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Paper ID #5794

Preparing STEM Students for Success in Physics Through an Intensive Sum- mer Program

Ms. Polin Yadak, Ca

˜nada College

I was born in 1969 in Iran/Tehran. I received my first BS in Psychology in 1994 from Azad University in

Tehran. My family and I immigrated to the United State of America in 2000. I received my second BS

in Astrophysics in 2007 and my MS in physics in 2010. I have always enjoyed teaching both physics and

mathematics. I am currently employed as Physics Instructor at Ca

˜nada College and Skyline College.

Dr. Amelito G Enriquez, Canada College

Amelito Enriquez is a professor of engineering and mathematics at Ca

˜nada College. He received his

PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include

technology-enhanced instruction and increasing the representation of female, minority and other under-

represented groups in mathematics, science and engineering. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2013Page 23.978.1 Preparing STEM Students for Success in Physics Through an

Intensive Summer Program

Abstract:

Many community college students have low levels of preparation for college-level work, in general, and for physics, in particular. Consequently, they perform poorly in college-level physics courses, and shortly, get discouraged from pursuing a science or engineering major despite their high levels of interest in such majors. Although many remedial math classes are offered for students who are underprepared for math courses, there are no specific remedial physics classes available for students to prepare them for their college-level physics courses. As a result, students with low or no physics background continue performing poorly in their physics courses. Furthermore, these students suffer from poor or lack of study skills as well as lack of awareness of useful science and physics educational resources; therefore many of the students rely heavily on other students or Internet resources such as chegg.com or yahoo answers to find solutions to their homework problems without understanding the solutions.

In order to prepare these students for transfer-level physics courses, Cañada College, a federally

designated Hispanic-serving institution in the Bay Area, developed and implemented an intensive physics review program. Summer Physics Jam is a four-week, self-paced program designed to familiarize students with college-level physics topics and valuable physics educational resources. Physics Jam was offered for the first time at Cañada College in Summer

2012, and a comparison of pre- and post-program surveys show a significant improvement in

students understanding of physics. Furthermore, the percentage of students who reported anxiety about studying physics dropped from 61% to 42%. However, an accurate assessment will be done by comparing the rate of success among physics jam participants to nonparticipants at the end of their first semester physics course.

1. Introduction:

Several studies show correlations between good high school grades in mathematics, academic preparation, and success in introductory physics courses in college.1,2 Although our society supports the model of preparing students for some kind of education after high school, students are often not ready to take college level classes once they graduate from high school.3 Many studies have found that college preparatory courses in high school are associated with higher achievement in college.4 However, statistics shows that African American and Latino students are less likely to be enrolled in those courses (28% and 23%, respectively) than are white, non-

Latino students (34%).5

American high school graduates met University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) requirements compared to 68% of Asians and 52% of Whites.6 As a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution in the Bay Area, Cañada College serves many students with low levels of preparation for college-level work, in general, and for physics, in particular. For STEM students at Cañada College, the first semester calculus based Physics class (Physics

250) is particularly challenging. Table 1 shows the average success and retention rates for the Page 23.978.2

three calculus-based physics courses at Cañada College for the last 10 years. The first course in

the sequence, Phys 250, has significantly lower retention and success rates compared to the other courses.

PHYSICS COURSE Retention Rate Success Rate

Phys 250 77.6% 67.6%

Phys 260 91.1% 83.1%

Phys 270 96.0% 92.5%

All Physics Courses 87.3% 79.5%

Table 1. Average retention and success rates for calculus-based physics courses at Cañada

College from 2001 to 2010.

In addition to poor academic background, lack of mathematical skills needed for physics problem solving leads to unsuccessful performance in physics.7 Therefore, many physics courses have mathematical prerequisites. Algebra-based physics classes require familiarity with algebra and trigonometry while calculus-based classes usually require a semester of calculus as a prerequisite. However, passing the mathematical prerequisite courses does not guarantee the success in physics classes. Another factor that inability of applying mathematical

skills for solving physics problems, and it leads to their poor performance.7 Angell et al. (2004)

found that students find physics difficult because they have to contend with, understand, and make connections and transformations with different representations such as experiments, formulas, calculations, graphs, diagrams and conceptual explanations.8 Redish (1994) explains student difficulty with physics as follows: Physics as a discipline requires learners to employ a variety of methods of understanding and to translate from one to the other--words, tables of numbers, graphs, equations, diagrams, maps. Physics requires the ability to use algebra and geometry and to go from the specific to the general and back. This makes learning physics particularly difficult for many students (p.801).9 Although many remedial math classes are offered for students who are underprepared for math courses, there are no specific remedial physics classes available for students to prepare them for their college-level physics courses. In order to solve this problem, some physics departments offer conceptual physics course. The following are two examples of conceptual physics course description from City College of San Francisco and Skyline College: Physics 10. Conceptual Physics (3) City College of San Francisco A conceptual, almost non-mathematical, introduction to physics with demonstrations. Topics from mechanics, properties of matter, heat, sound, electricity, magnetism, light, nuclear physics, and relativity. Emphasis on topics that lead to a better understanding of our technological society and physical environment.10 CSU/UC Page 23.978.3 Physics 105 Conceptual Physics (3) Skyline College A conceptual introduction to physics intended to foster scientific understanding of the world. stresses important and applicable topics in motion, force, oscillations, fluids, thermodynamics, waves, electricity, magnetism, light and modern physics. Some students may wish to use this course as extra preparation for algebra-based physics.11 CSU/UC The course descriptions show that conceptual physics courses focus more on physics concepts rather than mathematical problem solving. Therefore, students become exposed to many concepts in physics, yet they are not able to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve physics problems. As a result, students continue performing poorly in their physics courses. Moreover, most students suffer from poor or lack of study skills as well as lack of awareness of useful science and physics educational resources. Therefore, students rely heavily on Internet resources such as yahoo answers and chegg.com to find solutions to their homework problems without understanding the solutions. Access to solution resources takes away the opportunity from the students to be challenged by solving the problems and gain a deep understanding of the subject.12 Unfortunately, those students do not realize that physics is not about memorization or blindly plugging numbers into formulas, and those who try these strategies usually perform poorly in physics.

2. Summer physics jam

In order to prepare the students for transfer-level physics courses, Cañada College developed and

implemented an intensive physics review program called Physics Jam. The first Summer Physics Jam was primarily designed to prepare students for physics I with algebra (physics 210) and physics I with calculus (physics 250). Since the program was self-paced the instructor selected reHippoCampus13, an open education resource, for students to watch. Each video was 5 to 10 minutes long. To guide and help the students with their questions, one tutor for all three calculus-based physics courses. WEBACCESS, a course management system adopted by Cañada College, was used to organize the materials and videos offered to students through physics jam (Figure 1). Page 23.978.4 Figure (1) Physics 210 and 250 lectures on WEBACCESS In order to help the students practice and evaluate their physics knowledge obtained by watching the videos, the instructor selected several problems for each topic from physics textbooks adopted by Cañada College. The problems were available to students through WebAssign. WebAssign was chosen because it offers customizable pre-coded questions from a wide range of math and science textbooks along with easy-to-use tools that allow instructors to create their own questions (Figure 2).14 Each participant was given a laptop, a physics textbook, a headphone, and an access code for WebAssign. Although Summer Physics Jam was a self-paced program, it was designed such that a student would be able to finish all the topics covered in a physics course if s/he followed the schedule.

Physics 250

Physics 210 Page 23.978.5

Figure (2) List of assignments for both physics 210 and 250 on WebAssign The Summer Physics Jam was developed with the following program goals:

1- s regarding their first college physics course by familiarizing

them with physics and mathematics topics taught in Physics I with algebra and calculus.

2- Increasing skills and resources they need to be successful

college students.

3- Developing a community of learners among program participants.

4- Testing the effect of a short-term intensive calculus-based Physics I course on a group of

students. Physics Jam was held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday during a four- week period that coincided with CañadaSpring and the beginning of Fall semester. In Physics Jam on average students spent 96 hours studying physics. Cañada College hired five tutors to help the students during the program. The instructor spent about 992 hours preparing and designing the program. Furthermore, the instructor spent 128 hours coordinating the program. Appendix A shows a summary of the schedule for Physics Jam.

List of the assignments Page 23.978.6

Although Physics Jam was a self-paced and no-credit program, four students were selected to enroll in Physics Jam for credit. Those students were asked to follow an intensive schedule. Furthermore, they were committed to attend the program from 9:00 to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday for lecture and Saturdays for lab. Table 2 summarizes the demographics of Summer Physics Jam (no-credit) participants in summer 2012. Although the number of participants was small, almost half of the students (47.1%) were female.

Demographics 2012

Number of Participants 17

Gender

Male 52.9%

Female 47.1%

Educational Level

High school Student 23.5%

College Student 76.5%

Physics Background

No 47.1%

Yes 52.9%

Table 2. Demographics of Summer Physics Jam (no-credit) participants. Table 3 summarizes the demographics of Summer Physics Jam (with credit) participants in summer 2012. All four participants were college students who have already taken Physics 250 multiple times during regular semesters and have not been able to pass the course successfully. Page 23.978.7

Demographics 2012

Number of Participants 4

Gender

Male 50.0%

Female 50.0%

Educational Level

High school Student 0%

College Student 100%

Physics Background

No 0%

Yes 100%

Table 3. Demographics of Summer Physics Jam (with credit) participants. Table 4 is a summary of the results of the summer 2012 implementation of Physics Jam (no- credit). Even though the completion rate was about 82%, the percentage of students who enrolled in physics classes in Fall 2012 was about 57%. Furthermore, about half of the students who enrolled in physics courses passed the class successfully, and the other half dropped the class during the semester. The high dropout rate in Fall 2012 Physics 250 class was not only among the Physics Jam participants but for the entire class as a whole. In current semester the same students are doing well in Physics 250 classes being taught by different instructors. In the current semester the studentsccess is being evaluated by observing their grades in home works, quizzes and their midterm.

Summer Physics Jam (no-credit)

Results

2012 Physics Jam

Number of Participants

17

Number Completed 14

Completion Rate 82.4%

Number of Physics Jam Students

Enrolled in Physics in Fall Semester

8

Success Rate in physics classes 50.1%

Table 4. Summary of Physics Jam results in 2012. Page 23.978.8 Table 5 is a summary of the results of the summer 2012 implementation of Physics Jam (with credit). All four students were able to complete the program successfully. Even though the completion rate was about 100%, only one student enrolled in physics class in Fall 2012 and was able to pass the course successfully. The second student is currently taking the next Physics course and performing very well in the class. The last two students decided to change their major, however after taking some other classes they decided to switch their major back to engineering and planning to take the next Physics course either in Summer or Fall 2013.

Summer Physics Jam (with

credit) Results 2012 Physics Jam

Number of Participants

4

Number Completed 4

Completion Rate 100%

Number of Physics Jam Students

Enrolled in Physics in Fall Semester

1

Success Rate in physics classes 100%

Table 5. Summary of Physics Jam (with credit) results in 2012. To evaluate the success of Physics Jam in achieving its secondary goals of increasing student awareness of skills and resources needed to succeed in college, pre- and post-program student surveys were administered. Table 6 summarizes student responses to the pre- and post- program surveys.

8%, however the p-value of 0.7 shows

that the Summer Physics Jam was not successful . This might be as a result of small sample size of Physics Jam participants. Future Physics Jam programs with higher number of participants will give us better understanding of the outcome. Physics Jam was successful in increasing the confidence level by 13.2% (p = 0.04) which is statistically significant. Although, there were no questions regarding studen toward tutors and instructor in pre-program survey, the responses in post-program survey represent high supportive relationship between students and physics jam tutors and instructor (4.4 out of 5). Appendix B shows a summary of student comments. Page 23.978.9

Question Pre-

Program

Post-

Program

Percentage

Change

I feel anxious about studying physics.

1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree

2.66 2.57

3.38%

Decrease

I am confident that I have enough skills and

academic preparation to be successful college student.

1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree

4.09 4.63

13.20 %

Increase

I felt connected to the students, tutors, teachers and staff in Physics Jam.

1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree

- 4.42 -

I had supportive relationships with the Physics

Jam student assistants.

1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree

- 4.10 -

I had a supportive relationship with the Physics

Jam instructor.

1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree

- 4.68 - Table 6. 2012 Summer Physics Jam Student Survey Results.

3. Mini-Physics Jam

Because of s, Cañada College decided to offer the first Mini-Physics Jam sessions on Jan 7-11, 2013 in preparation for Spring 2013 semester. Mini-Physics Jam is a one- week version of Physics Jam offered a week before the beginning of the semester, and it focuses mostly on mathematics required for calculus-based physics I and II. Furthermore, the instructor will give a short presentation on why most students feel that physics is hard to understand and how they can train their brain to understand physics problems and come up with logical plan to solve them. At the time of writing this paper, the program has 36 applicants. It is expected that results from the winter Mini-Physics Jam program will be available to be presented at the conference. Page 23.978.10

4. Conclusion

The first Summer Physics Jam was a month-long, four days a week, and six hours per day. The total hours students spend studying physics during Physics Jam was 96 hours. Cañada College hired five tutors to help the students during the program. The instructor spent four months (992 hours) preparing for the program by collecting or recording videos , designing home works, designing WebAccess, and administrative work. Furthermore, the instructor spent 128 hours during Summer Physics Jam coordinating the program.

Physics Jam was successful in (p = 0.04) that

is statistically significant. Although, the pre- and post-program surveys showed a 3.8% the p-value of 0.7 did not reject the null hypothesis that Physics Jam has no effect in decreasing the anxiety toward the first college physics course. However, this can be as a result of very small sample population of 21 students who attended the Summer Physics Jam. Future Summer Physics Jam with more students and revised survey will help us to have more accurate results. The low average success rate among the Physics Jam in Fall 2012 was due to the high dropout rate among the students in Physics 250 class. The high dropout rate in the Fall 2012 PHYS 250 class was not only among the Physics Jam participants but for the entire class as a whole. This high attrition in the class was brought about by a combination of factors that are not necessarily related to student readiness to take the class. In fact, these same students are doing well in PHYS 250 classes being taught by a different instructor this semester. The first Summer Physics Jam was also offered as a credit course to four students who were not able to pass the course successfully during the regular semester. In Fall 2012 one of the students registered to the next physics course and passed it with excellent grade. Two other students decided to change their majors, however they switched back their majors to engineering and are planning to take the next Physics course either in Summer or Fall 2013. The fourth student is currently taking the next physics class and doing very well in that class. Physics Jam was successful in achieving its two other goals eness of college success skills and in creating a community of learners who felt comfortable in college. Although only 57% of Physics Jam participants enrolled in physics classes in the following semester, half of them were able to complete the course and pass the class successfully with high letter grades. Furthermore, some of those successful students showed their interest in becoming physics tutors in upcoming semester. The result of offering Physics Jam as a credit course to four students who were not able to successfully pass class in regular semesters shows that shorter programs may be as effective as, or even more effective than traditional semester-long classes. The result also indicates that with each other and their instructors. Furthermore, short term and intensive programs Page 23.978.11 depreciation in a semester long courses and give them an opportunity to see the result of their hard work in few weeks.

Cañada College to

offer a short Mini Physics Jam during the break before spring semester to improve mathematics skills for physics. The ultimate goal of Physics Jam is to be a program by which community college students gain success in STEM education.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by a grant from the US Department of Education through the Hispanic-Serving Institution Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (HSI

STEM, Award No. P031C110159).

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