Student expectations in introductory physics
Abstract
Students’ understanding of what science is about, how it is done, and their expectations as to what goes on in a science course, can play a powerful role in what they get out of introductory college physics. In this paper, we describe the Maryland Physics Expectations survey; a 34-item Likert-scale (agree–disagree) survey that probes student attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions about physics. We report on the results of pre- and post-instruction delivery of this survey to 1500 students in introductory calculus-based physics at six colleges and universities. We note a large gap between the expectations of experts and novices and observe a tendency for student expectations to deteriorate rather than improve as a result of the first term of introductory calculus-based physics.
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Student attitudes are assessed with the Maryland Physics Expectations II survey, a well-validated instrument modified to include an interdisciplinary cluster.
“Student attitudes are being assessed with the Maryland Physics Expectations II survey (Redish et al., 1998), a well-validated instrument that has been modified to include a set of questions (referred to as the interdisciplinary cluster) that specifically probes whether students feel interdisciplinary approaches are a valuable problem-solving tool for the biological sciences.”
From Competency-Based Reforms of the Undergraduate Biology Curriculum: Integrating the Physical and Biological Sciences (2013) · cites this paper as Redish et al., 1998
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Talanquer, V. (2014) · Journal of Research in Science Teaching · doi:10.1002/tea.21162 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Lin, S., & Singh, C. (2013) · Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research · doi:10.1103/physrevstper.9.020114 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
“To learn physics effectively, it is essential to unpack the meaning of the abstract principles, and understand the applicability of the physics principles in diverse situations [1-9].”
BackgroundRecent advances in classroom physics
Thacker, B. A. (2003) · Reports on Progress in Physics · doi:10.1088/0034-4885/66/10/r07 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Learning Each Other's Ropes: Negotiating Interdisciplinary Authenticity
Redish, E. F., & Cooke, T. J. (2013) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.12-09-0147 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“6 The UMd-PERG’s previous research (Redish et al., 1998) had demonstrated that students often brought into introductory physics epistemological misconceptions: their expectations as to what kind of knowledge they were learning and what they had to do to learn it.”
BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Redish, E. F., Saul, J. M., & Steinberg, R. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Physics
- Published
- 1998-03-01
- Volume
- 66
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 212-224
- ISSN
- 0002-9505 (ISSN-L)
- 1943-2909
- OpenAlex
- W2061925588
- Cited by
- 693
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 44 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 47.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Physics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Methods and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Science Education and Perceptions
- Keywords
- student expectations, introductory physics, student attitudes toward science, calculus-based physics
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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