Ongoing effects of pandemic-imposed learning environment disruption on student attitudes

We present a study on the development of Finnish first-year physics majors' attitudes towards physics, as measured by the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey, before, during, and after the period of mandatory remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. We find that in the years before the pandemic, these attitudes did not change, but the period of extended remote learning due to the pandemic had a negative effect on the students' expertlike views. Similarly, the students who experienced the remote learning period in high school displayed a lower level of expertlike thinking as they entered university. As contact teaching resumed, moderate positive gains were seen, bridging some but not all of the gap in student attitudes left by the pandemic. © 2023 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.

On Things that Matter in Learning Programming: Towards a Scale for New Programming Students

Full research paper - In this paper, we report on the development of a succinct and easy-to-administer 11-item scale that quantifies students' self-efficacy, social aspect, independence, and meaning of studies, with a focus on introductory programming studies. The scale has been constructed using exploratory factor analysis of survey response data collected from students attending introductory programming courses offered by two universities. We evaluate the scale by using it to examine differences between university contexts, and assess to what extent the scale relates to students' perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on studies, prior programming experience, self-assessed competence, and seeking help. Our evaluation of the scale suggests that social aspect was correlated with being more strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the perceived ability to work independently was correlated with reduced influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior programming experience was positively correlated with self-perceived ability to work independently and with self-efficacy. Similarly, self-estimated competence was positively correlated with self-efficacy. Finally, social aspect and meaning of studies were positively correlated with help-seeking. Our evaluations show that the scale holds promise as a new tool for researchers and practitioners seeking to improve understanding of their study contexts. © 2022 IEEE.