RESUMEN
The proliferation of remote laboratory instruction increased substantially during the recent global pandemic. Many physics departments implemented this rapid transition without the previous experience, time, and deliberation to optimize learning experiences for students. The present quasi-experimental, nonequivalent group design study examined social connections and communities of practice in both in-person and remote undergraduate physics laboratories during the Fall 2020 academic semester. A social networking and communities of practice theoretical framework guided the study design and methodology. Study participants (N=697) included in-person and remote undergraduate students in introductory physics laboratories at a research university in the Northeastern United States. A survey instrument was designed to measure students' perspectives relating to their social connectedness with peers and instructors as well as their physics laboratory self-efficacy. Survey factor analysis identified subdimensions related to student-student social learning perspectives, student-instructor social learning perspectives, and physics laboratory self-efficacy. Analysis of variance indicated remote students experienced weaker levels of engagement with instructors and peers than in-person students, and remote students who connected with one another experienced more social engagement than remote students who did not. Remote students who connected with one another reported having a lower physics laboratory self-efficacy than their in-person counterparts. Isolated remote students did not show a statistical difference in their physics laboratory self-efficacy from their remote-connecting nor their in-person counterparts. Correlations between factors were tested, with instructor interactions most closely related to self-efficacy formation. Results suggest that remote laboratories, which have proliferated extensively during the recent pandemic, may need formalized mechanisms and incentives to promote social interactions and foster communities of practice among peers. This is also the case for student-instructor interactions, which are often diminished in the online platform and may not be socially situated within the larger class community. Sources of self-efficacy, such as creating opportunities for vicarious learning, may also inform ways these changes can be made. Implications for policy and practice of remote physics laboratory instruction are discussed.
RESUMEN
Environmental factors including household crowding and inadequate washing facilities underpin recurrent streptococcal infections in childhood that cause acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and subsequent rheumatic heart disease (RHD). No community-based 'primordial'-level interventions to reduce streptococcal infection and ARF rates have been reported from Australia previously. We conducted a study at three Australian Aboriginal communities aiming to reduce infections including skin sores and sore throats, usually caused by Group A Streptococci, and ARF. Data were collected for primary care diagnoses consistent with likely or potential streptococcal infection, relating to ARF or RHD or related to environmental living conditions. Rates of these diagnoses during a one-year Baseline Phase were compared with a three-year Activity Phase. Participants were children or adults receiving penicillin prophylaxis for ARF. Aboriginal community members were trained and employed to share knowledge about ARF prevention, support reporting and repairs of faulty health-hardware including showers and provide healthcare navigation for families focusing on skin sores, sore throat and ARF. We hypothesized that infection-related diagnoses would increase through greater recognition, then decrease. We enrolled 29 participants and their families. Overall infection-related diagnosis rates increased from Baseline (mean rate per-person-year 1.69 [95% CI 1.10-2.28]) to Year One (2.12 [95% CI 1.17-3.07]) then decreased (Year Three: 0.72 [95% CI 0.29-1.15]) but this was not statistically significant (p = 0.064). Annual numbers of first-known ARF decreased, but numbers were small: there were six cases of first-known ARF during Baseline, then five, 1, 0 over the next three years respectively. There was a relationship between household occupancy and numbers (p = 0.018), but not rates (p = 0.447) of infections. This first Australian ARF primordial prevention study provides a feasible model with encouraging findings.