Blogging in the Physics Classroom

2008 National CASTL Institute

Blogging in the Physics ClassroomGintaras K. Duda

& Katherine Garrett


The “Hidden Curriculum”

• We’d like our students to leave “liking” physics.

• But it goes beyond this!

• To use a JITT phrase, we want students to see what physics is “good-for”


What do Students Learn in Introductory Physics?

• What students do well:– Memorize formulae– Learn problem solving techniques which they

regurgitate on exams– Solve simple problems which have limited

applicability in the real world

• What they don’t get: – A richer understanding of physics.


From the MPEX Survey

• MPEX1 survey probes “student attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions about physics”

• ``In all cases, the result of instruction on the overall survey was an increase in unfavorable responses and a decrease in favorable responses ... Thus instruction produced an average deterioration rather than an improvement of student expectations."

1E. Redish, J. Saul, and R. Steinberg, “Student expectations in introductory physics," Am. J. Phys. 66, 212-224 (1998).


Attitude II Survey

• Zeilik et al.: devised an active-learning approach to introductory astronomy at University of New Mexico

• Found “little change over each semester in students’ mildly positive incoming attitudes about astronomy and science.”


The CLASS1 Survey• A relatively new instrument designed to measure

student attitudes in introductory physics courses over a wide range of categories such as personal interest, real world connections and sense making

• They found:“… most teaching practices cause substantialdrops in student scores”

1W. Adams et al., ``New instrument for measuring student beliefs aboutphysics and learning physics: The Colorado Learning Attitudes aboutScience Survey," Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 2, 010101 (2006).


Is Physics Unique?

• Other disciplines have begun worrying about student attitudes

• CLASS instrument was modified and used in an intro chemistry course:– ``results indicated that shifts after instruction were similar

to, if not worse than, in physics in moving in the unfavorable direction“

• UNIVERSAL PROBLEM!


The Problem• Students come out of introductory physics courses

less interested in the subject than when they started.• Students see physics as a random assortment of facts

and equations.• Students have only a vague idea how the physics

they learn relates to the world around them.• Students don’t come away understanding how

physics is used in the real world or how it’s practiced as a science.


Why Worry about Attitude?

• Educational research has shown learning is intrinsically linked with student attitude and expectations.

• See for example: – A. Schoenfeld– T. Koballa and F. Crawley


The Solution?• A course blog for introductory physics at

Creighton University.

• The blog would:– Give real world examples of physics– Relate the classroom to the outside world– Show how physics principles relate to other

disciplines– Show what’s interesting about physics


Why a Blog?

• New technology which appeals to students

• Ferdig and Trammel have some good stuff to say

• Using blogs in a different educational setting, Brownstein and Klein report

• Blogs appear to be a powerful tool to help begin addressing the “hidden curriculum”


Our Question

• Can a course blog in a general physics class in which real world examples of physics are provided to students stop or at least ameliorate the deterioration in attitude after instruction as measured by the MPEX, CLASS, and Attitude II instruments?


The Blog: CU General Physics I


Why Blogger? It’s free and easy to use. No campus support issues. www.blogger.com


Posts are compiled and can be edited or deleted as wished.


Student comments

were collected by

using haloscan.

Free and superior to blogger’s

comments.


Blog Posts by Subject Area


Students learn about how friction works in the real-world by reading about how Geckos scale walls.

Microscopic attraction!

A typical Blog Post


Did the Blog Work?• 26 question Likert-scale attitudinal survey

– Modified version of Zeilik’s Attitude II survey – Pre and post testing

• Examines:– Attitude toward physics– Cognitive competence and confidence– Perception of difficulty– Value of physics to students’ lives (referred to as “reality

link” questions)


“Reality Link” questions

• Some examples:– Physics is irrelevant to my life– What I learn in physics this semester will not be useful in my career– Physics is not useful in my everyday life– I will (or do) look at the world differently after

taking this class


Breakdown of SemestersSemester Section Number of Students Participated in Blog StudyFall 2005 A 31 yes

B 27 yes C 32 no (control group)

D 24 no (control group)Spring 2006 A 36 yes

B 35 yes C 33 yes D 25 yes

Fall 2006 A 33 yes B 34 yes C 30 yes D 28 yes

Spring 2007 A 33 yes


Question 4: Physics is Irrelevant to My Life

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Pre-Test Response

Post-Test Response

Change from pre-to-post

Fall 2005


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Agree (Unfavorable)

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Blog non-participants pre

Blog non-participants post

Blog participants pre

Blog participants post

Figure 3: A-D plot for Semester II (spring 2006) for question 7: "I will (or did) find it difficult to understand how physics applies in the real world."


40%

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Figure 4: A-D plot for Semester II (spring 2006) for question 19: "Physics is not useful in my every day life."


40%

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Unfavorable Responses

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Figure 5a: A-D plot for Semester II (spring 2006) for an average of the "reality link" questions.


Spring 2006 Results

Results from ``reality-link" questions for the attitudinal survey. Based on a samples-dependent t-test. The difference between the blog and non-blog reading groups was not-statistically significant for the pre-test but statistically significant with p < 0.001 for the post-test.

Scores have been normalized so that 50% represents a neutral response onthe Likert-style attitudinal survey.


40%

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0% 20% 40% 60%

% Unfavorable Responses

% F

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sBlog non-participants pre




Experts

OSU pre

OSU post

DC pre

DC post

PLA pre

PLA post

Figure 5b: A-D plot for Semester II (spring 2006) for an average of the "reality link" questions compared to institutions cited in the MPEX study.


40%

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0% 20% 40% 60%

% Unfavorable Responses

% F

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Spring 2006 Blog Participants Pre-Test

Spring 2006 Blog Participants Post-Test

Spring 2007 Pre-Test

Spring 2007 Post-Test

Figure 6: A-D plot for Semesters II and IV (springs 2006 and 2007) for an average of the "reality link" questions.


Conclusions• A blog seemed to be a powerful way to reach

students and address the “hidden curriculum”

• Students responded positively– Learned how physics applies in the real-world– For many their favorite component of the course

• Students who read and posted to the blog maintained their initially positive attitudes– Paper to AJP!


What’s Next

• Blogging can affect attitude

• Need to show the effect on student learning

• This is where we need help!


Ideas

• Standard assessment exams are given in general physics– weak correlation with attitude– gain may correlate better

• Link blog to exam questions?• New assessment instrument for “reality link”

concepts?


Slides for Questions


Sample Student Comments

• “I am a very big fan of baseball. So, I went to the website about the physics of baseballs, and the line “why do bats break” caught my attention. I found out that the force that can act on a bat are in the range of 6,000-10,000lbs and happened in the time span of 1/1000 of a second. Because of this great force, lots of vibrations are produced, and some bats break. Also, this is the reason why in a major league baseball game a ball is only used for 4-5 pitches! I knew that they changed balls a lot, but I never knew why. It’s amazing that so many things have to due with physics!”– General Physics Student #1 | 09.20.05 - 8:20 pm


• “With the rise of technological advancements, I guess that I just assumed that functions by a shower head and gas nozzle were simply based in some sort of computerized mechanisms. I never really stopped to actually think about it- I guess I simply took these simple pleasures for granted. Once again, the weekly posted blog has made me examine the functions of everyday life more closely and ask "why?" For me, these blogs have provided concrete examples of the physics that surrounds me...instead of it just being a subject represented by some abstract equations.”– General Physics Student #2 | 11.06.05 - 12:14 am


Data Analysis

• Because of the difficulty in interpreting 5-pt Likert scale data we performed two analyses:

1) group the value or “reality-link” questions and perform a dependent samples t-test (as interval data)

2) use an agree-disagree binomial analysis (treating our data as ordinal data)


Agree-Disagree Plots

• Introduced by Redish et al. in their MPEX paper - called “Redish” plots

Change from pre to post must be > 2σ to be considered significant

(at 5% probability level)

Blogging in the Physics Classroom

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