Concept Inventory Research Articles

What Physics Instructors Can Learn from Astronomy Teaching

A student says, “Even though the physics involved can be basically the same, the setup is what drives me to like astronomy more,” comparing his introductory physics class to his introductory astronomy class. Another student concurs, “Astronomy is more exciting.” What is it about astronomy that appeals to students? Is there a way to harness such enthusiasm within the context of an introductory physics class while retaining the same level of rigor? Here, we describe a study that shows that, compared with an introductory physics course for science and engineering majors, an introductory astronomy course (also for science and engineering majors) had similar gains on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), but students’ attitudes and approaches to problem solving were significantly better in the latter. Moreover, interviewed students corroborated the survey findings that the astronomy course was significantly more enjoyable and engaging. This suggests that physics instructors can learn from the way astronomy is often taught, in order to better engage students.

Impact of practical work in promoting learning of kinematics graphs in Tanzanian teachers’ training colleges

This paper investigated the impact of practical work in promoting the learning of kinematics graphs in Tanzanian teachers’ training colleges. The study employed a quantitative research approach and experimental design. A total of 150 pre-service Physics teachers from two teachers’ training colleges were distributed into control and experimental groups. Pre-service teachers in the control group were taught through the usual lecture method while those in the experimental group were taught through practical work. Developed and validated physics teachers’ kinematics graphs concept inventory was used for measuring pre-service teachers’ achievement by administering tests before and after interventions. Simple descriptive (mean, minimum, standard deviations, and maximum) and inferential statistics (t-tests, effect size, p-value, and normalized score gains) were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 and Microsoft Excel. The group of pre-service teachers in the experimental group performed better than those in the control group by achieving average normalized learning gains of 39.6% compared to normalized learning gains of 1.52% for the lecture class. There was also a statistically significant difference (p-value < 0.001) in performance when pre-service teachers were taught through practical work. The study concluded that the use of practical work in teaching and learning was a good approach because it improved pre-service teachers’ understanding of kinematics graphs significantly. Based on these findings, the study recommends using practical work in the teaching and learning process for better performance of learners in kinematics graphs and other topics of physics.

Development and Validation of a Concept Inventory for Interpreting Kinematics Graphs in the Tanzanian Context

<p style="text-align: justify;">This paper discusses the development and validation of a concept inventory for interpreting kinematics graphs in the Tanzanian context. The study involved 61 participants comprising physics pre-service teachers, secondary school teachers, diploma college tutors, and a university lecturer from Tanzania. We developed 25 multiple-choice questions for interpreting kinematics graphs. The different steps in the development process used are selecting the topic, setting objectives, constructing questions, validating questions, and reliability testing. We carried out descriptive and inferential statistical analysis by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22 followed by item analysis for pre-and post-piloting. Findings revealed normal distribution scores with a mean and standard deviation of 39.28±10.893 for pre-piloting and 40.16±8.08 for post-piloting. It also revealed no significant difference between pre-and post-piloting results with a p-value of 0.414. In addition, correlation coefficients for test re-test reliability were .783 and .878 for single and average measures respectively. Moreover, item analysis in terms of difficulty index, discrimination index, and distractor efficiency agreed with the published standards. Based on these findings, the study recommends the use of developed and validated kinematics graphs concept inventory by physics educators in both research and classroom instructions in the Tanzanian context.</p>

Using Concept Inventory for Assessing Conceptual Knowledge in the Signals and Systems Course

Abstract: The engineering schools usually target problem-solving skills in students instead of conceptual development, which is an essential skill for transformation from novice to professional engineer as per the program objective. Improving a student's conceptual knowledge can help students understand a problem better and develop a better solution. Conceptual understanding also assists students in identifying gaps in their problem-solving techniques. This paper attempts to administer a Signal and System Concept Inventory (SSCI) to test the conceptual knowledge of core concepts of signals and systems course and then identify the correlation of post-test scores with the student's performance in the end-term exam. The result shows that the students who scored above 80% in concept inventory also performed outstanding in the end-term examination. The result also indicates that most of the students able solve questions on background mathematics and polezero plots but struggled with convolution and Fourier analysis. Keywords: concept inventory, conceptual understanding, assessment, engineering education

Establishing a physics concept inventory using computer marked free-response questions

The study covers the development and testing of the alternative mechanics survey (AMS), a modified force concept inventory (FCI), which used automatically marked free-response questions. Data were collected over a period of three academic years from 611 participants who were taking physics classes at high school and university level. A total of 8,091 question responses were gathered to develop and test the AMS. The AMS questions were tested for reliability using classical test theory (CTT). The AMS computer marking rules were tested for reliability using inter-rater reliability (IRR). Findings from the CTT and IRR studies demonstrated that the AMS questions and marking rules were overall reliable. Therefore, the AMS was established as a physics concept inventory which uses automatically-marked, free-response questions. The approach used to develop and test the AMS could be used in further attempts to develop concept inventories which make use of automatically-marked, free-response questions.

Conceptual Understanding of Signals and Systems in Senior Undergraduate Students

Contribution: This article proposes a new definition of conceptual understanding (CU) specific to engineering. It then measures CU of signals and systems (S&S) in senior undergraduate students and describes how students approach conceptual problems. Background: Previous studies across multiple engineering subjects show students have low CU at the end of courses. However, little is known about CU semesters after a course. Research Questions: What is the CU of S&S concepts among electrical engineering senior students? Methodology: This mixed method study uses quantitative concept inventory data <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(n=467)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and think-aloud interviews <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(n={12})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to measure CU. The results come from two universities. Findings: Seniors’ scores on the concept inventory are typical of scores presented at the end of an S&S course. Many struggled with the concept of linearity, made a common error when finding the maximum value in graphical convolution, and had low confidence on relating frequencies in time to a Fourier transform representation, but seniors had relatively high CU of time invariance and filtering.

Alignment among environmental programs in higher education: What Food-Energy-Water Nexus concepts are covered in introductory courses?

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs are different from other fields because they focus on a complex integration of humanities, social, and natural sciences concepts centered on the interactions of coupled human and natural systems. The interdisciplinary nature of IES programs does not lend itself to traditional discipline-specific concept inventory frameworks for critically evaluating preconceptions and learning. We discuss the results of the first phase of a research project to develop a next generation concept inventory for evaluating interdisciplinary concepts important for introductory IES courses. Using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus (the intersections/interdependencies of food, energy, and water sectors) as our focus, we conducted a content analysis of eight representative college-level introductory environmental course syllabi and course materials (e.g., textbooks, journal articles, print media) to identify common interdisciplinary FEW Nexus concepts taught in introductory IES courses. Results demonstrate that all IES introductory course materials reference the FEW Nexus. Food, energy, and/or water resources as individual elements of the FEW Nexus are frequently described, but connections between these resource systems are included less often. Biology, energy systems, waste and pollution in the natural environment, agriculture, earth sciences and geology, climate change, behavioral social sciences, and economics concepts are most associated with FEW concepts, hinting at commonalities across IES topics that anchor systems thinking. Despite differences in IES programs, there appears to be some alignment between core concepts being taught at the FEW Nexus in introductory courses.

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

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.

Enhancing Concept Inventory Analysis by Using Indexes, Optimal Histogram Idea, and the Likert Analysis

Since the introduction of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) in 1992, the CI tests have been widely used for measuring conceptual knowledge and for studying teaching issues in almost all disciplines and levels of study. A standard concept inventory analysis includes the design of a qualitative test, adequate realization of testing, calibration procedure, and comprehensive analysis of its findings. Usually, the CI test calibration is carried out through the Rasch sociometric technique, which is also used for calculating crucial indicators of knowledge such as item difficulties, students’ abilities, and many more. Whereas the quality of the tests’ design can be guaranteed by using certified and professional CI tests, the statistical adequacy of the testing merits critical attention before going on to the final step of the analysis. Also, the analysis of CI outcomes can be advanced by contemplating auxiliary tools and complementary techniques. In this framework, we propose to enforce the test index validity requirement for qualifying the CI outcomes as local or global. Specifically, the conclusions of CI analysis are acceptable for the whole population from which the sample has been extracted if the test's indexes comply with the validity requirements provided by the index theory. In the case when test indexes are out of validity range and re-conducting them is impractical for some objective circumstances or research specifics, we suggest injecting some new records into the existing one or mixing the data gathered from different samples until the new indexes are in the desired range. Using this methodology, we have reviewed our previous FCI tests, which were initially intended to demonstrate the impairment of learning in the physics discipline triggered by online learning during the pandemic closure. Through this renormalization procedure, we obtained a credible assessment of the understanding of mechanics and electromagnetism in high school students who followed online lectures during the pandemic closure. Also, by using indexes’ validity as an auxiliary tool, we identified that for measuring the knowledge of electromagnetism in students enrolled in branches where physics is a basic discipline, a shortened version of the BEMA test was a better instrument than the corresponding shortened EMCI test. Next, we used the optimal histogram idea borrowed from distribution fitting procedures to identify the natural levels of students’ abilities for solving a certain CI test. Another intriguing proposal presented in this work consists of combining an ad-hoc Likert scale assignment for usual errors in physics exams with the FCI designation of the basic commonsense confusion in mechanics for identifying their pairing features in common exams. We believe that the methods proposed herein can improve CI analysis in more general senses. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2023-04-01-08 Full Text: PDF

Development of Online Mechanics Concept Inventory (OMCI) Instrument Based on Local Wisdom

This study discusses the development of online mechanics concept inventory (OMCI) instrument based on local wisdom. The purpose of this study to determine the quality of the online mechanics concept inventory instrument based on local wisdom. The type of this research is Research and Development (RD). The developed instrument is integrated with local wisdom, so that every item has literacy as a stimulus for the question. The concept inventory instrument is one of the test tools presented online which is used to measure students' conceptual understanding. The research model used is Borg and Gall. The instrument developed were validated by expert judgment. The results of the validation assessment are in the form of qualitative and quantitative content validity. The results of qualitative validity can be seen in terms of materials obtained on an average of 99.2%, construction is averaged 93.3%, and language is averaged 97.4%. While the quantitative analysis of validity is done using Aiken's v equations obtained an average of 0.841 of valored 0.841 is so high, it is worth being used to measure understanding the conception of learners.

Analyzing the Correlation Between Student's Knowledge of Newton's Laws of Physics and Their Enjoyment of Watching Marvel Films

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has produced numerous worldwide box office hits such as Avengers: End Game, Avengers: Infinity Wars, and the Spiderman series. However, previous researchers discovered countless numbers of the feasibility of the physics within these films. The ongoing discussion among the scientific community led to the aim of my research: to examine if there exists a positive or negative correlation between a viewer’s knowledge of science, particularly Newton’s Laws, and their enjoyment of Marvel films, specifically superhero movies.&#x0D; To determine the relationship between students’ scientific literacy and their enjoyment of watching Marvel films, I conducted two types of quantitative research: a pre-validated Half Force Concept Inventory test and a Two-Sample Independent t-Test conducted on 91 students in four AP Physics 1 classes in X High School. &#x0D; My study concluded that the correlation between the viewer’s knowledge of science, particularly Newton’s Laws, had no significant relationship with their enjoyment of watching Marvel films.

EXAMINING THE PHYSICS CONCEPTIONS, SCIENCE ENGAGEMENT AND MISCONCEPTIONS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN STEM

Exploring students’ physics conceptions, science engagement and misconceptions in physics together with their association to certain variables (gender, educational background, and program of study) are essential in improving physics teaching and learning. However, few studies have been conducted to explore these three measures and almost none among STEM undergraduate students in the domain of Newtonian mechanics. To explore these measures, the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Science Engagement Survey (SES) were administered to 281 STEM undergraduate students. Various statistical tools (ANOVA, t-test, correlations, etc.) have been utilized in the data analyses. The result revealed that gender and previous upper-secondary school strand have no significant effect on physics conceptions but have a significant effect on science engagement. The results also revealed a weak correlation between physics conceptions and science engagement, suggesting that interest becomes more effective when it was developed during the learning process. Finally, the results also revealed that more than 80% of the participants have a misunderstanding about the force direction of a thrown object, confirming that the dominant features of force and motion students have less conform to problems that involve non-contact force. Keywords: conceptual change, misconceptions, physics conceptions, science engagement.

An application of Bayesian inference to examine student retention and attrition in the STEM classroom

IntroductionAs artificial intelligence (AI) technology becomes more widespread in the classroom environment, educators have relied on data-driven machine learning (ML) techniques and statistical frameworks to derive insights into student performance patterns. Bayesian methodologies have emerged as a more intuitive approach to frequentist methods of inference since they link prior assumptions and data together to provide a quantitative distribution of final model parameter estimates. Despite their alignment with four recent ML assessment criteria developed in the educational literature, Bayesian methodologies have received considerably less attention by academic stakeholders prompting the need to empirically discern how these techniques can be used to provide actionable insights into student performance.MethodsTo identify the factors most indicative of student retention and attrition, we apply a Bayesian framework to comparatively examine the differential impact that the amalgamation of traditional and AI-driven predictors has on student performance in an undergraduate in-person science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) course.ResultsInteraction with the course learning management system (LMS) and performance on diagnostic concept inventory (CI) assessments provided the greatest insights into final course performance. Establishing informative prior values using historical classroom data did not always appreciably enhance model fit.DiscussionWe discuss how Bayesian methodologies are a more pragmatic and interpretable way of assessing student performance and are a promising tool for use in science education research and assessment.

Is It Problem or Project-Based Instruction: Implementing PBI for the First Time in an Engineering Mechanics College Course

This mixed methods study investigated a college engineering professor’s first-time implementation of project/problem-based instruction (PBI) within an engineering mechanics (EM) course and compared this implementation with a business-as-usual (BAU) EM course. Research questions concerned the degree to which the PBI course changed from a BAU model and the effectiveness of the PBI implementation on students’ EM learning as measured by a Statics Concept Inventory as compared to BAU students. Findings showed the professor’s original intentions and realizations of project-based instruction had to be adjusted to a problem-based instructional format to keep it in line with the EM course objectives (simply better suited as problem-based).

Biophysics concept inventory survey: An assessment in biophysical undergraduate education

By developing a metric to gauge student understanding, instructors can assess student base knowledge and better understand where to direct or how to instruct students. Here we introduce a Biophysical Conceptual Inventory Survey (BCIS), a 20-question, multiple-choice survey to quantitatively measure student learning regarding biophysical concepts. The BCIS contains five different question types: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and synthesis. These questions probe the student's ability to apply the knowledge to various situations. We applied the BCIS on 32 undergraduate students over three-year cohorts of ∼10 students. Each cohort participated in a 10-week summer research experience, where each student leads their own interdisciplinary research project. Students take the BCIS twice, once right before the start of the REU (the pre-survey) and then again right at the end of the REU (the post-survey). The score from the pre-survey and post-survey are compared to determine the fraction of the maximum possible gain realized. This gain is compared against various factors of the students and REU situations. The BCIS shows no biases on gender, diversity, class ranking, or home university Carnegie classification. Further, most students showed a net gain with a mean of 0.124, with 75% showing no loss. The positive gain reflects the benefit of active learning with little to no traditional instruction. Thus, the BCIS is a robust, unbiased assessment tool for biophysical undergraduate education.

The Use of Concept Cartoons in Overcoming The Misconception in Electricity Concepts

Electricity is a very important concept in learning Physics. Mastering this concept can make learning Physics meaningful and relatable to real life problems. However, literature indicates that students have poor conceptual understanding of concepts about electricity. The current research aims to improve Form 5 (aged 17 years) students’ understanding of direct current circuits by using Concept Cartoons Worksheets. Concept Cartoons are A single-group pre-test/post-test investigation was carried out using seven Concept Cartoons Worksheets designed to address common conceptual misconceptions about direct current circuits with a total of 30 physics student participants. The seven Concept Cartoons were modified based on the Concept Inventory Test “Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuit Concepts Test (DIRECT). Concept Cartoons Worksheets were used to correct students’ misconceptions about direct current circuits and to increase their level of conceptual understanding. The data collected were analysed quantitatively to obtain percentages, means, and t-test values. The descriptive statistics showed an increase in the level of student’s conceptual understanding after the use of Concept Cartoons. The t-test analysis reported that the difference was significant. The results show that Malaysian students do have misconceptions about electricity concepts. However, Concept Cartoons Worksheets are effective to overcome students’ misconceptions about electrical concepts, specifically toward current circuits. Concept Cartoons are not only effective in overcoming misconceptions among students, they are also refreshing and unique because of the cartoons presented while relating to Physics concepts that are abstract.

Is the Universe Infinite? Characterising a Hierarchy of Reasoning in Student Conceptions of Cosmology Concepts Using Open-Ended Surveys

Cosmology presents students with ideas that stimulate their curiosity and brings together various concepts from STEM that call on a variety of reasoning types across multiple representational modes, involving subtleties of spacetime relations, a variety of models and evidence requiring multiple lines of high precision observations. This study investigated high school students’ levels and types of reasoning that frame their conceptions in different cosmology topics. An open-ended knowledge survey, the Cosmology Knowledge Survey (CosmoKS), was developed and implemented online to 286 high school students (aged 16–18 years) from Australia and Sweden. A modified version of the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy with four levels (pre-structural, uni-structural, multi-structural and relational) was used as a guide to analyse students’ open-ended and structured responses. This provided insights into the level and complexity of reasoning underpinning a variety of conceptions across the four dimensions of cosmology education: size and scale, spacetime location, composition of the universe and evolution of the universe. The study identified underlying patterns in student reasoning and conceptions in cosmology, summarised as (i) navigating spatial and temporal relations, (ii) counterintuitive concepts and (iii) language and everyday experience, especially intuition. The analysis led to the characterisation of a hierarchy of reasoning that helps identify sources of alternative conceptions and provided the basis for the development of a concept inventory and progression with broad implications.

Exploring the Understanding of Concept Inventories for Classroom Assessment by Physics Tutors and Pre-Service Teachers in Tanzania

This study aimed at exploring the understanding of concept inventories for classroom assessment by physics tutors and pre-service teachers in selected diploma teachers’ training colleges in Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative research approach and a case study design. Eight physics tutors and 20 second-year pre-service physics teachers from two selected diploma colleges were involved in the study. Data were collected using tutors’ interviews and pre-service teachers’ focus group discussions. Analysis of data was carried out by using the deductive thematic analysis technique.The findings revealed that these physics tutors and pre-service teachers understand concept inventory as a question-and-answer assessment strategy and as a criterion-referenced test. It was also revealed that both groups were not familiar with the format and examples of concept inventory tests found in physics. Moreover, the findings indicated that participants were conducting diagnostic assessments by using other forms of assessment tools apart from concept inventories. The assessment practices were dominated by traditional assessment methods such as written tests and examinations. The study concluded that assessments through concept inventories remain a big challenge to the participants. The study recommends providing in-service training for physics tutors on the use of concept inventory for effective assessments of pre-service teachers and training the latter on how to use concept inventories.

Still a private universe? Community college students’ understanding of evolution

BackgroundMeasuring what students know and retain about evolution is essential to improving our understanding of how students learn evolution. The literature shows that college students appear to have a poor understanding of evolution, answering questions on various instruments correctly only about half of the time. There is little research regarding evolution understanding among community college students and so this study examines if those students who are enrolled in life science classes, who are assessed using questions based on grade eight standards, show a better understanding of evolutionary principles than younger students and if there are differences in knowledge based on course enrollment. The authors utilized a survey of 41 items of the Life Sciences Concept Inventory that were specifically designed to measure knowledge about various aspects of evolution that relate to the 5–8 grade science standards on evolution. They administered it to 191 adult students who were enrolled in nine sections across five life sciences courses at one community college in Southern California.ResultsResults indicated that the students in this study possessed a fair understanding of evolution, averaging scores of nearly 70%, higher than what other researchers have found (using different instruments). Students enrolled in biology major classes scored significantly higher than those enrolled in non/mixed-major courses. There was a strong relationship between item difficulty and discrimination as well as difficulty and misconception strength. When compared with the 5–8 grade student data, the community college students showed a lower level of difficulty and higher levels of item discrimination, but the proportion choosing the most popular wrong answer (the dominant misconception), was comparable. College students showed similar patterns to the grade 5–8 students in terms of which questions and which material were the most challenging, despite performing better overall.ConclusionsIn this study, students possessed fair understanding of evolution. However, they were assessed with an instrument designed for 5th through 8th grade students. The results of this study support the need for more research into how community college students understand evolution and which factors impact that understanding.

Nursing students’ genomics literacy: Basis for genomics nursing education course development

This study aimed to investigate the genomics literacy of Finnish and Filipino nursing students as a basis for developing a genomics nursing education course. This is a cross-sectional online survey using the 31-item Genomic Nursing Concept Inventory, IBM SPSS version 27, and item-analysis. A total of 245 nursing students participated in the study; 75% reported that they had not completed any genetics-genomics courses. The GNCI scores ranged from 2 to 31 total correct answers out of a total possible score of 31. The GNCI mean score of the Finnish cohort (9.53; SD = 3.48; 36% correct) was significantly lower compared to the Filipino cohort (16.21; SD = 9.74, 58% correct). These results show that the genomics literacy of nursing students in Finland and the Philippines is weak, particularly in human genome homogeneity and genotype-phenotype association concepts. We recommend designing effective genetic and genomic educational programs and updating the nursing curricula.