A Study of Student Background and Their Performance in 1st Year Physics Courses

Prepared by David Harrison, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Toronto, harrison@physics.utoronto.ca, in March 2004

Introduction

This year we have 3 classes of students in our first year Physics courses.

Students who graduated from Grade 12 last year.
Students who graduated from OAC last year.
Students who either were admitted before September 2003 or are from out of the province.

Here we analyse the performance of these students in our first year Physics courses PHY100F, PHY110Y, PHY138Y, PHY140Y and PHY180F. We also analyse their performance in the PHY110/138 Laboratory and the PHY140 Laboratory.

All grades below are expressed as a percentage of the maximum available marks. The expressed uncertainties are the standard error of the mean, i.e. the standard deviation divided by the square root of the number of students in each category. Only marks greater than zero are tabulated. Only students who have not dropped the course are included.

You will likely find some surprises in the data below. I will refrain from too much discussion, except to note that:

The differences between the Grade 12 and OAC students are only striking for PHY100F, PHY110Y and PHY140Y. For PHY100F the Grade 12 students did better than the OAC ones; for PHY110Y and the early part of PHY140Y the OAC students did better than the Grade 12 ones.
The students who were either admitted before September 2003 or are coming from out of the province almost universally did worse than Ontario students who graduated from high school last year.
There are many more of these "other" students than I had anticipated.

PHY100F - The Magic of Physics

This is a liberal arts course, with minimal mathematics.

Background of PHY100F Students
Grade 12 last year	10
OAC last year	21
Other	75
TOTAL	106

Attendance Mark

Grade 12 last year	100 ± 0
OAC last year	93.3 ± 4.5
Other	95.3 ± 2.0
ALL	95.4 ± 1.7

Weekly Assignment Mark

Grade 12 last year	86.4 ± 6.5
OAC last year	79.9 ± 6.1
Other	72.9 ± 2.2
ALL	75.4 ± 1.8

Book Report

Grade 12 last year	73.0 ± 3.7
OAC last year	72.6 ± 2.1
Other	73.9 ± 1.6
ALL	73.6 ± 1.2

Essay

Grade 12 last year	79.2 ± 3.4
OAC last year	76.8 ± 2.3
Other	77.8 ± 0.9
ALL	77.8 ± 0.8

Final Exam

Grade 12 last year	67.9 ± 4.5
OAC last year	64.6 ± 2.1
Other	62.1 ± 1.2
ALL	63.1 ± 1.1

Final Mark

Grade 12 last year	78.1 ± 2.4
OAC last year	74.4 ± 1.8
Other	68.8 ± 1.5
ALL	70.7 ± 1.2

PHY110Y - Basic Physics

Except for a few special cases, these students did not take Physics in High School. High school calculus is a prerequisite.

Background of PHY110Y Students
Grade 12 last year	85
OAC last year	57
Other	91
TOTAL	233

Test 1
(November)

Grade 12 last year	72.4 ± 2.2
OAC last year	77.8 ± 2.4
Other	71.4 ± 2.2
ALL	73.3± 1.3

Test 2
(February)

Grade 12 last year	56.9 ± 2.5
OAC last year	64.8 ± 2.9
Other	58.9 ± 2.5
ALL	59.7 ± 1.5

PHY138Y - Physics for the Life Sciences I

Background of PHY138Y Students
Grade 12 last year	371
OAC last year	416
Other	173
TOTAL	960

Quiz 1
(October 15-17)

Grade 12 last year	90.3 ± 0.7
OAC last year	89.9 ± 0.7
Other	85.1 ± 1.5
ALL	89.2 ± 0.5

Test 1
( October 28)

Grade 12 last year	69.1 ± 0.7
OAC last year	69.7 ± 0.6
Other	65.0 ± 1.1
ALL	68.6 ± 0.4

Quiz 2
( November 26 - 28)

Grade 12 last year	68.5 ± 1.0
OAC last year	66.2 ± 1.0
Other	61.7 ± 1.8
ALL	66.3 ± 0.6

Test 2
(December 12)

Grade 12 last year	68.6 ± 0.9
OAC last year	67.1 ± 0.8
Other	61.5 ± 1.6
ALL	66.7 ± 0.6

Quiz 3
(January 28 - 30)

Grade 12 last year	89.4 ± 0.6
OAC last year	88.6 ± 0.6
Other	86.5 ± 1.2
ALL	88.6 ± 0.4

Test 3
(February 10)

Grade 12 last year	78.4 ± 0.9
OAC last year	76.7 ± 0.8
Other	72.0 ± 1.5
ALL	76.5 ± 0.6

PHY110/138 Laboratory

The marks are listed approximately in the order in which they were awarded.

Background of PHY138/110 Lab Students
Grade 12 last year	448
OAC last year	468
Other	293
TOTAL	1209

Error Analysis Assignment

Grade 12 last year	80.9 ± 0.5
OAC last year	80.4 ± 0.5
Other	77.2 ± 0.9
ALL	79.8 ± 0.4

Height of the Tower Assignment

Grade 12 last year	81.6 ± 0.6
OAC last year	79.9 ± 0.6
Other	79.3 ± 0.7
ALL	80.4 ± 0.4

Experiment 1

Grade 12 last year	76.3 ± 0.4
OAC last year	74.4 ± 0.4
Other	73.4 ± 0.6
ALL	74.8 ± 0.3

Error Analysis Test

Grade 12 last year	76.9 ± 1.0
OAC last year	75.7 ± 1.0
Other	68.2 ± 1.5
ALL	74.5 ± 0.6

Experiment 2

Grade 12 last year	77.8 ± 0.5
OAC last year	76.4 ± 0.4
Other	73.2 ± 0.8
ALL	76.1 ± 0.3

Formal Report 1

Grade 12 last year	79.3 ± 0.5
OAC last year	78.3 ± 0.4
Other	75.8 ± 0.7
ALL	78.1 ± 0.3

PHY140Y - Foundations of Physics

Background of PHY140Y Students
Grade 12 last year	40
OAC last year	55
Other	36
TOTAL	131

Quiz 1
(early October)

Grade 12 last year	81.4 ± 2.8
OAC last year	85.2 ± 2.5
Other	82.0 ± 3.1
ALL	83.1 ± 1.6

Test 1
(October 22)

Grade 12 last year	71.2 ± 2.5
OAC last year	74.1 ± 2.2
Other	70.5 ± 2.8
ALL	72.3 ± 1.4

Quiz 2
(November)

Grade 12 last year	61.1 ± 4.2
OAC last year	70.2 ± 3.1
Other	72.2 ± 3.8
ALL	67.7 ± 2.2

Test 2
(December 1)

Grade 12 last year	65.0 ± 2.3
OAC last year	64.6 ± 2.4
Other	62.0 ± 3.1
ALL	64.0 ± 1.5

PHY140 Laboratory

Experiment 1
(early September)

Grade 12 last year	66.1 ± 2.1
OAC last year	64.3 ± 1.5
Other	61.0 ± 2.1
ALL	63.8 ± 1.1

Experiment 2
(mid September)

Grade 12 last year	69.7 ± 1.9
OAC last year	69.8 ± 1.5
Other	67.8 ± 1.6
ALL	69.2 ± 1.0

Formal Report 1
(December 4)

Grade 12 last year	76.4 ± 1.0
OAC last year	73.0 ± 1.2
Other	71.4 ± 1.6
ALL	73.5 ± 0.8

Error Analysis Test
(January 30)

Grade 12 last year	74.6 ± 3.1
OAC last year	74.2 ± 2.9
Other	75.8 ± 3.1
ALL	74.8 ± 1.8

PHY180F - Elements of Physics I

This is a course for Engineering Science students.

Background of PHY180F Students
Grade 12 last year	116
OAC last year	110
Other	59
TOTAL	285

Problem Set 1
(early September)

Grade 12 last year	90.3 ± 0.9
OAC last year	88.7 ± 0.9
Other	83.7 ± 2.0
ALL	88.3 ± 0.7

Problem Set 2
(mid September)

Grade 12 last year	90.7 ± 0.8
OAC last year	91.3 ± 0.6
Other	89.5 ± 1.3
ALL	90.7 ± 0.5

Lab Expt 1
(mid September)

Grade 12 last year	67.0 ± 1.1
OAC last year	66.1 ± 1.0
Other	65.1 ± 1.5
ALL	66.2 ± 0.7

Test 1
(October 16)

Grade 12 last year	72.2 ± 1.8
OAC last year	69.9 ± 1.8
Other	73.1 ± 2.5
ALL	71.5 ± 1.1

Error Analysis Test
(October 30)

Grade 12 last year	84.6 ± 1.5
OAC last year	80.7 ± 1.5
Other	84.6 ± 1.9
ALL	83.1 ± 0.9

Test 2
(November 27)

Grade 12 last year	79.5 ± 1.8
OAC last year	75.0 ± 2.0
Other	74.8 ± 3.1
ALL	76.8 ± 1.2

Final Exam
(December)

Grade 12 last year	58.5 ± 1.8
OAC last year	57.9 ± 1.8
Other	57.8 ± 2.8
ALL	58.1 ± 1.2

Final Mark

Grade 12 last year	73.9 ± 1.1
OAC last year	72.7 ± 1.1
Other	71.6 ± 2.0
ALL	72.9 ± 0.7

Further Study

If anybody feels that further study is warranted, one thing that we are missing is data on the background of students who have dropped their Physics course: the data we received from the ROSI people were only for students that are currently enrolled.