Development of a waves and vibration concept inventory: Challenges and applications

Abstract

A useful tool for measuring learning gains and for assessing the effectiveness of instruction in the physical sciences is the “concept inventory.” This is a set of questions administered at the beginning of a course, or prior to a unit of instruction, as well as at the conclusion. Students may told their scores, but are not provided with the answers. An early example is the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), published in 1992, which has been widely adopted for use in introductory physics courses and has served as the model for concept inventories. This presentation describes the ongoing development of an inventory designed to test conceptual understanding of basic principles of vibration and wave propagation that are typically covered in a first-year physics course or introductory or intermediate courses on acoustics-related topics. The current version builds on previous work by the author to develop a more focused inventory for an introductory course in musical acoustics (https://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.5067886). Results from the trial use of this inventory in multiple courses at Central Washington University will be discussed.