Cognitive expectations of Liberal Arts students and Business Majors in a general education Introductory Physics class

Abstract

The paper describes the change in Liberal Arts students' and in Business majors' cognitive expectations after going through their Introductory Physics course. Cognitive expectations are beliefs about the learning process and the structure of knowledge. Using the Maryland Physics Expectations (MPEX) survey, the students' responses reflected highest agreement with the "experts' response" in the following clusters: concepts, reality link, and effort link.