Epistemology, socialization, help seeking, and gender-based views in in-person and online, hands-on undergraduate physics laboratories

Undergraduate physics laboratory course structures have been identified in policy reports for novel design innovations to meet the needs of a diverse and growing student population. To this end, an online, hands-on laboratory option was implemented at a large, public university for introductory physics students using the iOLab device. To determine whether students in this new course structure had similar perspectives to their in-person counterparts in terms of select attitudinal measures, a quasiexperimental, observational quantitative study was undertaken to measure students’ epistemological views as well as their beliefs about socialization and help seeking in online and in-person laboratory environments. Undergraduate students who were enrolled in calculus-based introductory physics ($N=998$) were surveyed in the second half of the semester to elicit their epistemological beliefs about physics laboratory work and their views on social engagement and academic help seeking in the laboratory. Parametric and nonparametric comparisons of central tendency were employed to measure differences between students in the in-person and online laboratories, as well as gender differences and associated interaction effects. Students showed no overall differences in attitudes related to epistemological and help seeking beliefs. There were significant differences related to views of socialization; students taking in-person physics laboratories valued socialization more than students taking the course online. Gender differences in epistemological and help seeking beliefs were identified overall, however, these differences were no longer significant when examining the interactions of laboratory type and gender. This finding suggests that self-selection into laboratory type may diminish gender gaps in affective domains by allowing students to choose the laboratory structure that meets their learning and logistical needs. In terms of physics epistemology, socialization and help seeking in the laboratory may not be as important to students’ perceptions of physics knowledge acquisition as previously thought. This study provides insights into the feasibility of online, hands-on laboratory experiences to meet the affective goals articulated in in-person laboratories, as well as institutional recommendations for advising students to select courses that match their individual learning styles.

Figure 1

Theoretical considerations for comparison of in-person and online learning environments.

Figure 2

Data collection sample for iOLab simple harmonic motion online laboratory.