Revealing shifts from mastery of knowledge to problem solving in assessments of a tertiary physics programme

Abstract: There is an increasing pressure for lecturers to work with two goals. First, they need to ensure their undergraduate students have a good grasp of the knowledge and skills of the intellectual field. In addition, they need to prepare graduates and postgraduates for careers both within and outside of academia. The problem addressed by this paper is how assessments may reveal a shift of focus from a mastery of knowledge to a work-focused orientation. This shift is examined through a case study of physics and the sub-discipline of theoretical physics as intellectual fields. The evidence is assessment tasks given to students at different points of their studies from first year to doctoral levels. By examining and analysing the assessment tasks using concepts from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), we demonstrate how the shifts in the assessments incrementally lead students from a pure disciplinary focus to one that enables students to potentially pursue employment both within and outside of academia. In doing so, we also highlight the usefulness of LCT as a framework for evaluating the preparation of science students for diverse workplaces.