Expectancy Violation in Traditional and Studio-mode Introductory Physics Courses

Abstract

Instructors of reformed courses face many potential barriers to change. One possible barrier is students' reactions to differences between reformed and traditional courses. We used an "expectancy violation" framework to explore students' experiences in second semester calculus-based introductory physics courses, taught either in a traditional lecture and laboratory mode or in a studio mode that closely modeled SCALE-UP. In this pilot study, we adapted the Pedagogical Expectancy Violation Assessment (PEVA) to include questions about course satisfaction. At the end of the semester, students were asked to report on their initial expectations for the course and what they experienced in the course, as well as their satisfaction with specific experiences and the course overall. We investigated differences between the courses, as well as the effect of the format of students' first semester introductory physics course, gender and race/ethnicity. Although preliminary, our results suggest that students in the SCALE-UP course experienced more expectancy violations and more frequently had a negative opinion about those expectancy violations. Our analysis also revealed differences between the types of questions that exhibited expectancy violations in each course and a difference in interpretation of the traditional course for students with prior experience in a SCALE-UP course.