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C O N F E R E N C E 31 May - 2 June 2007 |
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Posters
Factors affecting the drop-out rate from the university introductory physics course, including the anomaly of the Ontario double-cohort.
Alan Slavin, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8
The course drop-out rate is the fraction of students who drop a course after starting it. This statistic is important both as a measure of the difficulty or relevance of the course compared to others at a university, and as one indication of the success of measures taken to improve teaching. The drop-out rate of students from the first-year university physics course at Trent University increased steadily from 8% in the 1980's to 23% in 2005-06, primarily under the same instructor, with the exception of the Ontario "double-cohort" years 2003-04 and 2004-05 when it plummeted to about 9%. A similar decrease in this rate for the double-cohort years has been observed at Brock University and the University of Guelph, and so was probably widespread. It is likely that the reason for the low drop-out rate for these two years was an improved work ethic of the double-cohort students.
Results are also given of a survey of first-year Trent University physics students for possible reasons for dropping out. The factors that correlate strongly with staying in the course are (1) having taken 4U physics in high school even when this material is repeated in the university course, (2) working on assignments with a peer group, and (3) living in residence. Finally, there is strong evidence of a shift in most Ontario students entering university, in all academic areas, away from analytical reasoning and towards rote memorization and regurgitation as their main mode of "learning". It is suggested that this is a direct result of the curriculum introduced in 1997-1999 which is so content-heavy that students do not have time to understand the material.
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