[论文解读] How physics instruction impacts students' beliefs about learning physics

Adrian Madsen, Sarah B. McKagan+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Mar 25, 2014

Science Education and Pedagogy被引用 7

一句话总结

对24项使用CLASS和MPEX调查的元分析显示，传统物理教学通常无法改善甚至会恶化学生对学习物理的专家型信念。只有强调模型构建和专家认识论的干预措施显示出前景，尽管班级规模和学生选择性等混杂因素限制了对因果关系的明确结论。

ABSTRACT

Faculty care about their students learning to think like physicists, but often don't assess this because it is not clear how to do so. Physics education researchers have created several surveys to assess one important aspect of thinking like a physicist: what students believe that learning physics is all about. In this meta-analysis, we synthesize the results of 24 studies using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) and the Maryland Physics Expectations Survey (MPEX) to answer several questions: (1) How does physics instruction impact beliefs of students? We find that in typical physics classes, these beliefs deteriorate or at best stay the same. There are a few types of interventions, including an explicit focus on model-building and/or developing expert-like beliefs that appear to lead to significant improvements in beliefs. However, because the available data oversamples certain types of classes, it is unclear whether these improvements are actually due to the interventions, or to the small class size, student population or level of incoming beliefs these classes. (2) When do physics majors develop expert-like beliefs? We find that physics majors enter their undergraduate education with more favorable beliefs than non-majors and these beliefs remain relatively stable throughout their undergraduate careers. Thus, typical physics courses appear to be selecting students that already have strong beliefs, rather than supporting students in developing strong beliefs. (3) How do beliefs of students impact their learning of physics? There is a small correlation between incoming beliefs about physics and gains on conceptual mechanics surveys. This suggests that students with more expert-like incoming beliefs may learn more in their physics courses, but this finding should be further explored and replicated.

研究动机与目标

• 调查物理教学如何影响学生对学习物理的信念，特别是教学是否能促进专家型认识论信念的发展。
• 确定物理专业学生何时发展出专家型信念，以及常规课程是否支持这一发展。
• 考察学生初始信念与他们在物理概念学习中的进步之间的关系。
• 评估CLASS和MPEX等调查工具在测量信念变化方面的可靠性和有效性。

提出的方法

• 对24项研究使用科罗拉多学习物理科学态度调查（CLASS）和马里兰物理期望调查（MPEX）进行元分析综合。
• 数据在多样化的物理课程中聚合，以评估学生对学习物理信念随时间的变化。
• 统计分析比较了不同教学方法（包括传统讲授和基于模型的教学）下信念的变化。
• 进行亚组分析，以分离班级规模、学生群体和初始信念水平对观察结果的影响。
• 相关性分析考察了教学前信念与概念力学测验进步之间的关系。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 常规物理教学在多大程度上影响学生对学习物理的信念？
• RQ2 哪些教学干预措施能带来学生专家型信念的可测量改善？
• RQ3 物理专业学生在其学术生涯的哪个阶段发展出专家型信念？
• RQ4 学生的初始信念在多大程度上能预测其在物理学习中的进步？

主要发现

• 在常规物理课程中，学生对学习物理的信念要么恶化，要么保持不变，表明常规教学对学生信念无积极影响。
• 明确聚焦于模型构建和专家型信念发展的干预措施显示出显著改善，但由于混杂变量的存在，因果关系尚不明确。
• 物理专业学生进入本科项目时的信念比非专业学生更积极，且这些信念在其学术生涯中保持相对稳定。
• 学生初始专家型信念与他们在概念力学测验中的进步之间存在微弱但可测量的相关性。
• 针对干预措施观察到的信念改善可能更多受小班教学、高成就学生群体或高水平初始信念等因素影响，而非干预措施本身。