Optics Lab Survey Comparison and Reflection

8/9/2019 Optics Lab Survey Comparison and Reflection

1/7

Comparison of 2008-09 Optics Lab survey to 2009-10

I have listed the responses to the same questions from last year to this year. I thoughtit would be interesting to see the trends. Not all trends are positive. While I canattribute some of this to timing of the survey (this year students took it after taking a

difficult unit test) and the differences in the two classes, Im sure that some of it issignificant.

The 08-09 results appear first, with red comments from last year. This yearscomments are below the question in blue.

These results are essentially the same. What they dont reflect is the fact that we didthe optics lab as a second lab after the sound lab. To me, this years class hadsignificantly more preparation in how labs should be completed, although they did not

necessarily know that.


2/7

This is a slight shift in the positive for this question. While I still dont think studentsneed exemplars of the exact lab, I think I need to shift my thinking about format. Iam going to use the lab manual more for students that are asking for examples.Having done the sound lab first, I think these students needed fewer examples.


3/7

Sufficient lead time

Same shape graph for this question. Ten students out of 60 thinking there is not

sufficient lead-time is an appropriate result for a freshman class, I think.


4/7

These results are essentially the same as well, although skewed slightly worse. I thinkhaving 51 out of the 55 respondents stating about the same or more than other classesis a strong response. I do think that my class is challenging to students, particularlythis optics lab. I hope that they feel challenged, but supported. Evidently they feelchallenged. I do think I have a few students that feel very confident in science andmay have indicated that they dont think they are learning as much in this class. One

students responses indicate that he doesnt feel like he gets much out of my course,indicating that, I learn more from Wikipedia. While this may be his perception, Ifeel like I know who this student is and I wonder about the truth of this statement.


5/7

Again, this graph has the same essential shape. There are more 4s than last yearsresults, which to me is a positive result. I think it is difficult to engage all students inany subject, and to have 60% say that they are always or nearly always engaged in classis positive. I hope to continue to use various strategies to help engage students inthis class and reach the 9% that this think the class is not engaging at all.


6/7

Again, this graph has the same essential shape, with more 3s (agree) than last yearsresults. About 84% agree or strongly agree that this class meets their needs as alearner. In the responses that are 1s or 2s, few of the comments really provide waysin which I can improve this for students. Some students want questions to beanswered more directly, which is something I dont feel I need to change. I answerquestions most often by guiding students to the answer or providing resources to findthe answer. One student asked to use more warm-ups and worksheets to improve hisor her understanding. I think that is a strategy that I can use more frequently.


7/7

These results are the biggest difference from last year. While the overall response is

still positive, it is not as positive as last year. This puzzles me to some degree becauseI dont think Ive changed my practice much since last year. I havent tried to be lesshelpful. One possibility for this result is that students took this survey this yeardirectly after a unit test that they found challenging. I think that timing did influencesome of the responses. I had a few students ask me questions right before the testthat I could tell they were asking because they had advance information from otherclasses about test questions and I told them I would not answer those questions. This

was NOT a popular response. However, I do not feel that providing answers toquestions like that before a test is appropriate or fair to all students.

Documents

Optics Lab Survey Comparison and Reflection