Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains

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written by Kelly Miller, Nathaniel Lasry, Orad Reshef, Jason E. Dowd, Ives Araujo, and Eric Mazur

Researchers and practitioners routinely use the normalized gain (Hake, 1998) to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Normalized gain (g) has been useful in distinguishing active engagement from traditional instruction. Recently, concerns were raised about normalized gain because it implicitly neglects retention (or, equivalently, "losses"). That is to say, g assumes no right answers become wrong after instruction. We analyze individual standardized gain (G) and loss (L) in data collected at Harvard University during the first five years that Peer Instruction was developed. We find that losses are non-zero, and that losses are larger among students with lower pre-test performances. These preliminary results warrant further research, particularly with different student populations, to establish whether the failure to address loss changes the conclusions drawn from g.

Physics Education Research Conference 2010
Part of the PER Conference series
Portland, Oregon: July 21-22, 2010
Volume 1289, Pages 229-232

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Published: August 24, 2010

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education - Applied Research - Active Learning = Peer Instruction	- Lower Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Report = Research study

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Formats:: application/pdf
non-digital
Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3515208
Access Rights:: Limited free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2010 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:: © 2010 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.3515208
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 01.40.gf; 01.30.Cc
Keywords:: Force Concept Inventory, PERC 2010, gain, loss, normalized gain, peer instruction
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created October 30, 2010 by Alea Smith
Record Updated:: May 1, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: August 24, 2010

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=10460">Miller, K, N. Lasry, O. Reshef, J. Dowd, I. Araujo, and E. Mazur. "Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010.</a>

AIP Format

K. Miller, N. Lasry, O. Reshef, J. Dowd, I. Araujo, and E. Mazur, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10460&DocID=1920).

AJP/PRST-PER

K. Miller, N. Lasry, O. Reshef, J. Dowd, I. Araujo, and E. Mazur, Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10460&DocID=1920>.

APA Format

Miller, K., Lasry, N., Reshef, O., Dowd, J., Araujo, I., & Mazur, E. (2010, July 21-22). Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon. Retrieved April 27, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10460&DocID=1920

Chicago Format

Miller, K, N. Lasry, O. Reshef, J. Dowd, I. Araujo, and E. Mazur. "Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10460&DocID=1920 (accessed 27 April 2025).

MLA Format

Miller, Kelly, Nathaniel Lasry, Orad Reshef, Jason Dowd, Ives Araujo, and Eric Mazur. "Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains." Physics Education Research Conference 2010. Portland, Oregon: 2010. 229-232 Vol. 1289 of PER Conference. 27 Apr. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10460&DocID=1920>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Kelly Miller and Nathaniel Lasry and Orad Reshef and Jason Dowd and Ives Araujo and Eric Mazur", Title = {Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2010}, Pages = {229-232}, Address = {Portland, Oregon}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1289}, Month = {July 21-22}, Year = {2010} }

Refer Export Format

%A Kelly Miller %A Nathaniel Lasry %A Orad Reshef %A Jason Dowd %A Ives Araujo %A Eric Mazur %T Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains %S PER Conference %V 1289 %D July 21-22 2010 %P 229-232 %C Portland, Oregon %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10460&DocID=1920 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %O July 21-22 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Miller, Kelly %A Lasry, Nathaniel %A Reshef, Orad %A Dowd, Jason %A Araujo, Ives %A Mazur, Eric %D July 21-22 2010 %T Losing it: The Influence of Losses on Individuals' Normalized Gains %B Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %C Portland, Oregon %V 1289 %P 229-232 %S PER Conference %8 July 21-22 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10460&DocID=1920

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