Introductory mechanics is an obligatory course for many disciplines outside of physics and the failure rate is often high. Even the students who pass the course often fail to achieve the main learning goal: The conceptual knowledge required for modeling situations with physics principles. In many cases, this is due to inefficient learning strategies. However, little work has been done on the integration of learning strategies into physics courses. Here we present a study where we integrated three established learning strategies into the teaching of an introductory mechanics course: elaborative encoding, retrieval practice, and self-explanation. We also developed three scaffolding tools to facilitate the integration of the strategies: elaborative encoding questions, a hierarchical principle structure, and a problem-solution structure with emphasis on physics modeling. The overarching aim of this study is to use students’ experience-based reflections to find ways to improve the integration of the learning strategies. To fulfill this aim, we seek answers to the following three interrelated research questions: (i) What are the students’ experiences and associated reflections with the learning strategies and tools? (ii) How do the students’ experiences and reflections align with established theory on the learning strategies? (iii) What main barriers to effective implementation of the learning strategies may be hypothesized? To answer these questions, we did semi-structured research interviews with 12 students. Through the thematic analysis, we found that retrieval practice was used extensively while self-explanation and elaborative encoding was partly or wholly ignored. The analysis, together with theoretical considerations, indicates that successful implementation of elaborative encoding is critical for maximizing the benefits from retrieval practice in physics. We also present some promising findings on two of the tools: (i) Students’ extensive use of the hierarchical principle structure and (ii) that some students started practicing physics modeling after exposure to the solution structure. Finally, we offer suggestions for how to overcome the barriers to effective implementation of each of the learning strategies.

中文翻译：

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在基础物理课程中整合有效的学习策略：主题分析

入门力学是物理以外的许多学科的必修课，并且失效率通常很高。即使是通过课程的学生，也常常无法达到主要的学习目标：用物理原理对情况进行建模所需的概念知识。在许多情况下，这是由于学习策略效率低下所致。但是，关于将学习策略整合到物理​​课程中的工作还很少。在这里，我们进行一项研究，在该研究中，我们将三种既定的学习策略整合到了入门力学课程的教学中：详尽的编码，检索实践和自我解释。我们还开发了三种脚手架工具来促进策略的整合：详尽的编码问题，层次化的原则结构，以及一个以物理建模为重点的问题解决方案结构。这项研究的总体目标是利用学生的基于经验的思考来找到改进学习策略整合的方法。为了实现这一目标，我们寻求以下三个相互关联的研究问题的答案：（i）学生的学习策略和工具的经历和相关反思是什么？（ii）学生的经历和思考如何与既定的学习策略理论保持一致？（iii）可以假设有效实施学习策略的主要障碍是什么？为了回答这些问题，我们对12名学生进行了半结构化研究访谈。通过主题分析，我们发现，广泛地使用了检索实践，而部分或完全忽略了自我解释和详尽的编码。分析和理论考虑表明，精细编码的成功实施对于最大化物理检索实践的收益至关重要。我们还对以下两种工具提出了一些有希望的发现：（i）学生广泛使用分层原理结构，以及（ii）一些学生在接触解决方案结构后开始进行物理建模。最后，我们为如何克服有效实施每种学习策略的障碍提供了建议。指出，详尽实现编码的成功实施对于最大限度地提高物理检索实践的收益至关重要。我们还对以下两种工具提出了一些有希望的发现：（i）学生广泛使用分层原理结构，以及（ii）一些学生在接触解决方案结构后开始进行物理建模。最后，我们为如何克服有效实施每种学习策略的障碍提供了建议。指出，详尽实现编码的成功实施对于最大限度地提高物理检索实践的收益至关重要。我们还对以下两种工具提出了一些有希望的发现：（i）学生广泛使用分层原理结构，以及（ii）一些学生在接触解决方案结构后开始进行物理建模。最后，我们为如何克服有效实施每种学习策略的障碍提供了建议。