Education research: ALLS results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2007)

Student attitudes were assessed using an Astronomy Laboratory Learning Survey (ALLS), a 15-question, five-point Likert scale questionnaire with six demographic questions, and 15 exit evaluation questions (Patrick M. Len, in development) to Astronomy 10L students at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA. This laboratory course is a one-semester, adjunct course to Astronomy 10 lecture, and is taken primarily by students to satisfy their general education science laboratory transfer requirement.

The ALLS was administered as a pre-test on the first laboratory meeting, before any introduction/instruction took place; and as a post-test on the last laboratory meeting.

The preliminary analysis of pre- to post-instruction changes in student responses to several specific questions are discussed below. Students were instructed to respond to the following questions using "1" = strongly disagree, "2" = disagree, "3" = neutral, "4" = agree, "5" = strongly agree. (The category titles for each question, e.g., "Independence," were not shown on the questionnaire.)

9. "I prefer to work independently rather than in groups." (Independence.)
10. "I can understand difficult concepts better if I am able to explain them to others." (Understanding from explaining.)
13. "I am good at math." (Math efficacy.)
14." I am good at science." (Science efficacy.)
15. "This course will be (was) difficult for me." (Difficulty rating; lower is easier.)

Cuesta College
Astronomy 10L Fall Semester 2007 sections 0137, 0138, 0139, 1074 
(N = 63, matched pairs only)
        9. Indep.    10. Explain  13. Math     14. Science  15. Diff.
Initial 2.8 +/- 1.0  3.5 +/- 0.8  3.2 +/- 1.1  3.1 +/- 1.0  2.9 +/- 0.9
Final   2.6 +/- 1.0  3.8 +/- 1.0  3.3 +/- 1.2  3.1 +/- 1.1  2.6 +/- 1.0
p       0.10         0.011        0.43         0.51         0.038
(Student t-test: paired two sample for means, two-tailed)

There are no statistically significant changes in how students rated themselves as being good at math or science from the beginning of to the end of the semester.

With p = 0.10, there is a weak statistically significant change in student preference for collaboration, shifting from working in groups than independently.

Most notably are the p < 0.05 results:

• A statistically significant shift in how students rated the difficulty of the laboratory course (from neutral/moderate to being slightly easier).


• A statistically significant shift in how students considered themselves better able to understand concepts if they were able to explain them to others. This was considered a key goal for the peer-interaction nature of this course by the developer of the laboratory activities and the ALLS. These preliminary results are encouraging; further analysis may involve investigating the correlation (if any) between this response, and math/science efficacy.

Analysis of other questions and in more detail will follow in future studies, as the ALLS undergoes revision from the first version 07.01.03 (administered Spring semester 2007 and Fall semester 2007), to the subsequent version 07.12.29 (to be administered Spring semester 2008 onwards).