February 25, 2026
The current work aims to better understand course experiences for students who report negative perceptions in introductory physics.
LRDC researchers, Avital Pelakh, Nabila Jamal-Orozco, Brian Galla, Timothy Nokes-Malach, and colleagues from Pitt's Department of Psychology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Health and Human Development, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 students who reported negative perceptions of their class on a screening survey.
Participants were asked to share general reflections on challenges and successes they experienced, as well as their reflections on specific aspects of the course (e.g., experiences with instructors and peers). Interview transcripts were then coded to identify the types of experiences students reported, whether they were experienced as positive or negative, as well as the themes and features associated with those experiences.
Experiences with the classroom, course structure, instructors, and exams were most frequently reported as negative. Experiences with peers, help-seeking, course curriculum and specific learning activities were the most positive, although only experiences with peers had more positive than negative reports.
The research team then used a resources vs demands framework to interpret the common instructional, cognitive, and motivational themes and features reported across multiple contexts. Read the complete study here: Physical Review Physics Education Research.
Pelakh, A., Good, M.L., Kuo, E., Tumminia, M., Jamal-Orozco, N., Adelman, A., Antoan, J., Galla, B., & Nokes-Malach, T.J. (2026). Thematic analysis of student perceptions of resources and demands experienced in introductory physics. Physical Review Physics Education Research.
Written by Amber Eschrich