25 research outputs found
Development and Validation of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics
As part of a comprehensive effort to transform our undergraduate physics
laboratories and evaluate the impacts of these efforts, we have developed the
Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics
(E-CLASS). The E-CLASS assesses the changes in students' attitudes about a
variety of scientific laboratory practices before and after a lab course and
compares attitudes with perceptions of the course grading requirements and
laboratory practices. The E-CLASS is designed to give researchers insight into
students' attitudes and also to provide actionable evidence to instructors
looking for feedback on their courses. We present the development, validation,
and preliminary results from the initial implementation of the survey in three
undergraduate physics lab courses.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to 2012 PERC Proceeding
Development and results from a survey on students views of experiments in lab classes and research
The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics
(E-CLASS) was developed as a broadly applicable assessment tool for
undergraduate physics lab courses. At the beginning and end of the semester,
the E-CLASS assesses students views about their strategies, habits of mind, and
attitudes when doing experiments in lab classes. Students also reflect on how
those same strategies, habits-of-mind, and attitudes are practiced by
professional researchers. Finally, at the end of the semester, students reflect
on how their own course valued those practices in terms of earning a good
grade. In response to frequent calls to transform laboratory curricula to more
closely align it with the skills and abilities needed for professional
research, the E-CLASS is a tool to assess students' perceptions of the gap
between classroom laboratory instruction and professional research. The E-CLASS
has been validated and administered in all levels of undergraduate physics
classes. To aid in its use as a formative assessment tool, E-CLASS provides all
participating instructors with a detailed feedback report. Example figures and
analysis from the report are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the
E-CLASS. The E-CLASS is actively administered through an online interface and
all interested instructors are invited to administer the E-CLASS their own
classes and will be provided with a summary of results at the end of the
semester
An epistemology and expectations survey about experimental physics: Development and initial results
In response to national calls to better align physics laboratory courses with
the way physicists engage in research, we have developed an epistemology and
expectations survey to assess how students perceive the nature of physics
experiments in the contexts of laboratory courses and the professional research
laboratory. The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for
Experimental Physics (E-CLASS) evaluates students' epistemology at the
beginning and end of a semester. Students respond to paired questions about how
they personally perceive doing experiments in laboratory courses and how they
perceive an experimental physicist might respond regarding their research.
Also, at the end of the semester, the E-CLASS assesses a third dimension of
laboratory instruction, students' reflections on their course's expectations
for earning a good grade. By basing survey statements on widely embraced
learning goals and common critiques of teaching labs, the E-CLASS serves as an
assessment tool for lab courses across the undergraduate curriculum and as a
tool for physics education research. We present the development, evidence of
validation, and initial formative assessment results from a sample that
includes 45 classes at 20 institutions. We also discuss feedback from
instructors and reflect on the challenges of large-scale online administration
and distribution of results.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. - PE
Inequities and misaligned expectations in PhD students' search for a research group
Joining a research group is one of the most important events on a graduate
student's path to earning a PhD, but the ways students go about searching for a
group remain largely unstudied. It is therefore crucial to investigate whether
departments are equitably supporting students as they look for an advisor,
especially as students today enter graduate school with more diverse
backgrounds than ever before. To better understand the phenomenon of finding a
research group, we use a comparative case study approach to contrast important
aspects of two physics PhD students' experiences. Semi-structured interviews
with the students chronicled their interactions with departments, faculty, and
the graduate student community, and described the resources they found most and
least helpful. Our results reveal significant disparities in students'
perceptions of how to find an advisor, as well as inequities in resources that
negatively influenced one student's search. We also uncover substantial
variation regarding when in their academic careers the students began searching
for a graduate advisor, indicating the importance of providing students with
consistent advising throughout their undergraduate and graduate experiences.Comment: 5 pages, PERC conference proceedin
Alternative model for the administration and analysis of research-based assessments
Research-based assessments represent a valuable tool for both instructors and
researchers interested in improving undergraduate physics education. However,
the historical model for disseminating and propagating conceptual and
attitudinal assessments developed by the physics education research (PER)
community has not resulted in widespread adoption of these assessments within
the broader community of physics instructors. Within this historical model,
assessment developers create high quality, validated assessments, make them
available for a wide range of instructors to use, and provide minimal (if any)
support to assist with administration or analysis of the results. Here, we
present and discuss an alternative model for assessment dissemination, which is
characterized by centralized data collection and analysis. This model provides
a greater degree of support for both researchers and instructors in order to
more explicitly support adoption of research-based assessments. Specifically,
we describe our experiences developing a centralized, automated system for an
attitudinal assessment we previously created to examine students'
epistemologies and expectations about experimental physics. This system
provides a proof-of-concept that we use to discuss the advantages associated
with centralized administration and data collection for research-based
assessments in PER. We also discuss the challenges that we encountered while
developing, maintaining, and automating this system. Ultimately, we argue that
centralized administration and data collection for standardized assessments is
a viable and potentially advantageous alternative to the default model
characterized by decentralized administration and analysis. Moreover, with the
help of online administration and automation, this model can support the
long-term sustainability of centralized assessment systems.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, accepted in Phys. Rev. PE
Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory
As students pursue a bachelor's degree in physics, they may ponder over which
area to specialize in, such as theory, computation, or experiment. Often
students develop preferences and dislikes, but it's unclear when this
preference solidifies during their undergraduate experiences. To get a better
understanding, we interviewed eighteen physics majors who were at different
stages of their degree regarding their interest in theory, computation, and
experimental methods. Out of the eighteen students, we chose to analyze only
nine students who rated computation and theory the lowest. Our analysis did not
include interest in experiment because the ratings were less negative. We used
Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and Lucidchart to analyze students'
responses and create individual graphical representations of the influences for
each student. Through this, we uncovered how various factors such as learning
experiences, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations influenced their low
interest in a particular method. We found that lack of knowledge and experience
is often the main reason why self-efficacy was lower. Students' lack of
interest is also influenced by negative outcome expectations (e.g,
math-intensive and a bad work-life balance) more than other SCCT factors. Our
findings could help physics departments and educators identify positive and
negative factors that could lead to a more motivating and inclusive physics
curriculum.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the Physics Education Research
Conference 202
Preparing for the quantum revolution -- what is the role of higher education?
Quantum sensing, quantum networking and communication, and quantum computing
have attracted significant attention recently, as these quantum technologies
offer significant advantages over existing technologies. In order to accelerate
the commercialization of these quantum technologies the workforce must be
equipped with the necessary skills. Through a qualitative study of the quantum
industry, in a series of interviews with 21 U.S. companies carried out in Fall
2019, we describe the types of activities being carried out in the quantum
industry, profile the types of jobs that exist, and describe the skills valued
across the quantum industry, as well as in each type of job. The current routes
into the quantum industry are detailed, providing a picture of the current role
of higher education in training the quantum workforce. Finally, we present the
training and hiring challenges the quantum industry is facing and how higher
education may optimize the important role it is currently playing