Correlation between logical abilities and success in physics

Liberman, Dov; Hudson, H. T.

doi:10.1119/1.11929

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The amount of time invested in academic activities outside of the classroom and the kind of activities performed accounts for 21% to 36% of the variance in the test averages and for 19% to 37% of the variance in the normalized gains [3] on the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) [4]. The amount of variance explained by TOT is comparable to the variance in class performance which is explained by logical reasoning ability (19% [5]-24% [6]), mathematical reasoning ability (12% [5]-26% [7]), or physics pretest score (1% [8]-30% [7]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral self-regulation in a physics class

Stewart

DeVore

Michaluk

2016

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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This study examined the regulation of out-of-class time invested in the academic activities associated with a physics class for 20 consecutive semesters. The academic activities of 1676 students were included in the study. Students reported investing a semester average of 6.5 AE 2.9 h out of class per week. During weeks not containing an examination, a total of 4.3 AE 2.1 h was reported which was divided between 2.5 AE 1.2 h working homework and 1.8 AE 1.4 h reading. Students reported spending 7.6 AE 4.8 h preparing for each in-semester examination. Students showed a significant correlation between the change in time invested in examination preparation (r ¼ −0.12, p < 0.0001) and their score on the previous examination. The correlation increased as the data were averaged over semester (r ¼ −0.70, p ¼ 0.0006) and academic year (r ¼ −0.82, p ¼ 0.0039). While significant, the overall correlation indicates a small effect size and implies that an increase of 1 standard deviation of test score (18%) was related to a decrease of 0.12 standard deviations or 0.9 h of study time. Students also modified their time invested in reading as the length of the textbook changed; however, this modification was not proportional to the size of the change in textbook length. Very little regulation of the time invested in homework was detected either in response to test grades or in response to changes in the length of homework assignments. Patterns of regulation were different for higher performing students than for lower performing students with students receiving a course grade of "C" or "D" demonstrating little change in examination preparation time in response to lower examination grades. This study suggests that homework preparation time is a fixed variable while examination preparation time and reading time are weakly mutable variables.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral self-regulation in a physics class

Stewart

DeVore

Michaluk

2016

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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“…Using the Tomlinson-Keasy-Campbell test, Liberman and Hudson [18] found R 2 ¼ 0:24 for a regression of a formal operational reasoning posttest score on the final exam score. Using the same instrument as a pretest, Hudson and Liberman [19] found R 2 ¼ 0:19 for a regression of the formal operational reasoning pretest against the final course grade.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using time-on-task measurements to understand student performance in a physics class: A four-year study

Stewart

Taylor

2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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Student use of out-of-class time was measured for four years in the introductory second-semester calculus-based physics course at the University of Arkansas. Two versions of the course were presented during the time of the measurement. In both versions, the total out-of-class time a student invested in the course explained less than 1% of the variance in test average and in normalized gain on the Conceptual Survey in Electricity and Magnetism. The details of how students used their out-of-class time explained from 21% to 36% of the variance in test average and 19% to 37% of the variance in normalized gain. The amount of time spent on the course increased as the course was made more difficult, but less than would be expected based on the changes in the course. Students changed their allocation of out-of-class time based on their performance within the course as the course progressed.

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“…The same argument can be made for problem-solving skills and reasoning ability. However, the published reports do not always agree as to the role and importance of a variety of cognitive skills that are called reasoning skills insofar as physics achievement is concerned (for example: McKinnon & Renner, 1971;Cohen, Hillman & Agne, 1978;Barnes & Barnes, 1978;Barnes, 1977;Liberman & Hudson, 1979). Even so, one finds it difficult to argue against the conviction that some degree of some type of reasoning (as of yet not fully identified) is important to solving physics problems and thereby doing well on examinations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of cognitive skills between completes and dropouts in a college physics course

Hudson

1986

J Res Sci Teach

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Separate tests of mathematics skills, proportions and translations between words, and mathematical expression given the first week of class were correlated with performance for students who completed a college physics course (completes) and students who dropped the course (drops). None of the measures used discriminated between completes and drops as groups. However, the correlations between score on the test of math skills and on both of the measures involving mathematical reasoning (proportions, and translations) were dramatically different for the two groups. For the completes, these correlations were slightly negative, but not significant. For the drops, the correlation was positive and signficant at the p < 0.01 level. This suggests the possibility that the students who complete the course tend to have independent cognitive skills for the “mechanical” mathematical operations and for questions requiring some degree of reasoning, while, in contrast, the same skills for students at high risk for dropping overlap significantly. The study also found that when students are given the results of mathematics skills tests in a diagnostic mode, with feedback on specific areas of weakness and time to remediate with self study, the correlation between mathematics and physics is lower than previously reported values.

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Correlation between logical abilities and success in physics

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

Behavioral self-regulation in a physics class

Behavioral self-regulation in a physics class

Using time-on-task measurements to understand student performance in a physics class: A four-year study

A comparison of cognitive skills between completes and dropouts in a college physics course

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