Seating Arrangement, Group Composition and Competition-driven Interaction: Effects on Students' Performance in Physics

• Main Authors: Roxas, R. M., Monterola, C., Carreon-Monterola, S. L.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: CHALCOGENIDES; CHARGES; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; COMPETITION; COOPERATION; DOCUMENT TYPES; EDUCATION; INTERACTIONS; LEARNING; LECTURES; NEURAL NETWORKS; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; SILICON COMPOUNDS; SILICON OXIDES; SIMULATION
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/1.3479856

We probe the effect of seating arrangement, group composition and group-based competition on students' performance in Physics using a teaching technique adopted from Mazur's peer instruction method. Ninety eight lectures, involving 2339 students, were conducted across nine learning institutions from February 2006 to June 2009. All the lectures were interspersed with student interaction opportunities (SIO), in which students work in groups to discuss and answer concept tests. Two individual assessments were administered before and after the SIO. The ratio of the post-assessment score to the pre-assessment score and the Hake factor were calculated to establish the improvement in student performance. Using actual assessment results and neural network (NN) modeling, an optimal seating arrangement for a class was determined based on student seating location. The NN model also provided a quantifiable method for sectioning students. Lastly, the study revealed that competition-driven interactions increase within-group cooperation and lead to higher improvement on the students' performance.