This paper reports observations that show a significant effect of class meeting time on student evaluations of teaching for an introductory college physics class. Students in a lecture section with an early-morning meeting time gave the class and instructors consistently lower ratings than those in an otherwise nearly identical section that met an hour later, even for aspects of the course that were seemingly identical across the two sections.
References
1.
D. E.
Clayson
, “Student evaluations of teaching: Are they related to what students learn? A meta-analysis and review of the literature
,” J. Marketing Educ.
31
, 16
–30
(April
2009
).2.
P.
Spooren
, B.
Brockx
, and D.
Mortelmans
, “On the validity of student evaluation of teaching: The state of the art
,” Rev. Educ. Res.
83
, 598
–642
(Dec.
2013
).3.
S. L.
Benton
and W. E.
Cashin
, “Student Ratings of Instruction in College and University Courses
,” in Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research
, Vol. 29
, edited by M. B.
Paulsen
(Springer
, Netherlands
, 2013
), pp. 279
–326
.4.
F.
Zabaleta
, “The use and misuse of student evaluations of teaching
,” Teach. High. Educ.
12
, 55
–76
(Feb.
2007
).5.
H. W.
Marsh
, “Students’ Evaluations of University Teaching: Dimensionality, Reliability, Validity, Potential Biases and Usefulness,” in The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, an Evidence-Based Perspective
, edited by R. P.
Perry
and J. C.
Smart
, (Springer
, Netherlands
, 2007
), pp. 319
–383
.6.
L.
MacNell
, A.
Driscoll
, and A. N.
Hunt
, “What’s in a name: Exposing gender bias in student ratings of teaching
,” Innov. High. Educ.
40
, 291
–303
(Aug.
2015
).7.
A.
Boring
, K.
Ottoboni
, and P. B.
Stark
, “Student evaluations of teaching (mostly) do not measure teaching effectiveness
,” ScienceOpen Research
(2016
). DOI: .8.
J.
Arbuckle
and B. D.
Williams
, “Students perceptions of expressiveness: Age and gender effects on teacher evaluations
,” Sex Roles
49
, 507
–516
(Nov.
2003
).9.
D. J.
Merritt
, “Bias, the brain, and student evaluations of teaching
,” St. John’s Law Rev.
81
, 235
–288
(2008
).10.
D. S.
Hamermesh
and A.
Parker
, “Beauty in the classroom: Instructors’ pulchritude and putative pedagogical productivity
,” Econ. Educ. Rev.
24
, 369
–376
(2005
).11.
M. C.
Hill
and K. K.
Epps
, “The impact of physical classroom environment on student satisfaction and student evaluation of teaching in the university environment
,” Acad. Educ. Lead. J.
14
, 65
–79
(2010
).12.
M.
Braga
, M.
Paccagnella
, and M.
Pellizzari
, “Evaluating students’ evaluations of professors
,” Econ. Educ. Rev.
41
, 71
–88
(2014
).13.
T.
Beleche
, D.
Fairris
, and M.
Marks
, “Do course evaluations truly reflect student learning? Evidence from an objectively graded post-test
,” Econ. Educ. Rev.
31
, 709
–719
(2012
).14.
E.
Mazur
, Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual
(Prentice-Hall
, Upper Saddle River, NJ
, 1997
).15.
C. H.
Crouch
and E.
Mazur
, “Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and results
,” Am. J. Phys.
69
, 970
–977
(Sept.
2001
).16.
T. R.
Knapp
, “Treating ordinal scales as interval scales: An attempt to resolve the controversy
,” Nurs. Res.
39
, 121
–123
(March/April
1990
).© 2017 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2017
American Association of Physics Teachers
AAPT members receive access to The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.