The Impact of Reflective Journaling on Undergraduate in Physics and Astronomy Labs
Niah Freeman
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Faculty Supervisor: Kim Coble
San Francisco State University, a Hispanic serving institution, is home of the Alma Project, which was created to promote and affirm students' identities in order to increase inclusivity in STEM. It started in 2018 in supplemental instruction classes and was later implemented in all introductory physics and astronomy labs. The Alma project uses reflective journaling in these classes in order to center students' experiences in STEM. Iterative thematic coding was used to analyze surveys taken by students on how the ALMA reflective journaling influenced their personal experiences and learning in the classroom, and the effect it had on the overall classroom environment. We’ve gathered over 3500 survey responses from Spring 2020 to Fall 2023 in conceptual astronomy, conceptual physics, general physics, and calculus-based physics courses. We've established 42 themes from our surveys, organized in categories of negatives, positives, and implementation. The results of the surveys demonstrated an overwhelming positive experience from the students. Major examples include relieving stress, understanding themselves better, enhanced sense of purpose, and feeling connections to their classmates. The majority of the responses that were coded as negative were that students felt neutral or that journaling had no impact on their experience in the classroom.