Education research: SPCI statistics (spring semester 2017)

Students at Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo, CA) were administered the Star Properties Concept Inventory (SPCI version 3.0, developed by Janelle Bailey, University of Nevada-Las Vegas) during the first and the last week of instruction. Astronomy 210 is a one-semester introductory general science course, with a separate optional adjunct laboratory (Astronomy 210L).

The pre- to post-test gain for this semester at Cuesta College (excluding students with negative informed consent forms (*.pdf), and missing pre- or post-tests) is:

Astronomy 210 spring semester 2017 section 30674
N = 18 (matched-pairs)
<initial%>	= 36% ± 14%
<final%>	= 64% ± 16%
<g>	= 0.43 ± 0.22 (matched-pairs); 0.43 (class-wise)

Astronomy 210 spring semester 2017 section 30676
N = 35 (matched-pairs)
<initial%>	= 33% ± 17%
<final%>	= 57% ± 16%
<g>	= 0.32 ± 0.24 (matched-pairs); 0.36 (class-wise)

This semester's SPCI pre-instruction scores scores are comparable to results from previous semesters at Cuesta College, while the post-instruction scores and gains for section 30674 are slightly higher than those of section 30676, and some previous semesters.