Student perceptions of laboratory classroom activities and experimental physics practice

TL;DR

This study explores how undergraduate students perceive experimental physics activities and how these perceptions relate to their engagement in lab projects, highlighting the influence of personal and observed experiences.

Contribution

It identifies which laboratory activities students associate with authentic experimental physics and how perceptions vary based on project resources and student expertise.

Findings

Students view project execution activities as intrinsic to experimental physics.

Fabrication and interpersonal activities are seen as conditional features.

Perceptions are shaped by personal project experience and observing others.

Abstract

We report results from a study designed to identify links between undergraduate students' views about experimental physics and their engagement in multiweek projects in lab courses. Using surveys and interviews, we explored whether students perceived particular classroom activities to be features of experimental physics practice. We focused on 18 activities, including maintaining lab notebooks, fabricating parts, and asking others for help. Interviewees identified activities related to project execution as intrinsic to experimental physics practice based on high prevalence of those activities in interviewees' own projects. Fabrication-oriented activities were identified as conditional features of experimentation based on differences between projects, which interviewees attributed to variations in project resources. Interpersonal activities were also viewed as conditional features of experimentation, dependent upon one's status as novice or expert. Our findings suggest that students' views about experimental physics are shaped by firsthand experiences of their own projects and secondhand experiences of those of others.