First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop

It is becoming a growing trend that a greater percentage of full time university students are getting engaged in paid employment to meet their living expenses. As a result many students find it difficult to fulfil the course requirements satisfactorily at the same time. A survey conducted by Curtin...

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Main Authors: Siddiqui, Salim, Loss, Robert, Lawson, Glen, Yeo, Shelley
Other Authors: University of Western Australia
Format: Conference Paper
Published: University of Western Australia 2006
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23708
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author Siddiqui, Salim
Loss, Robert
Lawson, Glen
Yeo, Shelley
author2 University of Western Australia
author_facet University of Western Australia
Siddiqui, Salim
Loss, Robert
Lawson, Glen
Yeo, Shelley
author_sort Siddiqui, Salim
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description It is becoming a growing trend that a greater percentage of full time university students are getting engaged in paid employment to meet their living expenses. As a result many students find it difficult to fulfil the course requirements satisfactorily at the same time. A survey conducted by Curtin Applied Physics in October 2000 revealed that 58% of the full time students studying physics for their first time work either part time or full time and therefore may be disadvantaged when compared with their full time non-working colleagues. This issue was addressed by modularising the Physics 113/114/115 units providing flexible module assessment. Over the last four years we have found that the flexible module assessment has worked well and students are generally satisfied with the structure, but some of the students are still finding it difficult to budget their time to attend laboratories to complete the unit. The laboratory program is an essential part of these units and is thus heavily weighted and requires a considerable time input by the students. To address this issue a portable laboratory program in the form of 'take home kits' has been designed so that students can effectively perform their physics labs off campus. The details of the initial plan of this project were presented at the Teaching and Learning Forum 2005. In this presentation we report the student feedback and outcomes of this project.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-237082017-02-28T01:37:23Z First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop Siddiqui, Salim Loss, Robert Lawson, Glen Yeo, Shelley University of Western Australia It is becoming a growing trend that a greater percentage of full time university students are getting engaged in paid employment to meet their living expenses. As a result many students find it difficult to fulfil the course requirements satisfactorily at the same time. A survey conducted by Curtin Applied Physics in October 2000 revealed that 58% of the full time students studying physics for their first time work either part time or full time and therefore may be disadvantaged when compared with their full time non-working colleagues. This issue was addressed by modularising the Physics 113/114/115 units providing flexible module assessment. Over the last four years we have found that the flexible module assessment has worked well and students are generally satisfied with the structure, but some of the students are still finding it difficult to budget their time to attend laboratories to complete the unit. The laboratory program is an essential part of these units and is thus heavily weighted and requires a considerable time input by the students. To address this issue a portable laboratory program in the form of 'take home kits' has been designed so that students can effectively perform their physics labs off campus. The details of the initial plan of this project were presented at the Teaching and Learning Forum 2005. In this presentation we report the student feedback and outcomes of this project. 2006 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23708 University of Western Australia restricted
spellingShingle Siddiqui, Salim
Loss, Robert
Lawson, Glen
Yeo, Shelley
First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop
title First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop
title_full First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop
title_fullStr First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop
title_full_unstemmed First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop
title_short First year Physics labs in a 'suitcase': Closing the loop
title_sort first year physics labs in a 'suitcase': closing the loop
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23708