What counts in laboratories: toward a practice-based identity survey

TL;DR

This paper discusses developing a practice-based physics identity survey for laboratory courses, emphasizing understanding students' interpretations of physics practices to ensure accurate assessment across different course levels and formats.

Contribution

It introduces a survey design that accounts for diverse student interpretations of physics practices in laboratory courses, enhancing the assessment of physics identity.

Findings

Students' interpretations of physics practices vary by course level and format.

Understanding student perspectives is crucial for accurate survey interpretation.

The survey aims to be applicable across various physics lab courses.

Abstract

An essential step in the process of developing a physics identity is the opportunity to engage in authentic physics practices - an ideal place to gain these experiences is physics laboratory courses. We are designing a practice-based identity survey to be used in physics laboratory courses. A first step in determining the impact of these physics practices is understanding student's interpretations of them. In physics education research, discussions of physics practices, are typically grounded in definitions from experts. Our students are not necessarily experts so, asking questions about what these practices mean to the students and what counts is fundamental to insure that our survey questions are being interpreted correctly. This interpretation also varies between levels (advanced lab vs intro) and between courses (transformed vs traditional). Covering the entire space of student interpretations allows us to apply this survey to lab courses across the board.