Correlation study of physics achievement, learning strategy, attitude and gender in an introductory physics course

This study investigates the relationship between multiple predictors of physics achievement including reported use of four learning strategy clusters (elaboration, organization, comprehension monitoring and rehearsal), attitudes towards physics (sense of care and sense of interest) and a demographic variable (gender) in order to determine the significant predictors of physics achievement. The subjects involved in this study were 357 first and second year pre-service teachers at Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey. Subjects were asked to fill out a personal information form, the revised Learning Strategies Scale for Physics Learning (R-LSSPL) and the Scale of Attitudes towards Physics (SAP). Correlation analyses indicate significant relationships between some variables of the study. Multiple regression analyses (stepwise) revealed that learning strategies accounted for 73% of the variation in physics achievement and all the learning strategy clusters (p<0.001) were found to be statistically significant predictors of physics achievement. The implications of these results for physics education are discussed in this paper.