BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events BEGIN:VEVENT SEQUENCE:2 UID:UW-Physics-Event-9749 DTSTART:20260713T190000Z DTEND:20260713T210000Z DTSTAMP:20260709T131930Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260708T195520Z LOCATION:B343 Sterling or https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/2555438168 SUMMARY:Implementing Structured Quantitative Inquiry Labs in Physics 2 02\, Thesis Defense\, Isaac Barnhill\, Physics MS Graduate Student DESCRIPTION:A commonly stated goal of traditional instructional physic s labs is to help students gain physics content knowledge\, yet a grow ing body of evidence suggests that labs are falling short of that goal . This has led to many calls to reform physics labs\, and inquiry-base d labs are one of many attempts at doing so. These labs shift the inst ructional focus away from reinforcing content from other portions of t he course and instead aim to teach students the skills required to per form quantitative experiments in the classroom and beyond. In this the sis\, I present a survey of the literature on instructional labs throu gh the lenses of sensemaking and epistemic agency. I also discuss the results of a controlled comparison between content- and inquiry-based curricula for a high-enrollment course at a large public university. I report that the treatment group did not experience significantly diff erent levels of academic success than the control group as measured th rough midterm exam scores. However\, in tension with previous findings \, I also report no statistical difference between lab conditions in t erms of students' attitudes and beliefs about experimental physics. Fi nally\, I report small but measurable gains in students' critical thin king skills and in affective state in the context of experimental phys ics. Despite these mixed results\, this study serves as yet another in dication of both the practicality and the urgent need to improve the u ndergraduate physics lab experience. URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=9749 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR