Date of Award
Summer 2020
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Educational Studies
First Advisor
Ismahan Arslan-Ari
Abstract
American secondary students spend many hours each week working on homework. To get the most out of this homework, students need to receive quality feedback and engage in self-regulated learning when completing homework tasks. For teachers, traditional paper-and-pencil homework means extra time spent grading rather than giving good feedback. This study aims to answer the following questions: 1) How and to what extent does the implementation of individualized online homework and feedback impact self-regulated learning among Honors Physics high school students? and 2) How does the implementation of individualized online homework impact students’ perception of the feedback quality provided by an individualized online homework platform?
To answer these questions, a convergent parallel mixed-methods study involving 14 secondary honors physics high school students in South Carolina was conducted. An individualized homework platform called Mastering Physics was introduced to the class in the fall of 2019. This platform individualizes student assignments with free-response questions that have randomized variables. Quantitative data about this intervention’s effectiveness in impacting the areas of student self-regulated learning skills and perception of feedback quality were collected with the following instruments: 1) Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire (Barnard, Lan, To, Paton, & Lai, 2009) and 2) an adapted version of the Feedback Environment Survey (Steelman, Levy, & Snell, 2004). Qualitative data was collected in the form of two focus group interviews.
Quantitative data were anlyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.Qualitative data, in the form of focus group transcriptions, were analyzed through memo writing, peer debriefing, first cycle coding and second cycle coding. The quantitative data did not reveal any significant differences which aligned with the qualitative data. Key findings are that participants’ SRL skills did not significantly improve and that students did not perceive the feedback they received as being high quality.
Rights
© 2020, Scott Philip Buhr
Recommended Citation
Buhr, S. P.(2020). 21st Century Physics Homework: A Mixed-Methods Approach Evaluating How an Individualized Online Homework Platform Can Provide Quality Feedback and Help Physics Students Engage in Self-Regulated Learning. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/6051