First Year University Physics: who succeeds?

Abstract

The question of the wastage of talent is addressed in relation to first year physics at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. Using data for the 1989 intake, three hypotheses are examined: that a relationship exists between school achievement and success in first year university physics; that tertiary success is a function of the motivation and metacognitive strategies of the learners; and that a weighted combination of indicators will allow significant discrimination between levels of tertiary success/failure. A fourth hypothesis raises the question of the generalisabil‐ity of results to the identification of potential wastage in future years, and a test is reported using the 1990 intake. The results support generalisability. Intervention strategies are proposed with the potential for decreasing wastage.