Abstract:

Teaching across Europe differs due to pedagogical traditions, national cultures and the education laws of each country although they are all part of the European Higher Education Area. Despite differences, the universities of Aveiro (Portugal) and Ourense campus of the University of Vigo (Spain) use a common teaching system across different academic degrees:
(i) Marine Sciences and
(ii) Meteorology, Oceanography and Geophysics (University of Aveiro), and
(ii) Agrarian Technology
(iii) Environmental Sciences
(iv) Food Science and Technology (Faculty of Sciences – Ourense campus –University of Vigo).

This system was implemented for the courses that share the same content, allowing the optimization of the universities facilities, classes, schedules and staff. However, this can difficult to attend the content diversity of the degrees adequately. Lectures from physics departments of both universities have detected a lack of previous knowledge in students, both for theoretical and practical courses. The aim of this study is to analyse the background of first-year students of the degrees mentioned above and of the degree of Aerospace Engineering, which is taught on the Ourense Campus (University of Vigo, Spain). For this purpose, the survey was designed to cover demographic reality in both countries and the background and learning experiences of the students. The survey was online, anonymous and voluntary. It was filled out by a total of 74 students (32 in Aveiro and 40 in Vigo) during the current academic year (2019-2020).

This study allowed characterizing the profile of the first-year students disaggregated by country and degree. It also detected the difficulties observed by the teachers in the practical physics courses in some degrees, which can be due to the courses chosen by the students at the high school, which led to an inadequate background in physics and maths.

Regarding practical courses (laboratory), the majority of the students showed little laboratory skills due to the insufficient time devoted to practical courses. This explains the low acquaintance on protocols and skills.

Keywords:

Student background, practical physics courses, interregional study, University of Vigo, University of Aveiro.