CLASS (Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey)

CLASS

(Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey)

Please read the following consent document before proceeding with the survey below.
Pressing submit at the end of this survey signals your consent.

INFORMED CONSENT DOCUMENT
Informed Consent Form for The "PhET" (Physics Education Technology) Project You are invited to participate in a research project to improve the learning and appreciation of science with the use of technology. This project is conducted under the direction of Dr. Carl Wieman, Distinguished Professor of Physics, JILA Box 440, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309 (303/492-7746). Other investigators include Other investigators include Dr. Noah Finkelstein, Dr. Michael Dubson (303-492-4938), Dr. Steven Pollock (303-492-2495), Dr. Kathy Perkins (303-492-4367), Dr. Sarah McKagan (303-492-7815) , Dr. Linda Koch (303-492-7815), Dr. Jennifer Knight, Wendy Adams (303-735-0627), Noah Podolefsky, Patrick Kohl, Chris Keller, Kara Gray, Danielle Harlow (303-492-4331), Aaron Svoboda, Elias Quinn, Jack Barbera, Mindy Gratny, Sarah Kennedy, Fran�oise Benay, Laurie Langdon, Andrea Bair, Jia Shi, Jennifer Stempien, Lisa Mayhew, Dylan Ward, Michelle Smith, Mariel Desroche, and others of the Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Departments at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Campus Box 390, Boulder, Colorado, 80309. You are invited to participate in a research project to improve the learning and appreciation of science with the use of technology. This project is conducted under the direction of Dr. Carl Wieman, Distinguished Professor of Physics, JILA Box 440, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309 (303-492-4367). Other investigators include Dr. Noah Finkelstein, Dr. Michael Dubson (303-492-4938), Dr. Steven Pollock (303-492-2495), Dr. Kathy Perkins (303-492-6714), Dr. Sarah McKagan (303-492-7815) , Dr. Linda Koch (303-492-7815), Dr. Jennifer Knight, Wendy Adams (303-735-0627), Noah Podolefsky, Kara Gray, Jack Barbera, Mindy Gratny, Sarah Kennedy, Fran�oise Benay, Laurie Langdon, Andrea Bair, Jia Shi, Jennifer Stempien, Lisa Mayhew, Dylan Ward, Michelle Smith, Mariel Desroche, Katherine Semsar, Leilani Authors, Thomas Pentecost, Angela Jardine and others of the Physics, Chemistry, Geosciences, and Biology Departments at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Campus Box 390, Boulder, Colorado, 80309. The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship between students' beliefs about science and their success in science courses as part of evaluating the use of PhET (interactive JAVA simulations) learning tools and other presentations of science materials in science courses. You are being asked to respond to a survey with a background questionnaire. You can complete the survey on the web at your convenience. The survey will take about 10 minutes of your time. The background questionnaire will take approximately 2 minutes. You might be asked to complete this survey again, at the end of term. Your individual privacy will be maintained in all published and written data resulting from this study. You will be asked to include your name and background information about your research, teaching, and institution. Identifying information (name, institution) will only be used to combine the survey answers and coursework data and will be deleted prior to any subsequent analysis. No one except the researchers will have access to your identity. The researchers will score your survey and record these scores in an excel spreadsheet. Any written or printed out materials with identifiable information will be stored in a locked filing cabinet. The excel spreadsheet will be stored on password protected computers. At the end of the project the materials will be stored for a period of 3 years and then destroyed. No individual identifiers will be used in any published or publicly presented work. Participation is entirely voluntary. You have the right to withdraw your consent or discontinue participation at any time. You have the right to refuse to answer any question(s) for any reason. The risks to you are minimal since your individual responses to this survey will be kept confidential. A possible benefit to you is the opportunity to review your conceptual understanding of Quantum Mechanics. Other benefits to you are indirect and uncertain, as information from this research and evaluation will contribute to the ongoing changes being made to the PhET simulations and to changes in science instruction in general. If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research subject, any concerns regarding this project, or any dissatisfaction with any aspect of this study you may report them, confidentially if you wish, to the Executive Secretary, Human Research Committee, University of Colorado, Graduate School, Campus Box 26, Regent 308, Boulder, Colorado 80309 or by telephone to (303) 492-7401. Copies of the University of Colorado Assurance of Compliance to the federal government regarding human subject research are available upon request from the graduate school at the address listed above. In addition, research personnel will be happy to answer any questions you may have about this evaluation. Your agreement to participate is indicated by completing and submitting this survey. Your signature is not required on any document.

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Introduction

Here are a number of statements that may or may not describe your beliefs about learning physics. You are asked to rate each statement by selecting a number between 1 and 5 where the numbers mean the following:

Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree

Choose one of the above five choices that best expresses your feeling about the statement. If you don't understand a statement, leave it blank. If you have no strong opinion, choose 3.

Survey

A significant problem in learning physics is being able to memorize all the information I need to know.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
When I am solving a physics problem, I try to decide what would be a reasonable value for the answer.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I think about the physics I experience in everyday life.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
It is useful for me to do lots and lots of problems when learning physics.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
After I study a topic in physics and feel that I understand it, I have difficulty solving problems on the same topic.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
Knowledge in physics consists of many disconnected topics.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
As physicists learn more, most physics ideas we use today are likely to be proven wrong.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
When I solve a physics problem, I locate an equation that uses the variables given in the problem and plug in the values.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I find that reading the text in detail is a good way for me to learn physics.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
There is usually only one correct approach to solving a physics problem.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I am not satisfied until I understand why something works the way it does.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I cannot learn physics if the teacher does not explain things well in class.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I do not expect physics equations to help my understanding of the ideas; they are just for doing calculations.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I study physics to learn knowledge that will be useful in my life outside of school.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
If I get stuck on a physics problem on my first try, I usually try to figure out a different way that works.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
Nearly everyone is capable of understanding physics if they work at it.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
Understanding physics basically means being able to recall something you've read or been shown.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
There could be two different correct values for the answer to a physics problem if I use two different approaches.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
To understand physics I discuss it with friends and other students.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I do not spend more than five minutes stuck on a physics problem before giving up or seeking help from someone else.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
If I don't remember a particular equation needed to solve a problem on an exam, there's nothing much I can do (legally!) to come up with it.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
If I want to apply a method used for solving one physics problem to another problem, the problems must involve very similar situations.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
In doing a physics problem, if my calculation gives a result very different from what I'd expect, I'd trust the calculation rather than going back through the problem.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
In physics, it is important for me to make sense out of formulas before I can use them correctly.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I enjoy solving physics problems.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
In physics, mathematical formulas express meaningful relationships among measurable quantities.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
It is important for the government to approve new scientific ideas before they can be widely accepted.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
Learning physics changes my ideas about how the world works.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
To learn physics, I only need to memorize solutions to sample problems.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
Reasoning skills used to understand physics can be helpful to me in my everyday life.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
We use this statement to discard the survey of people who are not reading the questions. Please select agree-option 4 (not strongly agree) for this question to preserve your answers.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
Spending a lot of time understanding where formulas come from is a waste of time.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I find carefully analyzing only a few problems in detail is a good way for me to learn physics.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
I can usually figure out a way to solve physics problems.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
The subject of physics has little relation to what I experience in the real world.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
There are times I solve a physics problem more than one way to help my understanding.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
To understand physics, I sometimes think about my personal experiences and relate them to the topic being analyzed.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
It is possible to explain physics ideas without mathematical formulas.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
When I solve a physics problem, I explicitly think about which physics ideas apply to the problem.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
If I get stuck on a physics problem, there is no chance I'll figure it out on my own.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
It is possible for physicists to carefully perform the same experiment and get two very different results that are both correct.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered
When studying physics, I relate the important information to what I already know rather than just memorizing it the way it is presented.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

not answered

Strongly Disagree	1	2	3	4	5	Strongly Agree
										not answered

Strongly Disagree	1	2	3	4	5	Strongly Agree
										not answered

Strongly Disagree	1	2	3	4	5	Strongly Agree
										not answered

Strongly Disagree	1	2	3	4	5	Strongly Agree
										not answered