Views of female students who played the role of group leaders in introductory physics labs

Abstract

Abstract Understanding student views about learning physics in the lab context can be invaluable for efforts to improve student learning. In an ethnographic study in which two researchers observed introductory physics labs, we found that many women in mixed gender groups adopted the role of group leader or project manager and ensured that the group stayed on task and completed the lab work as expected throughout the semester. Here we report on an investigation of the views about the physics lab of four such female pre-medical students with high agency who came across as group leaders in a traditionally-taught introductory physics lab course for bio-science majors, and who strived to ensure that their group did well in the lab. Our findings are based on semi-structured interviews with these students. The interviews focused on diverse issues including the role of their male lab partners, other peers and the teaching assistant in their learning in the physics lab, their views about learning physics in lecture and lab courses, the role of physics labs in promoting conceptual understanding, learning in physics lab compared with other science labs, and the role of bio-inspired labs in their learning. We find that these female student group leaders had surprisingly similar views about these issues pertaining to the physics lab. We recommend that departments trying to revamp their physics lab courses reflect upon these findings in order to make the labs more effective.