Formative experience for intensive instruction physics courses: Evaluation and results in an Electromagnetism course

Abstract

The rising demand for higher education has led universities to offer courses in multiple formats, including Intensive Instruction Courses (IICs), to meet the needs of a diverse student body. While active teaching methods improve physics understanding in standard courses, little research has examined their effectiveness in IICs. This research explored the most efficient methodologies for promoting meaningful learning in intensive physics courses. To this end, an integrated pedagogical proposal was designed based on the opinions gathered from a focus group of teachers with previous experience teaching these courses, as well as on existing literature, highlighting methodologies, types of assessment, and characteristics of ICCs. To evaluate its efficiency, a quasi-experiment was conducted in which students were divided into two groups: an experimental group (EG), which followed the teaching proposal, and a control group (CG), which received non-innovated lessons. Results were measured using the BEMA electromagnetism concepts inventory before and after the intervention. Statistical analysis revealed that Hake's Gain was greater in the EG, both in general terms and in each thematic unit of the course. The intervention in the EG showed that the use of active methodologies was more efficient than those used in the CG in the context of IICs. The results obtained suggest the need to continue investigating other factors involved in the teaching-learning process of IICs.