Practitioner's Guide to Social Network Analysis: Examining Physics Anxiety in an Active-Learning Setting

Autor/inn/en	Dou, Remy; Zwolak, Justyna P.
Titel	Practitioner's Guide to Social Network Analysis: Examining Physics Anxiety in an Active-Learning Setting
Quelle	In: Physical Review Physics Education Research, 15 (2019) 2, Artikel 020105 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2469-9896
Schlagwörter	Leitfaden; Science Instruction; Network Analysis; Social Networks; Physics; Anxiety; Active Learning; Gender Differences; Grades (Scholastic); Correlation; College Students; College Science; Hispanic American Students + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Netzplantechnik; Social network; Soziales Netzwerk; Physik; Angst; Aktives Lernen; Geschlechterkonflikt; Notenspiegel; Korrelation; Collegestudent; Hispanic; Hispanic Americans; Student; Students; Hispanoamerikaner; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin
Abstract	The application of social network analysis (SNA) has recently grown prevalent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education research. Research on classroom networks has led to greater understandings of student persistence in physics majors, changes in their career-related beliefs (e.g., physics interest), and their academic success. In this paper, we aim to provide a practitioner's guide to carrying out research using SNA, including how to develop data collection instruments, setup protocols for gathering data, as well as identify network methodologies relevant to a wide range of research questions beyond what one might find in a typical primer. We illustrate these techniques using student anxiety data from active-learning physics classrooms. We explore the relationship between students' physics anxiety and the social networks they participate in throughout the course of a semester. We find that students' with greater numbers of outgoing interactions are more likely to experience decrease in anxiety even while we control for "pre-anxiety," gender, and final course grade. We also explore the evolution of student networks and find that the second half of the semester is a critical period for participating in interactions associated with decreased physics anxiety. Our study further supports the benefits of dynamic group formation strategies that give students an opportunity to interact with as many peers as possible throughout a semester. To complement our guide to SNA in education research, we also provide a set of tools for other researchers to use this approach in their work--the "SNA toolbox"--that can be accessed on GitHub. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Physical Society. One Physics Ellipse 4th Floor, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Tel: 301-209-3200; Fax: 301-209-0865; e-mail: assocpub@aps.org; Web site: http://prst-per.aps.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01