Student and Teacher Interaction in Traditional and Remote, Asynchronous Undergraduate Physics Laboratories

This research examines how undergraduate faculty and graduate teaching assistants implemented traditional and remote, asynchronous pedagogical practices in the physics laboratory, as well as potential influences on students' cognitive and affective domains. While laboratory practices have traditionally been conducted in-person, online asynchronous laboratory learning has been growing in popularity due to increased enrollments and the recent pandemic, creating opportunities for expanded accessibility. In remote asynchronous learning environments, students have more autonomy to choose how they engage socially with their instructors and peers. Communities of practice, self-efficacy, and physics identity may provide insights into why students are making their participation choices and how they are interacting with peers and instructors in asynchronous physics laboratory courses.
Findings from the present research suggest that the degree of student-student interaction, as well as student-teacher interaction, are significantly correlated to students' self efficacy in the physics laboratory, however, the direction of causation is not clear. Through qualitative interviews with over 80 students, we will discuss their perceptions of social interaction in learning physics, the nature of physics epistemology, and how their physics identity and self-efficacy may influence their choice of laboratory course type and the degree of interaction with peers and instructors. We will also examine how instructors intentionally structure social opportunities for students to engage with them and their peers.
Half a million undergraduate students in the U.S. enroll in introductory physics courses each year, most of whom are non-physics majors taking the course as a requirement for their majors. Most of these students conduct laboratory work as a part of their curriculum. The exploration of online physics laboratory experiences informs future efforts to expand physics accessibility and improve students' attitudes and performance.