PERC 2020 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Student perceptions of laboratory classroom activities and experimental physics practice |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | We report results from a study designed to identify links between undergraduate students' views about experimental physics and their engagement in multiweek projects in lab courses. Using surveys and interviews, we explored whether students perceived particular classroom activities to be features of experimental physics practice. We focused on 18 activities, including maintaining lab notebooks, fabricating parts, and asking others for help. Interviewees identified activities related to project execution as intrinsic to experimental physics practice based on high prevalence of those activities in interviewees' own projects. Fabrication-oriented activities were identified as conditional features of experimentation based on differences between projects, which interviewees attributed to variations in project resources. Interpersonal activities were also viewed as conditional features of experimentation, dependent upon one's status as novice or expert. Our findings suggest that students' views on experimental physics are shaped by firsthand experiences of their own projects and secondhand experiences of those of others. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
| Session Time: | Poster Session I |
| Poster Number: | 1.A3 |
| Contributed Paper Record: | Contributed Paper Information |
| Contributed Paper Download: | Download Contributed Paper |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Dimitri R. Dounas-Frazer Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Kimme S. Johnson, Woodring College of Education, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA Soojin E. Park, Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA and Woodring College of Education, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA Jacob T. Stanley, BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA H. J. Lewandowski, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA and JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA |
