Who does what now? How physics lab instruction impacts student behaviors

Abstract

While laboratory instruction is a cornerstone of physics education, the impact of student behaviours in labs on retention, persistence in the field, and the formation of students' physics identity remains an open question. In this study, we performed in-lab observations of student actions over two semesters in two pedagogically different sections of the same introductory physics course. We used a cluster analysis to identify different categories of student behaviour and analyzed how they correlate with lab structure and gender. We find that, in lab structures which fostered collaborative group work and promoted decision making, there was a task division along gender lines with respect to laptop and equipment usage (and found no such divide among students in guided verification labs).

arXiv comment4 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Hermione and the Secretary: How gendered task division in introductory physics labs can disrupt equitable learning
• Students' attitudes toward experimental physics in a conceptual inquiry-based introductory physics lab
• All aboard! Challenges and successes in professional development for physics lab TAs