Student Approaches to Learning in Physics – Validity and Exploration Using Adapted SPQ

The aim of this study was to investigate an adaptation of the Study Processes
Questionnaire for the discipline of physics. A total of 2030 first year physics students at an
Australian metropolitan university completed the questionnaire over three different year
cohorts. The resultant data has been used to explore whether the adaptation of the
questionnaire is justifiable and if meaningful interpretations can be drawn for teaching and
learning in the discipline. In extracting scales for deep and surface approaches to learning,
we have excised several items, retaining an adequate subset. Reflecting trends in literature,
our deep scale is very reliable while the surface scale is not so reliable. Our results show
that the behaviour of the mean scale scores for students in different streams in first year
physics is in agreement with expectations. Furthermore, different year cohort performance
on the scales reflects changes in senior high school syllabus. Our experiences in adaptation,
validation and checking for reliability is of potential use for others engaged in
contextualising the Study Processes Questionnaire, and adds value to the use of the
questionnaire for improving student learning in specific discipline areas