Mechanics Baseline Test Research Articles

Relevancy of Force Concept Inventory and Mechanics Baseline Test in Excerpting Conceptual Understanding of High-Performing Students

In the topics of mechanics, readily available instruments such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT) have been extensively used to assess students’ conceptual understanding, especially for high school and undergraduate students. In this paper, the relevancy of these two instruments in excerpting conceptual understanding of high-performing students was examined and the results were elaborated. The findings in this paper suggest that the FCI and MBT are indeed effective to show students’ basic conceptual understanding in mechanics but should not be used to assess improvement after learning intervention or to differentiate students’ conceptual understanding in a population of high performers. More advanced assessments, such as those that comprise higher order thinking questions, should be used for such purposes.

Investigation of first-year university students’ performance

The students enrolled in introductory physics courses at Loránd Eötvös University (ELTE) are tested with the Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT) since 2016. It is used as a pre-test at the beginning of the first semester and as a post-test at the beginning of the second one. In this study, an account is given about the newest results of the test and about our endeavor to make introductory courses more effective. Therefore, the effect of the size of the study group, the reduction of curriculum and motivation on students’ performance were investigated. The preliminary results show that smaller groups are more efficient, and the reduction of the curriculum does not play a major role in the possession of the knowledge concerned. Conversely, the motivation of the students increases the understanding of concepts and therefore, the performance at MBT.

Teaching and Learning Bucket Model: Experimented with Mechanics Baseline Test

<p style="text-align: justify;">Mechanics, as a large part of physics, shows the most basic concepts we encounter in our daily lives. With this regard, we implemented the mechanics baseline test (MBT) to the University of Rwanda - College of Education before and after the teaching mechanics module to track students learning. About 38 students participated in this study. We found the instructional strategies used to fit in a model we named "teaching and learning bucket" (lecturer backing and learners owning learning) during data analysis. The results showed that the performance occurred only in 12 out of 26 MBT items at a p<.001, and Cohen's D effect size of 1.26. Such analysis also allowed us to identify areas of mechanics that need teaching improvement, such as (a) constant acceleration, (b) average velocity, (c) the first law of Newton, (d) work and energy, and (e) energy conservation. There was also a positive correlation (r=0.58) between students' confidence in answering questions and correct answers provided and vice versa. Therefore, the research significantly informs lecturers to use various teaching approaches to effectively employ the teaching and learning bucket (TLB) model.</p>

Harnessing technology-enabled active learning simulations (TEALSim) on modern physics concept

Technology-Enabled Active Learning Simulations (TEALSim) is a pedagogic innovation in learning by utilizing multimedia in the form of interactive simulations through active learning. In Indonesia, the use of TEALSim is still very poor. This study aims to identify the influence of the use of TEALSim in the learning of material physics of particle wave dualism at Makassar State University. This research is a quasi experiment using Nonequivalent Control Group Design. Data sources were obtained from the final test in the form of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT). The sample is two classes who programed introductory courses in quantum physics in the physics department of Makassar State University. The first is physics education class B with 25 students as experiment class and the second is physics education class C with 30 students. Data analysis is done descriptively and inferentially. Based on the results of data analysis, it was obtained information that there were significant differences between the FCI test results of the experimental class and the control class, whereas there were no significant differences in the results of the MBT test for both classes. It can be concluded that there needs to be another method in the use of TEALSim in order to be able to improve conceptual understanding, analytical skills, and mathematical skills

Combining Surveys and Sensors to Explore Student Behaviour

Student belongingness is important for successful study paths, and group work forms an important part of modern university physics education. To study the group dynamics of introductory physics students at the University of Helsinki, we collected network data from seven laboratory course sections of approximately 20 students each for seven consecutive weeks. The data was collected via the SocioPatterns platform, and supplemented with students’ major subject, year of study and gender. We also collected the Mechanics Baseline Test to measure physics knowledge and the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey to measure attitudes. We developed metrics for studying the small networks of the laboratory sessions by using connections of the teaching assistant as a constant. In the network, we found both demographically homogeneous and heterogeneous groups that are stable. While some students are consistently loosely connected to their networks, we were not able to identify risk factors. Based on our results, the physics laboratory course is equally successful in building strongly connected groups regardless of student demographics in the sections or the formed small groups. SocioPatterns supplemented with surveys thus provides an opportunity to look into the dynamics of students’ social networks.

The Effects of a DLSCL Approach on Students Conceptual Understanding in an Undergraduate Introductory Physics Lab

This study investigated the effects of Discovery Learning Scientific Community Laboratories (DL-SCL) and traditional non-DLSCL laboratories on students’ conceptual understanding in a Physics-1 lab. At many universities, physics programs use a traditional lab style, despite research on the benefits for reform-oriented physics labs. This DL-SCL approach included features of inquiry-based learning (e.g., students generated hypotheses and designed experiments) and scientific community labs (e.g., students discussed designs and findings). This study used a quasi-experimental design with quantitative-method data collection and analysis procedures. Twelve sections of a Physics I lab were assigned to two groups: Treatment (DL-SCL) and Control (non-DL-SCL). In Treatment and Control sections, conceptual understanding was measured pre/post using the Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT) and the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). Study findings indicated that DL-SCL approach in teaching Physics Lab-1 significantly improved students’ conceptual understanding.

Developing and tracking profiles of student conceptions of force through an engineering degree

Research over the last four decades has shown that common misconceptions about force can be particularly resistant to change. The development of Newtonian ideas of force is important in many branches of engineering, particularly in the understanding of structures and the mechanics of machines. While these ideas are important in engineering, evidence from assessment shows that while students are able to solve problems and perform at a relatively high level, they have often not fully understood the underlying Newtonian concepts. In order to detect and ameliorate these misconceptions, a number of excellent diagnostic tools have been developed. Probably the most well-known of these are the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Mechanics baseline test (MBT), developed by David Hestenes and his colleagues at Arizona state university [1]. Both of these tests been statistically validated and used worldwide in many different contexts. Evidence from data collected in 2016 shows that students in their final year of study perform as poorly as those in their first year on the FCI. What is not shown by these data is the way in which the students’ conceptual profiles change as they progress through their courses of study. Conceptual profiles can be used to map the evolution of student conceptual thinking [2–3]. In this project, we use the FCI to develop conceptual profiles for individual students enrolled on two programmes of study; the Bachelor of Engineering Technology and the New Zealand Diploma in Engineering, both of which start with introductory physics courses, but rely on force concepts throughout the qualification. Our intention is to track the evolution of these profiles as the students’ progress through their programmes of study. The study is in the first year of a three year cycle and this paper outlines the research design and reports on the changes that have taken place in the first six months of the students’ qualification, after they have completed a basic mechanics course.

The knowledge of Hungarian students in the light of the Mechanics Baseline Test

In the introductory courses in physics at Loránd Eötvös University (ELTE) students with very different physics knowledge can be found. The core problem appears to be undeveloped thinking skills and deficiency in conceptual understanding. Investigation of conceptual understanding is not simple, however, there are some reliable instruments for it such as the Mechanics Baseline Test which was constructed by Hestenes and Wells. In this paper the results of this test obtained in Hungary (mainly at ELTE) are presented. The test is universal in the sense that it is limited to the concepts that should be addressed in introductory physics at any level from secondary schools to universities. In 2016 at the Faculty of Science of ELTE students enrolled in introductory physics courses were tested. The students’ majors were Biology, Earth Sciences, Physics and Physics Teaching. The same test was given as a post test for the students of Physics and Earth Sciences. The results were compared to those of obtained previously in Hungarian secondary schools, at ELTE courses and at the universities in the USA (Arizona State University, Harvard University). It can be stated that at ELTE the test scores of the students of physics major has decreased significantly in the last 20 years. (Maybe it is the consequence of the implementation of Bologna Process due to which the number of the students entering into the University highly increased.) It was also revealed that there are difficult topics in kinematics and dynamics the understanding of which shows serious deficiencies at any level. (For example the dynamics of the curvilinear motion.) Finally on the basis of the results a proposal for the improvement of the instruction strategy is presented.

Is classical mechanics a prerequisite for learning physics of the 20th century?

Physics of the 20th century has contributed significantly to modern technology, and yet many physics students are never availed the opportunity to study it as part of the curriculum. One of the possible reasons why it is not taught in high school and introductory physics courses could be because curriculum designers believe that students need a solid background in classical mechanics and calculus in order to study physics of the 20th century such as the photoelectric effect, special and general relativity, the uncertainty principle, etc. This presumption may not be justifiable or valid. The authors of this paper contend that teaching physics of the 20th century aids students in relating physics to modern technology and the real world, making studying physics exciting. In this study, the authors correlated scores for matched questions in the Mechanics Baseline Test and a physics of the 20th century test in order to examine the trend of the scores. The participants included undergraduate students attending an introductory algebra-based physics course with no intention of taking physics at a higher level. The analysis of the scores showed no significant correlation for any of the matched pairs of questions. The purpose of this article is to recommend that even without a solid background in classical mechanics, teachers can introduce physics of the 20th century to their students for increased interest.

A controlled comparison of teaching methods in first-year university physics

This study presents a rigorous comparison between two teaching methods currently used in the first year of university-level physics programmes. Two groups of year 12 and 13 school students, aged between 16 and 18 years old, were given a short lecture course on elementary Newtonian Mechanics, one group attending more traditional passive-student lectures and the other attending an interactive active-student programme. The two groups were constructed to be as similar as possible in terms of relevant factors and were pre-tested with the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and post-tested with the FCI and the Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT). Several measures of learning based on pre-test/post-test score change were employed to assess the relative effectiveness of the two lecture styles. The principal result of this study was the early onset of greater learning gains among students in the active-student programme compared to students in the passive-student programme. The particular choice of learning gain metric affected the interpretation of our results. We resolved this issue using a generalization of the normalized learning gain. Using this measure we also found improvement in problem-solving skill among females in the active-student group, but not in the passive-student group. On the other hand, males showed improvement in problem-solving skill in the passive-student group but not the active-student group.

Examining the effect of the computational models on learning performance, scientific reasoning, epistemic beliefs and argumentation: An implication for the STEM agenda

Computational experiment approach considers modelling as the essential feature of Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE) where the model and the computer take the place of the “classical” experimental set-up and simulation replaces the experiment (Landau, Páez, & Bordeianu, 2008).Modelling, as a pedagogical tool, involves the model construction, the exploration of model characteristics and the model application to a specific problem, resembling authentic activities of scientists and mathematicians (Herbert, 2003). Jonassen and Strobel (2006) state that in addition to modelling domain knowledge, learners can apply modelling skills in different ways: by modelling domain knowledge, by modelling problems (constructing problem spaces), by modelling systems and by modelling semantic structures. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the Computational Experiment Mathematical Modelling (CEMM) approach on University students': a) reasoning abilities, b) learning performance, c) epistemological beliefs, and d) argumentation. Students worked in a learning environment which contained applications in Physics created by the author and all of them were based on mathematical models, as the model was considered as the fundamental unit of instruction (Hestenes, 1999). Fifty (50) pre-service primary school university students participated in this project and results indicated a strong relationship between students' learning performance, performance in the scientific reasoning abilities test, epistemic beliefs and the ability to use arguments during computational experiments. This paper suggests an implementable integration strategy that uses mathematical models for physics phenomena that are developed using algorithms, aiming to deepen students' conceptual understanding and scientific reasoning. After completing the course, the mechanics baseline test (MBT) and a test on Heat were administered. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in problem-solving skill test mean scores, as measured by the MBT, and the test on Heat among concrete, formal and postformal reasoners. Overall, this study provides evidence that scientific reasoning has a strong impact to learning performance, scientific reasoning, epistemological beliefs and argumentation while the methodology of the Computational Experiment provides essential tools to students to implement Inquiry based scenario. Students developed their scenarios using an open source repository using the computational experiment approach and created their experiments using the Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) laboratory approach.Results have implications for the effectiveness of the computational experiment as a methodology to be included in the STEM agenda.

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIONAL SKILL AND GENERIC SCIENCE SKILL USING REPRESENTATIONAL APPROACH

: Improving Students' Representational Skill and Generic Science Skill Using Representa­tional Approach. This one group pretest-posttest research aimed to examine the effectiveness of represen­tational approach to improve students' representational and generic science skills through Selected Topics of School Physics course. The subjects consisted of 24 undergraduate students of physics education program of UM. The data were gathered using integrated Mechanics Baseline Test and rubric. Quantitative data analyses included t-test, Cohen's d-effect size, and normalized gain, whereas qualitative data analyses included coding, tabulating, and interpreting. This result indicated that this representational approach was consid­ered effective to achieve both learning outcomes.

What do seniors remember from freshman physics?

We have given a group of 56 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) seniors who took mechanics as freshmen a written test similar to the final exam they took in their freshman course as well as the Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT) and the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS). Students in majors unrelated to physics scored 60% lower on the written analytic part of the final than they would have as freshmen. The mean score of all participants on the MBT was insignificantly changed from their average on the posttest they took as freshmen. However, the students' performance on 9 of the 26 MBT items (with 6 of the 9 involving graphical kinematics) represents a gain over their freshman posttest score (a normalized gain of about 70%), while their performance on the remaining 17 questions is best characterized as a loss of approximately 50% of the material learned in the freshman course. On multiple-choice questions covering advanced physics concepts, the mean score of the participants was about 50% lower than the average performance of freshmen. Although attitudinal survey results indicate that almost half the seniors feel the specific mechanics course content is unlikely to be useful to them, a significant majority (75%--85%) feel that physics does teach valuable problem solving skills, and an overwhelming majority believe that mechanics should remain a required course at MIT.

What course elements correlate with improvement on tests in introductory Newtonian mechanics?

In an MIT calculus-based introductory Newtonian mechanics course, we study the effectiveness of various instructional course elements: electronic and written homeworks, collaborative group problems, and class participation. We measure effectiveness by the slope of the regression line between a student’s score (used as a proxy for participation) on a particular course element and his normalized gain on various assessment instruments. These instruments were the MIT final exam comprised mainly of multipart problems demanding analytic responses and two widely used standard physics tests that emphasize conceptual knowledge: the Force Concept Inventory and the Mechanics Baseline Test. The results show that interactive course elements are associated with higher gains on assessment instruments: doing interactive electronic homework administered by myCyberTutor correlated with large gains on the final exam producing a learning effect of 1.8±0.4 standard deviations on the final examination score. myCyberTutor and collaborative group problem solving correlated with gains on the more conceptual tests. We also report surveys that demonstrate that students have had an increasingly favorable opinion of myCyberTutor over the four terms of its use.

The effects of students' reasoning abilities on conceptual understandings and problem-solving skills in introductory mechanics

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are relationships among freshmen/first year students' reasoning abilities, conceptual understandings and problem-solving skills in introductory mechanics. The sample consisted of 165 freshmen science education prospective teachers (female = 86, male = 79; age range 17–21) who were enrolled in an introductory physics course. Data collection was done during the fall semesters in two successive years. At the beginning of each semester, the force concept inventory (FCI) and the classroom test of scientific reasoning (CTSR) were administered to assess students' initial understanding of basic concepts in mechanics and reasoning levels. After completing the course, the FCI and the mechanics baseline test (MBT) were administered. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in problem-solving skill test mean scores, as measured by the MBT, among concrete, formal and postformal reasoners. There were no significant differences in conceptual understanding levels of pre- and post-test mean scores, as measured by FCI, among the groups. The Benferroni post hoc comparison test revealed which set of reasoning levels showed significant difference for the MBT scores. No statistical difference between formal and postformal reasoners' mean scores was observed, while the mean scores between concrete and formal reasoners and concrete and postformal reasoners were statistically significantly different.

The effects of students' cognitive styles on conceptual understandings and problem‐solving skills in introductory mechanics

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are relationship among freshmen students' Field depended or field independent (FD/FI) cognitive style, conceptual understandings, and problem solving skills in mechanics. The sample consisted of 213 freshmen (female = 111, male = 102; age range 17–21) who were enrolled in an introductory physics course required for science education prospective teachers. Data collection was done during the fall semesters in three successive years. At the beginning of each semester the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Group Embedded Figure Test (GEFT) were administered to assess students' initial understanding of basic concepts in mechanics and FD/FI tendency of students, respectively. After completion of the course, the FCI and the Mechanics Base Line Test (MBT) were administered. The results indicated that students conceptual understanding were not statistically related to their FD/FI cognitive styles for both pre and post results. However, their problem‐solving skills were statistically related to their FD/FI cognitive style. The findings of the present and previous studies are compared, and the possible effects of the present studies on previous studies on teaching, learning and assessment for introductory mechanics are discussed.

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.

Dificuldades Conceituais em Física Apresentadas por Alunos Ingressantes em um Curso de Engenharia

O objetivo deste trabalho é o de apresentar alguns resultados obtidos através da aplicação de um teste entre alunos ingressantes no ciclo básico de um curso de engenharia. Este teste visou levantar as principais dificuldades conceituais em Física, apresentadas por esses alunos, no tópico de mecânica clássica. O teste aplicado foi uma adaptação do "Mechanics Baseline Test", que tem sido utilizado com esta finalidade em algumas universidades americanas. O que foi observado é que, embora os alunos tenham tido contato prévio com os tópicos explorados pelo teste, o nível de amadurecimento sobre o assunto é ainda pequeno, prevalecendo conceitos baseados em um senso comum impreciso.

Cross-time attitudes, concept formation, and achievement in college freshman physics

The relationships among science and engineering attitude, physics conceptual understanding, and physics achievement were explored for a population of college freshman engineering students over two semesters. Gender and SAT-Quantitative measures were included as exogenous variables in a longitudinal path analysis. Attitude was theorized to predict achievement contemporaneously and at the next time point, while conceptual understanding was theorized to predict physics achievement contemporaneously and at the next time point. Each at one time was theorized to predict scores at the next time. A sample of 200 freshman engineering students participating in an integrated curriculum were assessed in September, December, and April (with a loss of 64 students) with the Force Concepts Inventory (FCI), Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT), and a locally developed attitude measure. The observed model indicated that the FCI predicted attitude at time 1 with no other paths between them, that FCI at time 1 predicted MBT at time 1 and time 2, FCI at time 2 predicted MBT at time 3, and MBT at time 1 predicted FCI at time 2. Gender and SAT-Quantitative scores were predictive only of FCI and MBT at time 1. Results supported an interactive model of conceptual understanding and achievement, with attitude largely irrelevant to the process for this population. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 1112–1120, 2000

Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses

A survey of pre/post-test data using the Halloun–Hestenes Mechanics Diagnostic test or more recent Force Concept Inventory is reported for 62 introductory physics courses enrolling a total number of students N=6542. A consistent analysis over diverse student populations in high schools, colleges, and universities is obtained if a rough measure of the average effectiveness of a course in promoting conceptual understanding is taken to be the average normalized gain 〈g〉. The latter is defined as the ratio of the actual average gain (%〈post〉−%〈pre〉) to the maximum possible average gain (100−%〈pre〉). Fourteen “traditional” (T) courses (N=2084) which made little or no use of interactive-engagement (IE) methods achieved an average gain 〈g〉T-ave=0.23±0.04 (std dev). In sharp contrast, 48 courses (N=4458) which made substantial use of IE methods achieved an average gain 〈g〉IE-ave=0.48±0.14 (std dev), almost two standard deviations of 〈g〉IE-ave above that of the traditional courses. Results for 30 (N=3259) of the above 62 courses on the problem-solving Mechanics Baseline test of Hestenes–Wells imply that IE strategies enhance problem-solving ability. The conceptual and problem-solving test results strongly suggest that the classroom use of IE methods can increase mechanics-course effectiveness well beyond that obtained in traditional practice.