Effects of testing conditions on conceptual survey results
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 4, 010112 (2008)
Lin Ding, Neville W. Reay, Albert Lee, and Lei Bao
Pre-testing and post-testing is a commonly used method in Physics Education Research to assess student learning gains. It is well recognized in the community that timings and incentives in delivering conceptual tests can impact test results. However, it is difficult to control these variables across different studies. As a common practice, a pre-test is often administered either at or near the beginning of a course, while a post-test can be given either at or near the end of a course. Also, in conducting such tests there often is no norm as to whether incentives should be offered to students. Because these variations can significantly affect test results, it is important to study and document their impact. We analyzed five years of data that were collected at The Ohio State University from over 2100 students, who took both the pre-test and post-test of the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism under various timings and incentives. We observed that the actual time frame for giving a test has a marked effect on the test results and that incentive granting also has a significant influence on test outcomes. These results suggest that one should carefully monitor and document the conditions under which tests are administered.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.010112
Showing posts with label CSEM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CSEM. Show all posts
2008-06-19
2008-01-14
Reay Li Bao - AJP 2008
Testing a new voting machine question methodology
N. W. Reay, Pengfei Li, and Lei Bao
Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
(Received 15 April 2007; accepted 9 November 2007)
A new question methodology has been developed and used with voting machines in large physics lecture classrooms. The methodology was tested by comparing student performance in voting machine and non-voting machine lecture sections during three consecutive electricity and magnetism quarters of introductory calculus-based physics. Data from The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism and common examination questions indicates that students using voting machines achieved a significant gain in conceptual learning, and that voting machines reduced the gap between male and female student performances on tests. Surveys indicated that students were positive about the use of voting machines and believed that they helped them learn. The surveys also suggested that grading voting machines responses and/or overusing voting machines may lower student enthusiasm.
©2008 American Association of Physics Teachers
doi:10.1119/1.2820392
PACS: 01.40.G-, 01.50.ht
N. W. Reay, Pengfei Li, and Lei Bao
Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
(Received 15 April 2007; accepted 9 November 2007)
A new question methodology has been developed and used with voting machines in large physics lecture classrooms. The methodology was tested by comparing student performance in voting machine and non-voting machine lecture sections during three consecutive electricity and magnetism quarters of introductory calculus-based physics. Data from The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism and common examination questions indicates that students using voting machines achieved a significant gain in conceptual learning, and that voting machines reduced the gap between male and female student performances on tests. Surveys indicated that students were positive about the use of voting machines and believed that they helped them learn. The surveys also suggested that grading voting machines responses and/or overusing voting machines may lower student enthusiasm.
©2008 American Association of Physics Teachers
doi:10.1119/1.2820392
PACS: 01.40.G-, 01.50.ht
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