The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) is a new instrument designed to measure student beliefs about physics and about learning physics. This instrument extends previous work by probing additional aspects of student beliefs and by using wording suitable for students in a wide variety of physics courses. The CLASS has been validated using interviews, reliability studies, and extensive statistical analyses of responses from over 5000 students. In addition, a new methodology for determining useful and statistically robust categories of student beliefs has been developed. This paper serves as the foundation for an extensive study of how student beliefs impact and are impacted by their educational experiences. For example, this survey measures the following: that most teaching practices cause substantial drops in student scores; that a student's likelihood of becoming a physics major correlates with their Personal Interest score; and that, for a majority of student populations, women's scores in some categories, including Personal Interest and Real World Connections, are significantly different from men's scores.
Type of Material:
Reference Material
Recommended Uses:
This research article can be used in a physics, or science education course. It might also be used in a STEM or workforce development course to expose non-education students to research. The material could be used by educators for internal data collection about their students' beliefs regarding physics and learning physics. Data collected using this tool could be valuable in determining trends and issues faced by departments in higher education.
Technical Requirements:
PDF viewer (document opens in another window, so user may have to allow pop-ups and/or download and then view in PDF viewing software, such as Adobe Reader)
Identify Major Learning Goals:
This document is a research-based article on a tool (research instrument) that could be used in research studies. Its purpose is to share research on physics education.
Target Student Population:
College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Ability to view/read PDF document. Understanding of research and research methodology, especially Likert scales. Data analysis and interpretation skills.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
Well-designed, well-articulated, and clearly applicable to a specific research need.
This article represents fairly recent research and would be useful in any physics teacher prep program.
Concerns:
None
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This research offers significant information on students learning an understanding of physics and could be used to improve teaching and learning in this field.
Concerns:
Because it is so specific, it could be considered a niche and is only relevant to that specific audience for which it is designed.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The content is easily accessed and used online or it can be downloaded.
Concerns:
A high level of specific/niche understanding would be necessary for the intended audience of this tool.
Creative Commons:
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