Students report rarely reading their physics textbooks, with half claiming never to have used it in an entire semester¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q2 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2008 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2013: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Only 16% of study completers reported reading their textbook once per week or more, and 50% reported never using it during the semester. → Stelzer 2008

Evidence¶

Stelzer 2008¶

Stelzer, Gladding, Mestre, and Brookes. (2008). Comparing the efficacy of multimedia modules with traditional textbooks for learning introductory physics content. https://arxiv.org/abs/0806.0405 doi:10.48550/arxiv.0806.0405

q2 · i1 · causal · r2

Self-report survey question administered at the end of the retention session to all three groups; the article notes this usage was similar to a three-year UIUC survey (Table I) in which about 70% of both majors reported rarely or never reading before class.

"Only 16% of all students who finished the study reported that they read their textbooks once per week or more and 50% claim to never have used the textbook the entire semester!"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The MLM group showed greater preference for the study materials over their current textbook than the two text-based groups — related
• Students rate clicker questions and lecture as more helpful than the textbook — related
• A University of Pennsylvania study found only about half of MOOC registrants viewed a lecture and only about four percent finished a course entirely — related
• The multimedia learning module advantage over the textbook persists on a retention test administered two weeks after the lessons — related