Speaker
Description
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the physical distancing requirements, high school classrooms in Quebec had to switch to a half in-person and a half-online attendance. With very few studies examining this education model at the high school level, this study aims to investigate the teacher and student response, as well as observe its impact on student engagement within the physics classroom. Ten students in the same grade 11 physics classroom participated in this study. Two surveys, completed respectively at the beginning and end of the semester, were used to evaluate the progression of the student’s physics interest, study habits, preferred learning methods and engagement in online and in-person settings over the course of the semester. Additionally, the instructor and five students volunteered to be interviewed. These interviews provided a deeper understanding of the survey data, as well as insight on the student’s emotional response to their new classroom setting. Results indicated that the reasons for taking the course and the overall perception of the course was independent of the student’s main learning type - be it visual, auditory, or kinetic. Moreover, while the majority preferred attending classes in-person rather than online, a significant portion mentioned advantages of the half/half model. Regardless of the classroom setting, students most often stressed the importance of going slower while introducing new material, rather than repeatedly review it later on. Technical difficulties, lack of live social interactions and the increased workload were the main reasons for the lower motivation to attend school online. However, most students enjoyed the increased efficiency, schedule flexibility, comfort and the ability to simultaneously cooperate with peers during teacher-led lectures when attending classes online. These findings are linked to theories of academic motivation, and implications for implementation of the model are discussed.
