Student assessment of laboratory in introductory physics courses: A Q-sort approach

This paper will introduce a previously developed Q-sort instrument, called the Laboratory Program Variables Inventory (LPVI). We will also report on a case study using a modified version of the LPVI to investigate students' perceptions about the implementation of a new lab type and further to compare characteristics of the new lab with those perceived by students in other PER-based learning environments. Our preliminary results show that the LPVI is a valuable instrument for assessing hands-on learning environments and related curriculum development and implementation in PER.