Evolving study strategies and support structures of introductory physics students

The (Mostly Physics) Education PaperCast
The (Mostly Physics) Education PaperCast
Evolving study strategies and support structures of introductory physics students
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Shafer, Devyn, Daniela Girotti-Hernandez, and Tim Stelzer. “Evolving Study Strategies and Support Structures of Introductory Physics Students.” Physical Review Physics Education Research 20, no. 2 (September 11, 2024): 020114. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.20.020114.

Abstract

Students often struggle in the transition from high school to college. One component of this struggle is adjusting study habits to navigate new academic expectations. Another is establishing new relationships in college that can support their emotional well-being and academic success. We administered surveys consisting primarily of open-ended questions to students taking an introductory physics course in order to gain insight into students’ study habits and support structures and how they change from high school to college. We find that many students learn that they need to dedicate more time outside of class to studying in order to succeed in college. Many students trying to improve their performance report practicing more, but our results suggest that more practice alone is not sufficient; rather, students were able to increase their performance and satisfaction in the course by engaging more deeply with the material. Regarding support structures, we find that in high school, students find their teachers highly supportive and accessible, but they are less likely to approach their college professors for help. Meanwhile, many students find peers to be an important source of support in college as the amount of support they receive from their families diminishes with distance from home. Gaining a better understanding of students’ study habits, support structures, and how they conceptualize them can help us design course structures and messaging that can more effectively help students develop strong learning strategies and social networks.

Figures

Figure 1: Exam 1 score distributions of the subset of the class that completed the study and the whole class.
Figure 2: Student responses to the question, “How satisfied are you with your exam score?” Complete cases, 𝑁=74, are represented. In this figure and all others with error bars, the size of the error bars is one standard error.
Figure 3: (a) Exam 1 satisfaction vs score. (b) Exam 2 satisfaction vs score. (c) Exam 3 satisfaction vs score.
Figure 4: Whole-class survey responses to questions asking students to compare the study strategies used in high school to the first exam and the first exam to the third exam. See Appendix pp1 for wording.
Figure 5
Student responses to the question “What do you think is the biggest change you have implemented in preparing for exam 𝑁
compared to exam 𝑁 − 1?”. Many students mentioned multiple changes, and each of these is included.
Figure 6
Average change in exam score by biggest change in preparation strategy. Changes in exam scores are adjusted by the average change in exam score between consecutive exams in order to aggregate the data from multiple exams.
Figure 7
Change in exam score satisfaction by biggest change in preparation strategy. The graph shows the percentage of students who reported each strategy as their biggest change categorized by change in satisfaction. Students represented in the stayed satisfied or dissatisfied categories reported the same satisfaction for all three exams. Students in the became satisfied or dissatisfied categories could have become satisfied or dissatisfied at either exam 2 or exam 3 and could be counted in both categories if their satisfaction changed at both time points. Some students reported more than one strategy as their biggest change and are represented in the columns for each strategy they reported.
Figure 8
Summary of student responses to the questions, “Who supported your academic success in high school?” and “Who supports your academic success in college?” (𝑁=83).
Figure 9
Summary of student responses to the questions, “Who supported your emotional well-being in high school?” and “Who supports your emotional well-being in college?” (𝑁=83).
Figure 10
Student responses to the Likert-style question, “How would you rate the approachability of your (a) high school physics teacher; (b) [course] discussion TA; and (c) [course] lecturer?” (𝑁=74).
Figure 11
Student responses to the questions, “How many times have you been to [course] office hours?” and “How many times have you studied with your physics classmates outside of class?” (𝑁=74).
Figure 12
Nature of peer academic support described by students (𝑁=83).
Figure 13
Student indications of self-reliance in detailing their sources of academic and emotional support in the high school and college settings (𝑁=83).
Figure 14
Student responses to the question, “If you used practice exams to study, what did you hope to gain from doing so?”.
Figure 15
Breakdown of higher engagement study strategies and their frequency in preparing for each exam.