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A Study of Informal Learning Communities: a Tale of Two Physics Courses
Conference proceeding   Open access

A Study of Informal Learning Communities: a Tale of Two Physics Courses

Yuehai Yang, Binod Nainabasti, David T. Brookes and Eric Brewe
2014 PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE, pp 283-286
01 Jan 2014
url
https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2014.pr.067View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Education & Educational Research Education, Scientific Disciplines Physical Sciences Physics Physics, Multidisciplinary Science & Technology Social Sciences
We asked students in two second-semester introductory college physics courses to report on a weekly basis who they worked with on physics outside of class time. One course was a lecture-based course while the second was a studio-based student-centered course implementing the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE). We used social network analysis to visualize and quantify each student's position and engagement in the informal learning community that formed outside of class. Our study analyzed the relationship between students' network positions as they worked together in groups outside the classroom with their performance in the course. We interpreted our results through a participationist viewpoint on learning. Comparisons between the two courses revealed interesting similarities and differences. While the learning communities in these two distinct settings may look very different, our results showed the overarching importance of informal learning communities irrespective of course type.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Education & Educational Research
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Physics, Multidisciplinary
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