Speaker
Dennys Gahrmann
(Physics Education, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany)
Description
University instructors often recognize lacking prior knowledge in incoming first-semester physics students. In this study, we refined the 1978 national study entrance test (SET, [1]) to assess the physics dispositions of first-semester students and compared two cohorts of first-semester physics students: 2013 and 2023. Our findings reveal a small improvement in physics dispositions (i.e. prior knowledge) nationwide between the cohorts of 2013 (N=2251) and 2023 (N=2007). In 2023 students performed better on items focusing on physics literacy compared to more traditional items focusing on declarative knowledge of facts or standard calculation routines.
| How would you like to present your contribution? | Live in Kraków (time slot to be allotted based on the programme) |
|---|---|
| Target education level | University |
| Category | Formal Education |
Author
Dennys Gahrmann
(Physics Education, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany)
Co-authors
Prof.
Andreas Borowski
(Physics Education, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany)
Dr
Irene Neumann
(Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN), Kiel, Germany)
