Favored and disfavored physci laboratories and affective domain survey

Students in SC 130 Physical Science were surveyed on their favorite and least favorite laboratory along with other affective domain assessment questions.

Only seven surveys came in, and some responses were left blank. Lab nine was done as a resonance tube, this was a new approach and may be explored in the future when rainy days confine the class to the laboratory. 

Laboratory seven comments refer to the laboratory having to be done along the covered walkway west of administration due also to rain. Students who arrived more than a half hour late did not realize that the class was just to the west. 

Attitude towards science

At the start of the term students had a dominantly negative attitude towards science as a subject. At term end all of the respondents had a positive attitude. This is perhaps the most important and consistent result of SC 130 Physical Science: a shifting of attitudes towards science among non-science majors. Motivation to understand a field only comes with a positive attitude towards the field. Students in this course learn that they can do science and that scientific exploration can be interesting and, sometimes, fun.

What did you like about using Canvas?

• Because it's easy for me to submit my assignments and quiz
• Because it has a notification section that tells us that we have missing assignments that we need to submit. That section helped us to try our best to make up for our missing works.
• It's fast and reliable
• I like the fact that I was able to see all my works and keep track of what I have and haven't finished.
• It was easier than face-face classes

Note that the last comment is likely a general comment as the physical science class was residential, face-to-face. Many students are also in online courses.

What did you dislike about using Canvas?

• What I dislike about canvas is sometimes when I asking questions to my instructors and it takes a long time for them to see and reply
• Nothing.
• NADA
• Canvas is good for me so I do not have any dislikes at the moment.
• Sometimes it's hard to find the folder on the assignment. The assignments got mixed and can be confused sometimes

Again, the first question suggests that the student responded as a general comment across their courses. 

Insight questions

Students were asked to respond to one of the following insight questions:

1. My learning of the content was most helped when… because…
2. The activity that contributed the most to my learning was… because…
3. The biggest obstacle for me in learning the material was… because…
4. I was most willing to take risks with learning new material when… because…
5. During the first day, I remember thinking… because…
6. What I think I will remember five years from now is… because…
7. What is something you learned to do in this course that you could not do before?… because…

Only four students responded.

• During the first day, I remember thinking to myself that I wouldn't pass this course, because I was thinking it would be difficult, but thanks to you as my instructor you made it much easier for me to understand. At first it was kind of difficult to me, but as days came by It became a little much easy. 
• I learned how to use desmos graphing calculator, before I never knew this website exists.
• During the first day, I remember thinking I will fail this class. But as day pass, the hope of failing started to fade. I came to love this course and specifically the materials. Because every day I get the opportunity to learn to NEW things, which I appreciate. 
• "Success is not an option, is a choice. -Dana Lee Ling 2022"
• The activity that contributed the most to my learning was the outdoor classes because every since high school I have been learning science in class. This made it boring and hard at the same time. However, when we had classes outdoors it helped me learn more because I am exposed to a more fun learning environment. This way, I was excited to know more about science which one of my least favorite subject. In short being exposed to a fun way of learning helps students to learn better. 

I honestly do not remember saying the fourth line. More commonly I said in relation to an experiment that "Failure is an option." There were three new activities that I referred as the physics of playthings. These activities had not been done before and I did not know whether these would produce analyzable data. Laboratory nine was a completely new design. Rain falling in the morning scrubbed the outdoor version. The resonance tube approach was decided on in the fifteen minutes before the laboratory. Without the resonance tube rig seen in Internet images, an improvised replacement procedure was developed during the laboratory. I may have said something like "Success is a choice you make" but perhaps that became the quote seen above. 

The first and third comment is one seen almost every term. Students enter the physical science class with the expectation that they will fail the course, some students have expressed outright fear on the first day. This has led to working to introduce the course as gently as possible, to avoid reinforcing the fear, and to positive talk to encourage the students. 

The response sample size was small this term, improving responses in future terms is something to be worked upon. In some ways an affective domain survey can tell an instructor more about how to improve a course than the traditional Likert style surveys with their strongly agree to strongly disagree scales.