PERC 2021 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Attitudes toward Physics Problem Solving: In-Person vs. Hybrid Instruction” |
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| Abstract: | State regulations in response to the coronavirus pandemic impact upon the state of Arkansas permitted a full year's worth of hybrid instruction at the University of Central Arkansas during the 2020-2021 academic year. Changes to instruction included the permission of an in-person lab, subject to social distancing, reduced classroom capacity, and other health protocols. However, these protocols induced the removal of a research-based problem-solving exercise previously available at the beginning of lab sections. Before and during this time, data for the Attitudes and Approaches to Physics Problem Solving (AAPS) survey was collected over the course of five-semesters' worth of introductory algebra-based physics students: two semesters of normal in-person instruction (Spring 2019, 1st-semester physics, and Fall 2019, 2nd-semester physics); one semester in which normal instruction was interrupted by pandemic emergencies mid-semester, forcing fully online instruction for the remainder (Spring 2020, 1st-semester physics); and two semesters in which a hybrid format for lecture and adjusted in-person laboratory section were permitted (Fall 2020, 2nd-semester physics, and Spring 2021, 1st-semester physics). This permits comparison of first-semester and second-semester students between the pre-pandemic traditional instruction and the pandemic-induced hybrid instruction. Students' attitudes towards physics problem solving is checked for correlation with the presence or lack thereof of a pre-lab problem solving exercise, in the institutional setting of a regional comprehensive state university in the Southern US. A feedback survey from students who took the hybrid course is also examined for perceived relevance as well as student beliefs as to whether or not the problem solving exercise would have helped if it could have been included in the laboratory sections. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
| Session Time: | Poster Session 1 Room D |
| Poster Number: | 1D-17 |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Andrew J. Mason Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Central Arkansas |
