Thematic analysis of students’ perceptions of grading practices in physics

In the world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education practice, alternative grading strategies have been implemented and disseminated with the goal of reinforcing student outcomes like productive reasoning, motivation to learn, and sense of identity. However, while PER has successfully improved these outcomes through reformed instructional strategies, much less work has investigated how grading practices influence these outcomes. This dearth leaves PER without a framework readily available to formulate or interpret studies of alternative grading practices. To help address this gap, we surveyed <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mrow> <a:mi mathvariant="italic">N</a:mi> <a:mo>=</a:mo> <a:mn>9</a:mn> <a:mn>4</a:mn> </a:mrow> </a:math> students from introductory algebra-based and calculus-based physics courses, asking free-response questions about their experiences with and perspectives on grading in physics. We thematically coded their responses to identify themes in what they said grades represent (such as their effort invested in the course or their mastery of course content) and what effects they said grades produce (such as stress or an adversarial relationship with the instructor). We conducted focus groups to member-check these themes with the students. For themes about what they said grades represent, we further identify whether the student framed this representation positively (“Grades should represent my effort”), negatively (“Grades should not represent the features of a particular assignment”), or neutrally or in mixed terms. We particularly attend to whether students indicated that grades produce an adversarial relationship with their instructor, finding that a greater percentage of these students positively spoke of grades as representing improvement in their performance than among students who did not mention an adversarial relationship. We discuss how these themes offer insights into how we might further research alternative grading strategies, how students’ perspectives on grades might influence the broader goals of PER, and implications for physics instruction.