Investigating students’ perceptions of resources and positive experiences in introductory physics

Corrales, Jovan Tyler King (2024) Investigating students’ perceptions of resources and positive experiences in introductory physics. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

We use the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat in an effort to better understand how the types of resources and experiences students draw upon to navigate the demands in an introductory physics course. We attempt to quantify students’ open-ended responses from a survey to find what experiences they find positive and what resources they use to try to succeed in an introductory physics course at four different timepoints across a semester in two different cohorts. The categories for positive experiences were achievement and competence, working with others, learning about the subject, other good, and no good and negative. The resource categories were individual, classroom, outside, and other people. We found that students' experiences emphasize achievement and competence in a course above working with others and learning more about the subject. For resources, students use more classroom and social support than outside and individual resources, with instances of classroom resources increasing over the semester and outside, social support, and individual resources were reported less often over the same time period. This research has implications for future research into students’ learning in STEM subjects.

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Details

Item Type:	University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status:	Unpublished
Creators/Authors:	Creators Email Pitt Username ORCID Corrales, Jovan Tyler King jovant.corrales@gmail.com JTC92 0009-0002-0870-7695
ETD Committee:	Title Member Email Address Pitt Username ORCID Committee Chair Nokes-Malach, Timothy nokes@pitt.edu nokes@pitt.edu 0000-0001-9707-1726 Committee Member Galla, Brian gallabri@pitt.edu gallabri@pitt.edu 0000-0003-4895-6311 Committee Member Benson-Greenwald, Tessa tmb127@pitt.edu tmb127@pitt.edu 0000-0002-6256-0981 Committee Member Good, Melanie mlgood@pitt.edu mlgood@pitt.edu 0000-0001-8254-4287 Committee Member Kuo, Eric ekuo@illinois.edu 0000-0001-5292-6188
Date:	30 April 2024
Date Type:	Publication
Defense Date:	12 April 2024
Approval Date:	30 April 2024
Submission Date:	26 April 2024
Access Restriction:	No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages:	47
Institution:	University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs:	David C. Frederick Honors College Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology
Degree:	BPhil - Bachelor of Philosophy
Thesis Type:	Undergraduate Thesis
Refereed:	Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:	physics education research, undergraduate, psychological challenge, psychological threat, students, open-ended coding
Date Deposited:	30 Apr 2024 14:45
Last Modified:	30 Apr 2024 14:45
URI:	http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/46358

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