Talk given by Kate Slaughter at GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

1. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Do our physics degrees create expert
physicists?
A longitudinal study using CLASS
K.A. Slaughter, S.P. Bates and R.K. Galloway
School of Physics and Astronomy
The University of Edinburgh
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

2. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
In the next 20 minutes…
• Educational context of the study
• The CLASS instrument
• “Normal” usage of the CLASS
• Longitudinal Project
• Fully longitudinal study
• Cross-sectional study
• Comparison of the two methods
• Conclusions
• Future work
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

3. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Educational Context
• School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland,
UK.
• Traditional research based university.
• Active PER group based within the School of Physics.
• 1st year taught in a reformed workshop style with increasingly traditional
teaching styles at higher levels.
• 2 exit points to the degree program, Bachelors of Science or Master of
Physics.
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

4. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
CLASS Survey
• Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey.
• Used Extensively in the US - studies emerging now from the rest of
world.
• Examines attitudes towards study rather than content knowledge.
• Series of 42 attitudinal questions, compared to responses from expert
physicists.
• Percentage of “expert-like” thinking.
• Can calculate percentage “favorable” and “unfavorable”
• Extensively validated by the survey designers.
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

5. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
CLASS Survey
• Normally used pre and post a period of instruction.
• Key feature - student levels of expert-like decline after first year of
university physics teaching (unless specifically targeted)
• Carried out studies with our 1st year cohort, 3 years of data collection -
all record a drop in expert-like thinking after instruction.
• High levels of expert-like thinking recorded.
• Interesting features seen in the sub-cohorts of the class, majors/non-
majors, male/female (Presented at GIREP-EPEC 2009).
• Inspired the question “What happens next?”
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

6. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
CLASS Survey
• Little work published on CLASS scores over time.
• Time involved in tracking the students - problem.
• We have started a study of our student attitudes as they progress
through the degree program.
• 2 possible methods…..
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

7. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Fully Longitudinal method
• Same cohort of students are surveyed as they progress through the
degree program.
• Advantages
• Can track individual students removing the need to make
assumptions about the similarity of the cohort.
• External factors don’t matter.
• Disadvantages
• Time
• Sample size getting smaller with each measurement
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

8. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Fully Longitudinal method
N=35
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

9. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Cross-sectional
• All data collected in the same academic year and inter year comparisons
are drawn.
• First study of this type carried out by Gire et al.
• Advantages
• Can be done without waiting for the cohort to progress
• Not effected by N diminishing
• Disadvantages
• Have to assume all cohorts are the same
• Can test this assumption using 3 years of 1st year data - no significant
differences found in any of the data.
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

10. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Cross-sectional method
N=625
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

11. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Validation of methods
• Can use the fully longitudinal data to validate the cross-sectional method.
• Data collected in fully longitudinal study compared to the corresponding
years of data in the cross-sectional method.
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

12. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Validation of methods
No significant difference found between methods for any of the three years.
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

13. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Conclusions
• Students come in with high levels of expert-like thinking and remain high.
• Expert-like thinking appears to be flat during undergraduate study.
• Appear to be transitions at entry and exit points to an undergraduate
degree.
• Results from the first three years of a fully-longitudinal study suggest a
cross-sectional method is valid.
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

14. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Future work
• Gender differences in the cohort.
• When are these expertise formed?
• Study in high schools ongoing
• Final data collection spring 2012
• Correlation of CLASS scores to career destinations and final degree
grades?
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland

15. Physics Education Research
The University of Edinburgh
Thank you for your time.
k.a.slaughter@ed.ac.uk
www.ph.ed.ac.uk/physics-education-research
References
CLASS Design and Validation
"A new instrument for measuring student beliefs about physics and learning physics: the Colorado Learning Attitudes about
Science Survey."
W. K. Adams, K. K. Perkins, N. Podolefsky, M. Dubson, N. D. Finkelstein and C. E. Wieman, Phys. Rev ST: Phys. Educ.
Res. 2, 1, 010101 (2006).
First Year CLASS at the University of Edinburgh
“The changes in attitudes and beliefs of first year physics undergraduates: A study using the CLASS survey”
K.A.Slaughter, S.P. Bates and R.K. Galloway, International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education.
Publication Pending (2011)
Cross-sectional Study using CLASS
“Characterizing the epistemological development of physics majors”
E. Gire, B. Jones and E. Price Phys. Rev ST: Phys. Educ. Res. 5, 010103 (2009).
GIREP-EPEC, August 2011 - Jyväskylä, Finland