Education research: D-Survey pre- and post-instruction results (Cuesta College, Fall Semester 2009)

Student demographic data is collected using a demographic survey (D-Survey) administered to Astronomy 210 (one-semester introductory astronomy) students at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA during the first week and last week of instruction, at both the main San Luis Obispo campus and the North County campus at Paso Robles.

The results from the pre-instruction demographic questions follow below. Only matched-pair results are shown, for students who were eventually able to take the post-instruction D-Survey in the last week of instruction.

Cuesta College
Demographic Survey (D-Survey)
Pre-instruction question results
Astronomy 210L Fall Semester 2009 sections 70160, 70158
(N = 83, matched pairs only,
         excluding negative informed consent form responses)

1. What is your gender? 
(A) Female.  [35]
(B) Male.    [48]

2. What is your age?
(A) 0-20 years old.     [65]
(B) 21-23 years old.    [12]
(C) 24-30 years old.    [ 5]
(D) 31 or older.        [ 1] 
(E) Decline to answer.  [ 0]

3. What is your college major (or current area of interest if 
undecided)?
(A) Business.                                  [16]
(B) Education.                                 [ 9]
(C) Humanities, Social Sciences, or the Arts.  [29]
(D) Science, Engineering, or Architecture.     [ 9]
(E) Other.                                     [21]
 
4. Have you previously taken an astronomy course? 
(A) Yes.  [ 3]
(B) No.   [80]

5. Are you currently taking astronomy lab during this semester? 
(A) Yes.  [36]
(B) No.   [47]

6. How many college science courses are you taking during this 
semester other than astronomy lecture or astronomy lab?
(A) None.  [58]
(B) 1.     [16]
(C) 2.     [ 4]
(D) 3.     [ 3]
(E) 4+.    [ 2]

7. Which of these college math classes are you taking during this 
semester?  Choose as many classes that apply.  
(A) Algebra.       [18]
(B) Trigonometry.  [ 0]
(C) Geometry.      [ 2]
(D) Pre-calculus.  [ 5]
(E) Calculus.      [ 3]
(F) Statistics.    [ 7]

8. How good at math are you?
(A) Very poor.  [ 0]
(B) Poor.       [ 9]
(C) Average.    [37]
(D) Good.       [31]
(E) Very good.  [ 6]

9. How good at science are you?
(A) Very poor.  [ 1]
(B) Poor.       [ 7]
(C) Average.    [41]
(D) Good.       [27]
(E) Very good.  [ 7]

10. Which best describes the level of difficulty you expect from 
this course?
(A) Extremely difficult for me.  [ 0]
(B) Difficult for me.            [19]
(C) Unsure.                      [54]
(D) Easy for me.                 [10]
(E) Very easy for me.            [ 0]

11. How many college science courses have you completed prior to 
taking this course? 
(A) None.  [57]
(B) 1.     [16]
(C) 2.     [ 7]
(D) 3.     [ 0]
(E) 4+.    [ 3]

12. Which of these college math classes have you completed 
prior to taking this course?  Choose as many classes that apply.  
(A) Algebra.       [55]
(B) Trigonometry.  [10]
(C) Geometry.      [19]
(D) Pre-calculus.  [19]
(E) Calculus.      [ 4]
(F) Statistics.    [10]

=====
Cuesta College
Demographic Survey (D-Survey)
Post-instruction question results
Astronomy 210L Fall Semester 2009 sections 70160, 70158
(N = 83, matched pairs only,
         excluding negative informed consent form responses)

8. How good at math are you?
(A) Very poor.  [ 0]
(B) Poor.       [ 8]
(C) Average.    [38]
(D) Good.       [29]
(E) Very good.  [ 8]
Pre-instruction: 3.4 +/- 0.8
Post-instruction: 3.5 +/- 0.8
Student t-test p = 0.77 (t = -0.294, sd = 0.791, dof = 164)
Class-wise <g> = 0.02

9. How good at science are you?
(A) Very poor.  [ 2]
(B) Poor.       [ 7]
(C) Average.    [42]
(D) Good.       [25]
(E) Very good.  [ 7]
Pre-instruction: 3.4 +/- 0.8
Post-instruction: 3.3 +/- 0.8
Student t-test p = 0.71 (t = 0.375, sd = 0.827, dof = 164)
Class-wise <g> = -0.03

10. Which best describes the level of difficulty you experienced 
from this course?
(A) Extremely difficult for me.  [ 3]
(B) Difficult for me.            [31]
(C) Unsure.                      [22]
(D) Easy for me.                 [23]
(E) Very easy for me.            [ 4]
Pre-instruction: 2.9 +/- 0.6
Post-instruction: 2.9 +/- 1.0
Student t-test p = 0.78 (t = 0.285, sd = 0.817, dof = 164)
Class-wise <g> = 0.02

11. How many college science courses do you expect to take after 
taking this course? 
(A) None.  [14]
(B) 1.     [35]
(C) 2.     [20]
(D) 3.     [ 5]
(E) 4+.    [ 8]

12. Which of these college math classes do you expect to take
after taking this course?  Choose as many classes that apply.  
(A) Algebra.       [14]
(B) Trigonometry.  [11]
(C) Geometry.      [ 7]
(D) Pre-calculus.  [19]
(E) Calculus.      [32]
(F) Statistics.    [33]

13. Are you planning on taking astronomy lab sometime after this semester? 
(A) Yes.              [17]
(B) No.               [50]
(C) Undecided/maybe.  [16]

No significant shifts nor differences in student attitudes in self-efficacy attitudes towards math and science. However, while the perceived difficulty of the course did not change, the distribution of responses widened.