Ways of incorporating active learning experiences: an exploration of worksheets over five years in a first year Thai physics courses

Abstract

Abstract It has been established that the incorporation of active learning experiences in the context of university lectures increases overall student learning. This study contributes to the literature by examining iterations of incorporating interactivity where the ‘intensity’, in terms of the content, structure and time spent on different in-class activities is varied. The study described in this paper deals in some depth with the use of worksheets during lectures on the topic of circular motion. The study was done with a total of 1405 students studying first-year physics over five years at Mahidol University, Thailand. Over these years, the style of the worksheets as well as the in-class activities were modified. In the first year, the worksheet contained a subsection for note taking as well as problem-solving practice; in the second year, a problem-solving strategy was introduced; in the third year, a lecture demonstration with associated free-body diagrams was included; in the final two years, these diagrams were modified. There was a statistically significant difference between student performance on an examination question of circular motion between the first-year cohort and the cohorts of later years. However, the results for later years indicate a saturation of mean scores. This saturation level needs to be further investigated under different topics, with different cohorts and with different types of active learning.