Dounas-Frazer, D. R., Stanley, J. T., & Lewandowski, H. J. (2017). Student ownership of projects in an upper-division optics laboratory course: A multiple case study of successful experiences. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 13.
Using a multiple case study approach, this study investigated students’ sense of ownership of final projects in an upper-division optics lab course. The authors are from the Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado Boulder, USA. Within-case analyses focused on identifying and constructing chronological descriptions of key issues in each project. Cross-case analysis focused on identifying emergent themes with respect to project ownership relating to: student agency, instructor mentorship, peer collaboration, interest and value, and affective responses. Analysis yielded three major findings. First, coupling division of labor with collective brainstorming can help balance student agency, instructor mentorship, and peer collaboration. Second, students’ interest in the project and perceptions of its value can increase over time; initial student interest in the project topic is not a necessary condition for student ownership of the project. Third, student ownership is characterized by a wide range of emotions that fluctuate as students alternate between extended periods of struggle and moments of success while working on their projects. These findings have concrete implications for the design of experimental physics projects for which student ownership is a desired learning outcome. The course and projects are described in sufficient detail that others can adapt the results to their particular contexts.