Author(s):
Over the past 30 years, students’ learning in introductory physics courses has often been assessed using instruments such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE), which were designed to measure students’ conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics. However, these commonly used legacy instruments have shown some serious flaws including substantial psychometric problems and demographic biases which make them inaccurate for some underrepresented student populations. In view of these issues, there is a need to develop new and improved assessment tools focused on the accurate and fair measurement of students’ conceptual understanding in introductory physics courses. This project engages in the design of a set of valid, fair, and flexible items assessing conceptual understanding of kinematics and dynamics for introductory physics courses. Our multi-institutional project team includes physics education researchers from Michigan State University, West Virginia University, and Ohio State University. We have been guiding our work using the following research questions: (1) What assessment argument is supported by the physics community for conceptual understanding of kinematics and dynamics? And (2) What validation framework is required for standardized multiple-choice instruments for college physics students that ensures the instruments are valid, reliable, and fair for a diverse population of students? The new and flexible tool will include a library of items organized into multiple scales measuring foundational topics for introductory physics courses. The flexibility of this tools will allow physics instructors the autonomy to build their own classroom assessment for their individual needs. The first scale to be developed is intended to measure student understanding of one-dimensional kinematics, one of the foundational topics for introductory physics. So far within the first year of the project, approximately 40 items have been piloted and tested at the three large research universities producing over 2000 student responses. Both qualitative and quantitative validation of these items is underway in addition to the development of the data collection process for gathering input from the broader physics community. This work has broad implications for introductory physics instructors across the nation as well as the national and global PER community. The flexible library of constructed and validated items will greatly advance the ability of physics instructors to understand and improve their classes. The development of this instrument will gather the input of the U.S. physics community about what is most important to assess in introductory mechanics courses. Overall, this project has the potential to impact hundreds of thousands of students enrolled in introductory college physics courses every year.
Coauthors
Dena Izadi, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; John Stewart, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV; Gay Stewart, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV; Andrew Heckler, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
