Abstract
Being able to discover students‟ conceptions and more importantly alternate- and misconceptions about a topic is vital in order to be able to assess and thus be able to improve student learning. It is well known that this can be achieved via the use of well-designed diagnostic tests, a widely used example of which is the Force Concept Inventory. Creating the right questions in order to form a reliable diagnostic test can be a lengthy and complicated process. This article reports work on a Development Project funded in 2008 to develop such a test for introductory Quantum Mechanics courses in both physics and chemistry. We present details of our methodology, which involves augmenting a „standard‟ multiple-choice question set with free-response boxes to determine the reasons for a student choosing a particular answer, and a self-assessment of their level of confidence in their choice. The responses from piloting this initial test in different institutions are used to inform the subsequent refinement of the test, as well as assessing the reliability and validity of the questions. We highlight examples of misconceptions that have been found during the development of the diagnostic tests.
Highlights
Utility of Diagnostic Tests Diagnostic tests have been used in a range of different subjects in order to gain a fuller understanding of students‟ grasp of key concepts
The Force Concept Inventory[2] is an example of a diagnostic test in classical mechanics that has been shown to uncover many misconceptions that students hold about the subject
Styles of Questions When designing a diagnostic test that is going to be an effective tool in uncovering any misconceptions to which the students may be subject, it is important to ascertain the origin of these misconceptions
Summary
Utility of Diagnostic Tests Diagnostic tests have been used in a range of different subjects in order to gain a fuller understanding of students‟ grasp of key concepts. The test was used as a quantitative measure of learning gains from different types of instruction and so was given to the students both pre and post instruction and from this their percentage gains were able to be calculated.[3] It can be interpreted from these results that the test consistently highlighted certain misconceptions, regardless of prior learning of the subject or instructional style.
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