Development of attitudes towards group work in an ISLE-based physics course

At The University of Ljubljana’s we are reforming the Applied Physics study program using the ISLE approach. ISLE is designed to engage students in learning physics by engaging them in the processes that mirror scientific practice. The reformed program emphasizes group work and encourages students to share ideas, and develop social awareness.Using case-study methodology we examined how students’ attitudes towards group work developed over a year. Using students from diverse backgrounds we conducted face-to-face semi structured interviews, used their CLASS and E-CLASS questionnaires, attendance records, exam and lab report revisions to find patterns between attitudes towards group work, and participation, and success. When the students joined our program, some felt uncomfortable, while others immediately enjoyed group work. Results after 10 weeks indicated that the majority of students already felt more at ease contributing, while some remained unchanged. After one year, all students had a change in attitudes towards group work. In the interviews they explained their changes and gave reasons, which we triangulated with other data.

We acknowledge financial support by ARIS P1-0060 program and NOO ULTRA project.