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We examined the prevalence of rapid answer copying among university students completing online homework for an introductory level calculus-based physics course taught remotely during the COVID pandemic. We first compared the attempt duration distribution of 26 problems, between 42 students who self-reported as having completed the homework by themselves against the rest of the class. Significant differences were detected for 3 out of 26 problems. We then identified abnormally short problem attempts indicative of potential rapid answer copying, by fitting the attempt duration distribution of each problem with finite-mixture models, using mixtures of either normal or skewed distributions. We detected a significantly smaller fraction of short attempts from self-reporting students on only 3 out of 26 problems, and found no statistically significant difference in percentage correct of short attempts between the populations. In conclusion, our analysis did not find evidence indicating wide-spread rapid answer copying among students. We also explored differences in learning behavior between the two populations by applying process mining to the event logs of one of the homework learning modules, which reveals that some students may have copied answers after spending longer time or using multiple attempts on a given problem. However, this form of answer copying is also unlikely to be prevalent since the percentage correct on normal attempts are also similar between the two populations on most problems.

AAPT SM 21

A data driven study of students&#39; completion of online homework

answer copying; pandemic online learning; data analysis; mixure modeling

The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. The program featured plenary speakers, sessions, workshops and many special activities.

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AAPT SM 20

The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. 

A data driven study of students' completion of online homework

technical paper

Join AAPT and Physics Educators worldwide in developing and strengthening your professional connections by attending the 2021 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting. AAPT meetings are a great way to reflect on your teaching, recommit to best practices and re-energize your career with new research, products, and techniques.

Listen to internationally known plenary speakers, attend sessions, workshops, and special activities. Attending the virtual summer meeting is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and learn from and network with leaders in the field.

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Problem solving is an important aspect of physics education. To become skilled problem solvers students do not only need sufficient conceptual and procedural knowledge, they also need metacognitive skills in order to monitor their solution process. We present a prototype for an online tool that aims at stimulating students’ metacognitive skills for problem solving by offering them problem-specific reflection questions. We discuss a case study of the implementation of the tool within a 1st year mechanics course.

Supporting Metacognition in Physics Problem Solving.

Critical thinking has a natural home in student laboratory experiences, yet labs in most schools are "cookbook" or confirmatory and rarely require students to apply knowledge in new and challenging ways to real world applications and ways of work of scientists engineers and physicists. This talk talks about how we can create authentic laboratoray experiences for students through how we purposely plan laboratories.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills through Laboratory Experiences

Discussion posts have been used to involve students in a greater understanding of class material, particularly in applying it to the world outside the classroom. For online classes, they often serve as the primary channel through which students communicate with each other. We can also use discussion posts to facilitate scientific thinking and analysis by having students explore a question or problem, research it to find sources, and interpret results. These range from watching an educational video and describing the host’s analysis and results for a particular experiment, to doing their own search on everyday phenomena like static electricity in laundry, power generation on a Washington wind farm, or lightning. These types of weekly discussion posts have been added to both my Introductory Physics and Astronomy classes, and student engagement and reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

Scientific Thinking and Exploratory Discussion Posts

After instruction, many students apply basic physics knowledge correctly to solve problems that require straightforward applications of that knowledge. At the same time, some students struggle to apply the same knowledge in situations that elicit alternative intuitive ideas. To recognize an inconsistency between such intuitive ideas and formal knowledge, a process of conflict detection and override must be initiated. However, for this process to be sustained, students must articulate criteria that must be satisfied to accept or reject an intuitive response. It appears that many students need explicit instruction to help them recognize that the same physics knowledge could be used 1) as a tool for solving a given problem and 2) as a criterion for checking for the validity of intuitive responses. We will describe our efforts to design instruction in an introductory calculus-based Mechanics course that focuses on the second aspect of physics knowledge.

Developing skills for validity checking of intuitively appealing responses

The ability to effectively engage in evidence-based decision-making is an important educational outcome. Over the past decade, we have developed and evaluated a lab curriculum in which all activities are designed around the theory-evidence coordination framework to advance select reasoning skills. For each lab, students address a central research question, and guided activities explicitly emphasize causal and hypothetical reasoning embedded in cycles of inquiry, reflection, evaluation, and communication of outcomes. Due to the pandemic, the labs were redesigned for online synchronous delivery where students worked in groups of four in Zoom breakout rooms. The presentation will showcase the underlying reasoning framework that can be used by others to develop their own materials, discuss how students were still able to collect data and create mathematical models in the online format, and compare learning outcome data for both the online and face-to-face settings. Access to the lab materials will also be provided. 
*Partially supported by the NSF IUSE 1431908


Comparing In-person and Online Physics Labs for Developing Scientific Reasoning

Doing Physics and bringing my true authentic self have not always been in alignment. This talk will give insight into my journey from where I've been to where I am now and how I think our physics environment needs to change.

Doing Physics and Being Chicana and Indigena

It can be difficult for introductory physics students to understand the nature of electric fields because electric fields are not tangible nor visible. With the intent of providing students the tools to help them understand electric fields, we conducted a study, via Zoom, in which we tested the efficacy of three technological learning tools in developing student understanding of electric fields. The tools, developed by our team, include a video lesson, an electric field simulator, and an online electric field game. The students in two sections of a second-semester, algebra-based physics course were each randomly assigned to use one of the three tools. All completed pre- and post-activity diagnostics including questions targeting the learning objectives, beliefs about physics, and learning preferences. We will discuss the results of our study and the implications on the development of future tools.

Assessing the efficacy of technological tools to teach electric fields

The introductory physics sequence at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology develops a common knowledge base for 500+ freshman students, with all majors required to complete the first two courses. In pursuit of enhancing our courses with active learning in a hybrid environment due to COVID-19 restrictions, we implemented iOLab-based exercises during the Winter and Spring quarters of the 2020/2021 academic year. The open-ended activities were designed to pique students’ intrinsic curiosity and help students develop more connections between theory and "how things work” through demos and experimental design. Students also identified opportunities to create value by exploring applications of sensors in the world around them. These skills directly relate to the students’ entrepreneurial mindset, which was assessed by a pre- and post-ESEMA survey. We also sought to understand the effectiveness and student perception of the iOLab in a hybrid setting through their written comments and attitudes from a post-StRIP survey.

Developing Entrepreneurial Mindset through iOLab-based Activities in Introductory Physics Courses

Because electric fields cannot be touched or seen, simulations are often utilized to build students' understanding of them by providing them with a visual representation of electric fields and the motion of test charges through them. We developed a game to address these challenges. The goal of the game is to guide a test charge through a racetrack using an electric field that the player creates. As a student plays the game, they will see dynamic electric field lines created by the charges they place on the screen, as well as the trajectory of test charges through the electric field. Our aim in the gamification of a more traditional electric field simulation is to improve motivation and engagement in the material. Both the game and the simulation that we built before it are built in JavaScript, so they will run on most browsers on a computer or mobile device.


Gamification of Electric Fields to Improve Students’ Understanding and Engagement

In this study of a large enrollment introductory physics course, I investigated students' use of free online resources (YouTube, Khan Academy, Chegg) and newly-implemented class resources since the Covid-19 transition to remote learning. In my mixed-methods approach, I surveyed and interviewed students on their perceptions and use of expanded course resources which include: pre-lecture module with introductory videos, quizzes with instructional feedback, tutorial assignment with low-stakes grading parameters, and demonstration videos. Students also engage with weekly activities similar to pre-Covid-19 but adapted to the remote setting, including synchronous remote lectures and active-learning recitations, asynchronous recitation quizzes as exam-like practice, and online homework assignments. The survey data suggest students value the expanded course resources as helpful to their learning, and report little use of solutions sites like Chegg. Despite increased accessibility of virtual meetings, students still do not engage frequently with course office hours or the University Learning Centers.

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A data driven study of students' completion of online homework

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