A new approach to modelling student retention through an application of complexity thinking. This paper has been published by Studies in Higher Education as: Forsman, J., Linder, C., Moll, R., Fraser, D. and Andersson, S. (2014). A new approach to modelling student retention through an application of complexity thinking. Vol. Abstract: Complexity thinking is relatively new to education research and has rarely been used to examine complex issues in physics and engineering education. Issues in higher education such as student retention have been approached from a multiplicity of perspectives and are recognized as complex. The complex system of student retention modelling in higher education was examined to provide an illustrative account of the application of complexity thinking in educational research. Exemplar data was collected from undergraduate physics and related engineering students studying at a traditional Swedish university. The analysis shows how complexity thinking may open up new ways of viewing and analysing complex educational issues in higher education in terms of nested, interdependent and interconnected systems. Whilst not intended to present new findings, the paper does illustrate a possible representation of the system of items related to student retention and how to identify such influential items. Studies in Higher EducationKeywords: student retention; modelling systems; complexity thinking Introduction and Research AimComplexity thinking, which is derived from complexity theory, is a powerful conceptual framework in education that draws on the qualities of complex systems to characterize learning systems (e.g. Davis and Sumara 2006). As such, with its organic, non-linear, relational and holistic features, complexity thinking presents a stark point of departure for contemporary educational research thinking (Morrison 2006). Thus, its application in education research is still relatively rare, particularly in higher education contexts, and a variety of good exemplars are hard to find for newcomers contemplating the use of complexity thinking as a conceptual framework. This article uses the field of student retention to provide such an exemplar.When using complexity thinking, qualities such as decentralized network structure and short-range communication between agents can be seen to facilitate emergence of order in seemingly chaotic complex systems. Student retention is a complex system

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The viability of using complexity science in physics education research (PER) is exemplified by (1) situating central tenets of student persistence research in complexity science and (2) drawing on the methods that become available from this to illustrate analyzing the structural aspects of students' networked interactions as an important dynamic in student persistence. By drawing on the most cited characterizations of student persistence, we theorize that university environments are made up of social and academic systems, which PER work on student persistence has largely ignored. These systems are interpreted as being constituted from rules of interaction that affect the structural aspects of students' social and academic network interactions from a complexity science perspective. To illustrate this empirically, an exploration of the nature of the social and academic networks of university-level physics students is undertaken. This is done by combining complexity science with social network analysis to characterize structural similarities and differences of the social and academic networks of students in two courses. It is posited that framing a social network analysis within a complexity science perspective offers a new and powerful applicability across a broad range of PER topics.

PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in European Journal of Engineering Education. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination.Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Forsman, J., Van den Bogaard, M., Linder, C., Fraser, D. (2015) Considering student retention as a complex system: a possible way forward for enhancing student retention. European Journal of Engineering Education AbstractThis study uses Multilayer Minimum Spanning Tree analysis to develop a model for student retention from a complex system perspective, using data obtained from first year engineering students at a large well-regarded institution in the EU. The results show that the elements of the system of student retention are related to one another through a network of links and that some of these links were found to be strongly persistent across different scales (group sizes). The links were also seen to group together in different clusters of strongly related elements. Links between elements across a wide range of these clusters would have system-wide influence. It was found that there were no links that are both persistent and system-wide. This complex system view of student retention explains why actions to enhance student retention aimed at single elements in the system have had such limited impact. This study therefore points to the need for a more system-wide approach to enhancing student retention.

Enghag, M. et al. (2013). Using a disciplinary discourse lens to explore how representations afford meaning making in a typical wave physics course. AbstractWe carried out a case study in a wave physics course at a Swedish university in order to investigate the relations between the representations used in the lessons and the experience of meaning making in interview-discussions. The grounding of these interview-discussions also included obtaining a rich description of the lesson environment in terms of the communicative approaches used and the students' preferences for modes of representations that best enable meaning making. The background for this grounding was the first two lessons of a 5-week course on wave physics (70 students). The data collection for both the grounding and the principal research questions consisted of video recordings from the first two lessons: a student questionnaire of student preferences for representations (given before and after the course) and video-recorded interview-discussions with students (seven pairs and one on their own). The results characterize the use of communicative approaches, what modes of representation were used in the lectures, and the trend in what representations students' preferred for meaning making, all in order to illustrate how students engage with these representations with respect to their experienced meaning making. Interesting aspects that emerged from the study are discussed in terms of how representations do not, in themselves, necessarily enable a range of meaning making; that meaning making from representations is critically related to how the representations get situated in the learning environment; and how constellations of modes of disciplinary discourse may be necessary but not always sufficient. Finally, pedagogical comments and further research possibilities are presented.