Attending to lifelong learning skills through guided reflection in a physics class

Abstract

This paper describes a tool, the Guided Reflection Form (GRF), which was used to promote reflection in a modeling-based physics course. Each week, students completed a guided reflection and received feedback from their instructors. These activities were intended to help students become better at the process of reflection, developing skills that they could apply in their future learning. We analyzed student reflections: (1) to provide insight into the reflection process itself and (2) to describe common themes in student reflections. Most students were able to use the GRF to reflect on their learning in meaningful ways. Moreover, the themes present in student reflections provide insights into struggles commonly faced by physics students. We discuss the design of the GRF in detail, so that others may use it as a tool to support student reflections.

Increasing STEM success: a near-peer mentoring program in the physical sciences

“…Course work was the most frequently selected topic from the checklist, possibly because it was a salient aspect of students' experiences. Time management and organization were present in about one third of meetings; studies of physics students in other contexts show that these are considerable areas of focus for student growth (Gandhi et al;Dounas-Frazer and Reinholz 2015). Students also used the relationships for psychosocial support, including discussing social issues and stress, which were the most frequently discussed topics after course work.…”

“…These questions were designed to collect information for grading purposes, seed discussion, and collect information for this study. These questions were based upon themes identified in other work on teaching lifelong learning skills to physics freshmen (Dounas-Frazer and Reinholz 2015). A total of 151 unique reports were collected, corresponding to 95 meetings.…”

Effect of Kolb's Learning Styles under Inductive Guided-Inquiry Learning on Learning Outcomes

“…Guided inquiry is one of the various inquiry learning models which mainly consists of five steps, namely observation, manipulation, generalization, verification and application (Vishnumolakala, Southam, Treagust, Mocerino, & Qureshi, 2017;Fay, Grove, Towns, & Bretz, 2007;MartinHansen, 2002). Guided inquiry provides guidance in formulating investigative questions and/or other phases if required commonly for learners whose inquiry skill has not committed or established (Banchi, H., Bell, 2008;Wenning & Khan, 2011;Shen, 2007;Kuhlthau, 2010;Dounas-Frazer & Reinholz, 2015;Vishnumolakala et al, 2017). Learning performances such as observing of investigation pursuing phenomena, formulating investigative questions, and designing investigative experiments are…”

The impact of metacognitive activities on student attitudes towards experimental physics

“…The inquiry laboratory where students must analyze the problem or question at hand, select an approach to engaging with the laboratory activity, reflect on how things are going as the lab proceeds, and make adjustments accordingly provides excellent opportunities for students to practice the regulation of cognition [7]. Students may not engage in metacognition without explicit instruction, but studies have shown that introducing metacognitive activities in the classroom and the laboratory helps students develop the appropriate learning strategies and problem solving approaches [8][9][10][11][12]. Encouraging students to engage in metacognition in the laboratory not only has the potential to deepen learning, it also has the potential to impact the affective domain, reducing frustration and building confidence.…”