A, Archambault, Matthew, Davey, Kathleen, Liu, Amy Y
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published College Park American Physical Society 01.01.2016
Subjects
Attitude Change
Attitudes
College Science
Curricula
District of Columbia
Epistemology
Interviews
Knowledge Level
Learning
Majors (Students)
Motion
Physics
Qualitative analysis
Qualitative Research
Science Curriculum
Science Instruction
Scientific Concepts
Statistical Analysis
Student Attitudes
Students
Surveys
Video data
Video Technology
District of Columbia
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Summary:In this paper, we show data from the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey that suggests that Georgetown physics majors become increasingly expert in their attitudes towards physics learning and knowing after taking a course that combines two reformed curricula, Matter and Interactions (M&I) and Tutorials in Introductory Physics (TIPs). This occurs even though the two curricula do not send a consistent epistemological message to students. We analyze interview video data of two of these students to illustrate examples of this growth. We examine video data of one of these students in a tutorial session to describe a possible mechanism that may have contributed to the growth. Finally, we compare this qualitative video data with quantitative data from the newly developed Perceptions of Physics Classes survey and discuss aggregate responses to this survey in considering the ways in which other students developed more expert-like attitudes in this course. We conclude that the attitudinal growth observed cannot be explained simply "as the result of" either M&I or of TIPs but rather find the most plausible explanation to be that the growth is an emergent phenomena produced by M&I and TIPs working together in concert with other factors.
ISSN:2469-9896
2469-9896
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.010101