Too Early for Physics? Effect of Class Meeting Time on Student Evaluations of Teaching in Introductory Physics

• R. G. Tobin ^[1]
  1. [1] Tufts University

     Tufts University

     City of Medford, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 55, Nº. 5, 2017, págs. 276-279
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This paper reports observations that show a significant effect of class meeting time on student evaluations of teaching for an introductory college physics class. Students in a lecture section with an early-morning meeting time gave the class and instructors consistently lower ratings than those in an otherwise nearly identical section that met an hour later, even for aspects of the course that were seemingly identical across the two sections.

    Student evaluations of teaching (SET) are almost as extensively debated as they are widely used.1–5 Research has shown that evaluation scores can be significantly affected by such extraneous factors as the gender,6–8 race,9 age,4,8 verbal and nonverbal mannerisms,8,9 and physical attractiveness10 of the instructor, students’ grade expectations,7 the physical environment of the classroom,11 and even the weather on the day the evaluation is completed.12 Studies differ on whether SET have any meaningful correlation with objective measures of student learning, and, if so, whether the correlation is positive or negative.1,12,13 Nevertheless there is no sign that SET are going away, so it is important that educators and administrators be aware of, and objectively document, as many of the factors that affect them as possible