1.1.

Optometry

Optometry is a four year professional program leading to the degree of Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) in North America. In order to enroll in the professional program, most (if not all) students have already earned a Bachelor’s degree in Science. A major pre-requisite is a full year (two semesters) of physics which includes both geometrical and physical optics. At our University, the University of Waterloo, for example, the pre-requisite includes Physics 111/121 or 121/122 with associated laboratories. Once in the program, throughout the four years, students take courses that cover basic optics and visual optics, visual neurophysiology, and clinical techniques along with the health and diseases of the human visual system. OD students also study cell and molecular biology, pharmacology, genetics, epidemiology, clinical technology, ethics and practice management. At the end of the first two years of the 4 year long program, the student is expected to build a base of knowledge in the basic sciences of health, disease, optics and visual sciences. One can argue in fact that optics is the basic bread and butter of the profession. In fact, during the first year students take 3 courses on optics, one on geometric and visual optics (some schools in the United States have two courses, one on geometric optics and a second on physical optics), one on visual optics and a third on ophthalmic optics. For more details see reference 1. Therefore it is logical to ask how much of optics knowledge incoming students bring when they enter the program. This will allow the educator to tailor the courses so as to not be redundant or repetitive and build up on existing knowledge.

1.2

Light and Optics Conceptual Evaluation

In its efforts to promote creativity and innovations in the way introductory physics is taught in the university, UNESCO (United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization) has supported activities in different developing countries to address the need for teacher upgrading and introducing innovative learning approaches. In recent years, the focus has been active learning approach^2-6, including developing teaching and learning materials. The focus of the UNESCO Active Learning in Optics and Photonics project begun in 2003 and is based on one of the experimental physics areas that is relevant and adaptable to research and educational conditions in many developing countries. Optics has been termed an enabling science is the basis for many advances in high technology. This project was developed for the benefit of university and senior high school physics teachers from developing countries and aims to train and better equip them to teach the optics part of the introductory physics course by using active learning with hands-on activities and by drawing examples from local research activities. At these workshops, an introductory test, called the Light and Optics Conceptual Evaluation (LOCE) test is administered to the participants both before and after the workshop to gauge the effectiveness of the active learning methodology.

The Light and Optics Conceptual Evaluation (LOCE) was developed to examine conceptual understanding of basic geometric and physical optics for the Active Learning in Optics and Photonics program administered by UNESCO⁷. This 50 item test (46 multiple choice, 4 ray-tracing, short answers) was administered to entering students in the Optometry professional degree (OD) program. We wanted to determine how much of the physics/optics concepts from undergraduate physics courses (a pre-requisite for entry to the OD program) were retained. In addition, the test was administered after the first year students had taken a required course in geometric and visual optics as part of their first semester courses. In this paper we present the results of the LOCE exam administered to two consecutive classes to the program in 2010 (n=89) and 2011 (n=84). The tests were administered the first week of the term and the test was given without any prior notice. In addition, the test was administered to the class of 2010 students after they had completed the course in geometric and physical optics.

3.1

Pre-term 2010 score vs. Pre-term 2011 score

The group statistics is shown in Table 2. Fig. 1 shows the mean values of the pre-term scores for the two years. To examine the differences between the two years, a student’s t-test was conducted, assuming both groups have the same standard deviation. No significant differences were found between the two mean scores (t(171)= 1.147; p=0.253). The F- test was conducted to test the variances and no significant difference was found (F(83,88)=1.249; p= 0.304). This result indicates that the two populations were not significantly different.

Table 2:

Group Statistics of pre-term score

Figure 1:

Mean Values of pre-term score of 2010 and 2011 year groups

3.2

Gender differences of pre-term scores of 2010 and 2011 students

The group statistics and mean values of the pre-term scores of the two populations are shown in Tables 3 and 4 and in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 below.

Table 3:

Group Statistics of pre-term score for male and female in year 2010

Table 4:

Group Statistics of pre-term score for male and female in year 2011

Figure 2:

Mean values of male and female pre-term score for 2010 year

Figure 3:

Mean values of male and female pre-term score for 2011

To examine the difference in mean values between males and females for both classes, a t-test was conducted. Significant difference was found between the genders for the 2010 group (t(87)=2.259; p=0.0264); however, no significant difference was found between the two mean scores for the 2011 group (t(82)=1.886; p=0.0629). No significant differences were found between the variances for both classes using the F-test.

Given the fact that both the 2010 and 2011 populations did not significantly differ and the variances were the same, we combined both populations and carried out a gender difference study. The group statistics is shown in Table 5 and the mean values are shown in Fig. 5. Significant differences were found male vs. female mean scores using the t-test (t(171)=3.048; p=0.0027) and the variances were not significantly different (F(46,125)=1.41;p=0.14).

Table 5:

Group Statistics combining both years

Figure 4:

Combined male vs. female mean pre-term score for both years

Figure 5:

Mean pre- and post- terms results of the 2010 class

3.3

Pre-term vs. Post-term results

As noted earlier, the same test was given approximately three weeks after the end of the term to the 2010 class. We were unable to administer the test to the class of 2011. The group statistics and mean values are shown in Table 6 and Fig. 5. The percentage changes were calculated using Eq. 1 and the change was calculated to be approximately 36% increase in conceptual understanding overall. In terms of gender, males showed a 37% change in mean scores, while females showed a 35% changes between the two mean scores. In both genders a significant change was found in pre- and post-term scores.

Table 6:

Group statistics of the pre- and post- term results for the 2010 class

A Bland Altman analysis was done (Figure 6). The results show that the bias is 7.924 and the bias is 4.997. The 95% limit of agreement extends from -1.870 to 17.72.

Figure 6:

Bland-Altman test between pre- and post-term test scores