Students are unhappy with the Tutorials in Introductory Physics books and this petition is to propose that these books are removed from Georgia State University. These books are used for a one hour in-class assignment that precedes the main lab and a homework assignment. These assignments are meant to help with conceptual learning of Physics and are detached from the lecture and lab. Most students view them as a pre-lab, because they are integrated directly before the main lab. The problem is, they do not always align with the lecture material and the lab topic. They create confusion more often than not.

Research was done to determine what other schools use as a pre-lab. In the short timeframe allocated for this survey, about four hundred schools were able to respond and provide information about what kind of pre-lab they use for Physics. This research was only able to brush the surface on this topic. Out of all schools contacted, only few other schools perform pre-labs the same as GSU. The Tutorials have a lot of research to back their usefulness, but they are not designed to be used as pre-labs. A few schools indicated that the Tutorials were meant to be completed after learning a topic, but most of the time the Tutorials taught do not align, coming early or mismatched with the the lecture and lab.

Out of 398 responses, 188 schools indicated they did use some form of pre-lab and 189 schools indicated they did not use any pre-lab at all. 21 schools indicated that depending on the instructor, some use a pre-lab and some do not.

About 25% of schools indicated they use a simple pre-lab quiz. The quiz varied school to school, but generally questions would be geared toward preparing students for the upcoming lab. Questions would include asking about lab equipment that will be used, graphing (x, y, slope), and questions about the previous weeks lab. The goal was to have students be more prepared for the lab.

About 6% of schools used a short presentation before the main lab. This was to provide students with good understanding of the lab, rather than throwing them into the lab. These schools indicated that this was their pre-lab, but most schools use some short of short presentation or discussion at the beginning of most labs to prepare students.

Over 50% of the responses indicated they give homework as a pre-lab. This was usually to serve the same purpose as a pre-lab quiz would. Schools wanted students to read the main lab prior to class. An at-home assignment would reinforce this and also better prepare students for the main lab.

About 15% of schools that responded use a in-class assignment either from a bought book or a lab manual developed in-house.

The student cost of a pre-lab was also an interest in this research. 103 schools had some sort of cost information in their response. 34 schools indicated that their pre-lab costed students a value greater than zero. This includes responses that listed the cost value of their pre-lab or indicated that their was a non-zero cost (but did not provide a value). The cost was usually associated with a lab manual with pre-lab attachment, or a pre-packaged book with pre-lab sections. Generally, the cost was shared with materials used for the entire lab, not just the pre-lab.

69 schools indicated that cost of their pre-lab is free to students. Usually the pre-lab materials or lab manual would be provided to the students at zero cost.

295 schools had no cost provided with their response, but one could speculate that the student cost is little to none based on the other data. Not many schools use pre-packaged lab books. And most schools wrote their own lab manual in-house. The cost of this to students was usually zero or the minimum publishing cost.

The Tutorials books are a high cost for students. The bundle (pre-lab and homework book) goes for about $70 in the bookstore. The books are on their first edition (following the preliminary edition), published in 2002. A second preliminary edition that was published in 2012 exists, but is not used here at GSU. In 2018 (Spring, Summer, and Fall semester), 685 students enrolled in the first semester of Physics 2211K. Students as a whole are paying just under $50,000 on Tutorials books each year. This puts a tremendous burden on students as the books are considered “destructible” —They are required to be written in and pages torn out. This reduces the reusability of the books and is not sustainable. Another factor is the non-existent legal electronic version of the books, which many students would prefer to use. The homework book is 177 pages. Only 51 pages are used (29% of the book) across two semesters. The main lab book is 244 pages. Only 113 pages are used (46% of the book) across two semesters. Combined, less than 40% of both books are actually being used.

A good pre-lab is meant to prepare students for the main lab. A good pre-lab should create a solid bridge between the lecture and main lab. A pre-lab that is designed in-house would be more promising as it would resonate with the main labs and can easily be improved upon semester to semester. This would allow more flexibility and be more valuable to the school, as well as the students. Students are unhappy with the Tutorials books and they are not good fit for Georgia State University. Even the Physics Education Research (PER) group, a group backing the Tutorials with lots of positive research, mentions that the student resistance is common for the Tutorials. They acknowledge this in their own user guide for the books where they address what to do when students feel the books are “condescending” or “make them feel stupid”. These books should be removed.