The Role of Reflection-Informed Learning and Instruction in an Introductory Physics Course for Engineering and Science Students

This research explores the role of reflection-informed learning and instruction on students learning in an introductory physics course. Participants of this quasi- experimental study were 199 engineering and science students (n=105 in the control group and n=94 in the intervention group). Students in the intervention group were instructed to reflect on their learning experiences after each lecture using the CourseMIRROR mobile application, while students in the control group did not. To answer our first research question (i.e., Did the students in the intervention group perform better than ones in the control condition?), we conducted Kruskal-Wallis tests, and results showed that the intervention group showed significantly better academic performance than the control group. To answer our second research question (i.e., Are the quantity and the quality of student reflection a significant predictor of academic performance?), multiple linear regressions were conducted, We found that the number of reflections was a significant factor in predicting a learner s academic performance, while specificity of reflections was not. Our study extends the existing literature on the impact of prompting student reflection in learning to a relatively underexplored context of large-size, lecture-oriented classrooms. Also, our study found that intervention in the form of encouraging students to reflect more often on their learning experiences can lead to improved academic performance. By evaluating reflection quantity and quality, our research contributes new insights into how these aspects influence academic performance. Lastly, our study adds to previous findings on utilizing mobile applications to support reflection activities in large classrooms by investigating their application in a traditional, lecture-based physics course.