Investigation on how students do their homework and knowledge retention
Poster Number
10B
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Binod Nainabasti
Faculty Mentor Department
Physics
Abstract/Artist Statement
Homework, midterms, and finals are commonly used in the everyday classroom to educate and test students. However, the efficacy of these methods to enforce knowledge retention are not clearly proven. The primary goal of this study was to investigate how students do their homework problems and how their ways of doing homework problems affect their performance in the class. This study was conducted on homework and exam problems assigned in introductory physics classes at two different academic institutions, University of the Pacific and Oregon Institute of Technology. We characterize students’ effort on doing homework in terms of consistencies of force diagrams with corresponding mathematical representations used in solving physics problems. We checked the connection between pictorial diagrams with equivalent mathematical equations and how these play a role in their knowledge retention. Preliminary findings indicate students who made mistakes on either the homework or midterm are able to gain more points on the final. These early findings suggest student knowledge retention occurs more effectively when students make mistakes early in the learning process.
Location
DeRosa University Center Ballroom
Start Date
27-4-2018 12:30 PM
End Date
27-4-2018 2:30 PM
Investigation on how students do their homework and knowledge retention
DeRosa University Center Ballroom
Homework, midterms, and finals are commonly used in the everyday classroom to educate and test students. However, the efficacy of these methods to enforce knowledge retention are not clearly proven. The primary goal of this study was to investigate how students do their homework problems and how their ways of doing homework problems affect their performance in the class. This study was conducted on homework and exam problems assigned in introductory physics classes at two different academic institutions, University of the Pacific and Oregon Institute of Technology. We characterize students’ effort on doing homework in terms of consistencies of force diagrams with corresponding mathematical representations used in solving physics problems. We checked the connection between pictorial diagrams with equivalent mathematical equations and how these play a role in their knowledge retention. Preliminary findings indicate students who made mistakes on either the homework or midterm are able to gain more points on the final. These early findings suggest student knowledge retention occurs more effectively when students make mistakes early in the learning process.