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Currently Playing: Sources of Response-Shift Bias in the CLASS's Real-World Connection

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) assesses students’ perceptions of physics through self-reported agreement with attitudinal statements. Previous work shows that CLASS results may be subject to response-shift bias, in which knowledge gained during an intervention causes learners’ perceptions of their pre-instructional state to become more novice-like. We explored possible sources of this response-shift bias in the CLASS by asking students to (1) complete the survey twice at the beginning of the semester (providing their pre-instruction responses and expected end-of-semester responses) and twice at the end of the semester (providing their post-instruction responses and retrospective beginning-of-semester responses), and (2) comment on their concurrent responses. By comparing beginning-of-semester and end-of-semester comments with survey shifts from a broad sample of students, we illuminate an underexplored dimension of student thinking. Preliminary results show that our students expect their perceptions of the applicability of physics will grow directly from acquiring physics knowledge.