Force Concept Inventory Research Articles

“Physics with a Smile”—Explaining Phenomena with a Qualitative Problem-Solving Strategy

Various studies indicate that high school physics students and even college students majoring in physics have difficulties in qualitative understanding of basic concepts and principles of physics.1–5 For example, studies carried out with the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)1,6 illustrate that qualitative tasks are not easy to solve even at the college level. Consequently, “conceptual physics” courses have been designed to foster qualitative understanding, and advanced high school physics courses as well as introductory college-level courses strive to develop qualitative understanding. Many physics education researchers emphasize the importance of acquiring some qualitative understanding of basic concepts in physics as early as middle school or in the context of courses that offer “Physics First” in the ninth grade before biology or chemistry.7 This trend is consistent with the call to focus the science curriculum on a small number of basic concepts and ideas, and to instruct students in a more “meaningful way” leading to better understanding. Studies7–10 suggest that familiar everyday contexts (see Fig. 1) are useful in fostering qualitative understanding.

Context sensitivity in the force concept inventory

The force concept inventory and a 10-question context-modified test were given to 647 students enrolled in introductory physics classes at the University of Arkansas. Context changes had an effect ranging from $\ensuremath{-}3%$ to 10% on the individual questions. The average student score on the ten transformed questions was 3% higher than the average student score on the corresponding 10 force concept inventory questions. Therefore, the effect of contextual changes on the total of the 10 questions is not sufficient to affect normal use of the force concept inventory as a diagnostic instrument.

The impact of the pre-instructional cognitive profile on learning gain and final exam of physics courses: a case study

The case study described in this paper investigates the relationship among some pre-instructional knowledge, the learning gain and the final physics performance of computing engineering students in the introductory physics course. The results of the entrance engineering test (EET) have been used as a measurement of reading comprehension, logic and mathematics skills and basic physics knowledge of a sample of 47 Computing Engineering freshmen at the University of Palermo (Italy). These data give a significant picture of the initial knowledge status of a student choosing engineering studies. The students' physics learning gain has been calculated using a standardized tool in mechanics: the force concept inventory (FCI). The analysis shows that mathematical and physical background contribute to achieve a good final preparation in physics courses of engineering faculties; however the students' learning gain in physics is independent of students' initial level of mathematics skills and physics knowledge. Initial logic skills and reading comprehension abilities are not significant factors for the learning physics gain and the performance on physics courses.

The New Studio format for instruction of introductory physics

We have developed the New Studio format of instruction for improved conceptual learning while retaining problem-solving skill development in large, first-year physics courses. This format retains the large lecture, but combines traditional recitation and laboratory instruction. The New Studio format integrates simplified laboratories with assigned homework problems to integrate conceptual and problem-solving skills. The studio format combines 2hours of lecture with 4hours of studio each week. The studio is taught for 2hours twice per week, and consists of up to 40 students working in groups of four at tables equipped with modern instructional technology and apparatus. The group setting allows for peer instruction and development of group skills. The combination of traditional lecture with the studio format enables a research-oriented physics department with a large service teaching load to implement research-based pedagogy. Student gains on the Force Concept Inventory were similar to other courses taught by interactive engagement methods.

Developing web-oriented homework system to assess students' introductory physics course performance and compare to paper-based peer homework

The World Wide Web influences education and our lives in many ways. Nowadays, Web-based homework has been becoming widespread practice in physics courses and some other courses as well. Although are some disputes whether this is an encouraging or risky development for student learning, there is limited research assessing the pedagogical effect of changing the medium from written, handgraded homework to online oriented, computer-graded homework. In this study, web-oriented homework system is developed to assess students’ introductory physics course performance. Later on, these results are compared with paper-based (peer) homework performance for mid enrollment physics courses. One of two identical sections of introductory physics course students received paper-based, hand graded group homework while the other received the individual web-based homework. Then two groups’ on conceptual and problem-solving performance measures are compared. No significant differences were found in students’ Force Concept Inventory (FCI) test scores; however, average homework performance scores were significant that could be attributed to the homework method used in favor of paperbased peer homework group.

Testing the test: Item response curves and test quality

We present a simple technique for evaluating multiple-choice questions and their answers beyond the usual measures of difficulty and the effectiveness of distractors. The technique involves the construction and qualitative consideration of item response curves and is based on item response theory from the field of education measurement. To demonstrate the technique, we apply item response curve analysis to three questions from the Force Concept Inventory. Item response curve analysis allows us to characterize qualitatively whether these questions are efficient, where efficient is defined in terms of the construction, performance, and discrimination of a question and its answer choices. This technique can be used to develop future multiple-choice examination questions and a better understanding of results from existing diagnostic instruments.

Investigating High School Students' Science Experiences and Mechanics Understanding

This research study was designed to provide an introductory examination of how high school students' out‐of‐school science experiences, particularly those relevant to the physical sciences, relate to their learning of Newtonian mechanics. A factor analysis of the modified Science Experiences Survey (SES; Mason & Kahle, 1988) was performed, leading to three factors: Learning Attributes Related to Science, Physical Science Experiences, Nature Experiences. The students' learning of Newtonian mechanics was measured by their gain score from a pre‐instruction/post‐instruction administration of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI; Hestenes, Wells, & Swackhamer, 1992). An analysis of variance showed that females and males in honors physics courses demonstrated similar gain scores, while males in non‐honors courses demonstrated larger gains (p < 0.05) than the females. When the students' total SES and SES factor scores were correlated with their FCI pretest and gain scores, the SES Physical Science Experience score was found to be significantly related to the FCI pretest score (p = 0.01). No other correlations were significant.

Impact of animation on assessment of conceptual understanding in physics

This study investigates the effect of computer animation on assessment and the conditions under which animation may improve or hinder assessment of conceptual understanding in physics. An instrument was developed by replacing static pictures and descriptions of motion with computer animations on the Force Concept Inventory, a commonly used pencil and paper test. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The animated and static versions of the test were given to students and the results were statistically analyzed. Think-aloud interviews were also conducted to provide additional insight into the statistical findings. We found that good verbal skills tended to increase performance on the static version but not on the animated version of the test. In general, students had a better understanding of the intent of the question when viewing an animation and gave an answer that was more indicative of their actual understanding, as reflected in separate interviews. In some situations this led students to the correct answer and in others it did not. Overall, we found that animation can improve assessment under some conditions by increasing the validity of the instrument.

Developing Biochemistry Concept Inventories for Diagnosing Students’ Misconceptions

The Force Concept Inventory presented by Hestenes (The Physics Teacher, Vol. 30, pp. 141–158) has been widely adopted and used to reform physics education. However, the field of biochemistry is not yet served by similar assessment instruments, as pointed out by Hal White who emphasized the need for more conceptual questions in biochemistry (Biochem. Mol. Bio. Ed., Vol. 33, pp. 227–8). Our current research focuses on developing biochemistry concept inventories (BCCIs) based on a pilot study in undergraduate biochemistry courses where student responses to the distracters of the pre-assessment questions were mapped to specific known misconceptions. We will present the use of think-aloud protocols to ascertain the validity of the questions. The BCCIs will consist of three thematic sections: (1) structure and function of biomolecules, (2) properties of amino acids and (3) reversible equilibrium. When appropriately used, concept inventories have been shown to have significant effects in reforming undergraduate science education. They provide powerful summative assessments; and perhaps more importantly, they can be formative assessments that aid instructors in adjusting their pedagogical strategies to remediate the misconceptions diagnosed. Thus, development and use of BCCIs should lead to significant improvements in the way biochemical instruction is conducted in the classrooms of the future.

Model analysis: Representing and assessing the dynamics of student learning

Decades of education research have shown that students can simultaneously possess alternate knowledge frameworks and that the development and use of such knowledge are context dependent. As a result of extensive qualitative research, standardized multiple-choice tests such as Force Concept Inventory and Force-Motion Concept Evaluation tests provide instructors tools to probe their students' conceptual knowledge of physics. However, many existing quantitative analysis methods often focus on a binary question of whether a student answers a question correctly or not. This greatly limits the capacity of using the standardized multiple-choice tests in assessing students' alternative knowledge. In addition, the context dependence issue, which suggests that a student may apply the correct knowledge in some situations and revert to use alternative types of knowledge in others, is often treated as random noise in current analyses. In this paper, we present a model analysis, which applies qualitative research to establish a quantitative representation framework. With this method, students' alternative knowledge and the probabilities for students to use such knowledge in a range of equivalent contexts can be quantitatively assessed. This provides a way to analyze research-based multiple choice questions, which can generate much richer information than what is available from score-based analysis.

Interpreting FCI scores: Normalized gain, preinstruction scores, and scientific reasoning ability

We examined normalized gains and preinstruction scores on the force concept inventory (FCI) for students in interactive engagement courses in introductory mechanics at four universities and found a significant, positive correlation for three of them. We also examined class average FCI scores of 2948 students in 38 interactive engagement classes, 31 of which were from the same four universities and 7 of which came from 3 other schools. We found a significant, positive correlation between class average normalized FCI gains and class average preinstruction scores. To probe this correlation, we administered Lawson’s classroom test of scientific reasoning to 65 students and found a significant, positive correlation between these students’ normalized FCI gains and their Lawson test scores. This correlation is even stronger than the correlation between FCI gains and preinstruction FCI scores. Our study demonstrates that differences in student populations are important when comparing normalized gains in different interactive engagement classes. We suggest using the Lawson test along with the FCI to measure the effectiveness of alternative interactive engagement strategies.

High School Students’ Conceptual Coherence of Qualitative Knowledge in the Case of the Force Concept

High School Students’ Conceptual Coherence of Qualitative Knowledge in the Case of the Force Concept

The Need for a Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory for Assessing Innovations in Introductory Astronomy Survey Courses

In this era of dramatically increased astronomy education research efforts, there is a growing need for standardized evaluation protocols and a strategy to assess both student comprehension of fundamental concepts and the success of innovative instructional interventions. Of the many topics that could be taught in an introductory astronomy course, the nature of light and the electromagnetic spectrum is by far the most universally covered topic. Yet, to the surprise and disappointment of instructors, many students struggle to understand underlying fundamental concepts related to light, such as blackbody radiation, Wien’s law, the Stefan-Boltzmann law, and the nature and causes of emission and absorption line spectra. Motivated by predecessor instruments such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT), and the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI), we call for, and are working on, the development and validation of a Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory. This assessment instrument should measure students’ conceptual understanding of light and spectroscopy and gauge the effectiveness of classroom instruction in promoting student learning in the introductory astronomy survey course.

A direct comparison of conceptual learning and problem solving ability in traditional and studio style classrooms

We present data on student performance on conceptual understanding and on quantitative problem-solving ability in introductory mechanics in both studio and traditional classroom modes. The conceptual measures used were the Force Concept Inventory and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. Quantitative problem-solving ability was measured with standard questions on the final exam. Our data compare three different quarters over the course of 2 years. In all three quarters, the normalized learning gain in conceptual understanding was significantly larger for students in the studio sections. At the same time, students in the studio sections performed the same or slightly worse on quantitative final exam problems.

An Investigation of Factors Affecting the Degree of Na�ve Impetus Theory Application

This study investigates factors affecting the degree of novice physics students’ application of the naive impetus theory. Six hundred and fourteen first-year university engineering physics students answered the Force Concept Inventory as a pre-test for their calculus-based course. We examined the degree to which students consistently applied the naive impetus theory across different items. We used a 2-way repeated measures ANOVA and linear regression to analyze data coded from incorrect student responses. It was found that there were statistically significant main effects for item familiarity and item requirement for explanation vs. prediction on the measured degree of impetus theory application. Student course grades had no significant effect on impetus theory application. When faced with items that were unfamiliar and predictive, students appeared to rely on non-theoretical, knowledge-in-pieces reasoning. Reasoning characteristic of naive theories was more frequently applied when students were completing familiar problem tasks that required explanation. When considering all the above factors simultaneously, we found that the degree of naive impetus theory application by students is attributable to variables in the following order: familiarity, prediction, and explanation.

Using an online homework system enhances students’ learning of physics concepts in an introductory physics course

We report the results of a comparison of student understanding of physics concepts with and without online homework, as measured by the force concept inventory. We compared students in large introductory courses taught by interactive engagement and noninteractive engagement methods and with ungraded homework and with online homework. We also compared the understanding of students in different grade subgroups. The increase in the average force concept inventory normalized gain was statistically significant for all students taught with online homework, indicating that graded homework increases student understanding of physics concepts. The gain was significantly higher for those students taught with interactive engagement methods together with online homework. The C grade subgroup taught by interactive engagement methods benefited more from the implementation of online homework than the other subgroups.

Effects of a problem‐based learning program on engineering students’ academic achievements in a Mexican university1

The aim of this paper is to report on a three‐year follow‐up evaluation of an experimental problem‐based learning (PBL) integrated curriculum directed to second‐year engineering students. The PBL curriculum brought together the contents of physics, mathematics and computer science courses into a single course. Instead of the students having to enroll in each course separately, they had the opportunity to enroll in a single course in which they learned the contents of those subjects by solving real‐life engineering problems. In order to evaluate the effects of the program on the students’ academic achievement, three data sources were taken: pre‐test–post‐test scores on two physics tests: students’ grade point average (GPA); and students’ grades in advanced engineering courses. With respect to the first source of data, results showed that while PBL students’ improvements in scores were significantly higher than control students’ improvements on the Mechanics Baseline Test, improvements were similar in both groups on the Force Concept Inventory. With regard to the second source of data, PBL students’ GPA was significantly higher than control students’ GPA. Finally, when PBL and control students’ performance on advanced courses were compared, PBL students graded higher than control students on the five courses assessed. However, on only two of them (‘Probability and Statistics’ and ‘Oral Communication’) were the differences significant.

Enhancing conceptual change using argumentative essays

We show the utility of following up collaborative group work with written exercises. In a previous paper we discussed promoting conceptual change using collaborative group exercises in a manner based on the notion of conceptual conflict developed by Hewson and Hewson in which representatives of differing viewpoints debate their outlook. In this paper, we describe an enhancement of this method based on Feyerabend’s principle of counterinduction—the process by which one theory or idea is used to affect change in its rival. Students were required to follow up the conceptual conflict exercises with a written critique. Evaluations were done using the same enhanced version of the force concept inventory as administered to the students in the previous study.

Engajamento interativo no curso de Física I da UFJF

Neste trabalho descrevemos uma série de modificações no ensino de Física I para alunos do curso de Física da UFJF. Estas modificações introduziram um ambiente de engajamento interativo. Analisamos o sucesso do método aplicando o Force Concept Inventory e mostramos uma melhora do desempenho dos alunos, se comparados aos desempenhos típicos dos alunos em métodos convencionais.

The effect of distracters on student performance on the force concept inventory

We have compared students’ responses on four multiple-choice force concept inventory (FCI) questions with similar responses to equivalent open-ended questions. Our results indicate a good agreement between the percentages of correct responses in each of the two formats, indicating that distracters on the FCI do not adversely affect performance as measured by the number of correct answers. However, a significant percentage of the open-ended responses fall into categories that are not included in the FCI multiple choices. When these alternative categories were presented to the students as distracters in a revised multiple-choice format, a significant percentage of the students chose these alternative responses.