In her Phys-L post of 18 Dec 2001 12:50:22-0600 titled "Concept
Inventory for EM" Tina Fanetti wrote:
"Is there a concept inventory like the ADT. . .(Adams et al. 2000). .
. or the FCI. . .(Hestenes et al. 1992, Halloun et al. 1995). . . for
electricity and magnetism?"
The answer is "YES" - see Maloney et al. (2001). David Meltzer of the
Iowa State University Physics Education Research group
<http://www.public.iastate.edu/~per/> has discussed (Meltzer 2001)
the analysis of pre/post results for this test.
Other possibly useful resources are:
1. Listing of various physics diagnostic tests: NCSU (2001).
2. Suggestions on the administration and reporting pre/post
diagnostic test results: Hake (2001a).
3. Physics Education Research (PER) papers of possible interest to
high school (and other) teachers: Hake (2001b).
4. Lessons from the Physics Education Reform Effort: Hake (2001c)
REFERENCES
Adams, J., R.L. Adrian, C. Brick, G. Brissenden, G. Deming, B.
Hufnagel, T. Slater, M. Zeilik, and the Collaboration for Astronomy
Education Research (CAER). 2000. Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT)
Version 2.0; online at <http://solar.physics.montana.edu/aae/adt/>.
UNFORTUNATELY, THIS TEST IS NOT PASSWORD PROTECTED. IMHO, its free
availability to web surfers jeopardizes its research value. In Hake
(2001) I wrote (see that paper for the references): "The lengthy and
arduous process of constructing valid and reliable multiple choice
tests has been discussed by Halloun & Hestenes (1985a), Hestenes et
al. (1992), Beichner (1994), Aubrecht (1991), and McKeachie (1999).
In my opinion such hard-won Diagnostic Tests that cover important
parts of common introductory courses are national assets whose
confidentiality should be as well protected as the MCAT (Medical
College Admission Test). Otherwise the test questions may migrate to
student files and thereby undermine education research that relies
upon the validity of such tests." That these concerns are well
founded is indicated by the fact that a Google
<http://www.google.com/> search on 19 Dec 2001 for "Force Concept
Inventory" netted 211,000 hits in 0.24 sec., suggesting that the FCI
may now be well-known to many student web-surfers. I think that even
today research results based on FCI testing may be questionable, and
that PER groups should consider undertaking construction of a NEW
EDITION of the FCI, in time for calibration against the 1995 version
(Halloun et al 1995).
Hake, R.R. 2001a. "Suggestions for Administering and Reporting
Pre/Post Diagnostic Tests," unpublished; online as ref. 14 at
<http://physics.indiana.edu/~hake/> [TestingSuggestions.pdf, 5/18/01,
44K].
__________ . 2001b."Re: Per Applied in High School" PhysLrnR posting
of 13 Dec 2001; online at the PhysLrnR archives
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html>. PhysLrnR
blocks use of its archives to non-subscribers (purportedly to reduce
the spam exposure of subscribers), but it only takes a few minutes to
subscribe using the NOMAIL option (so you won't be bothered by the
receipt of posts by those know-it-all PER's) by following the simple
directions at the archive site.
__________. 2001c. "Lessons from the Physics Education Reform
Effort," to appear shortly in "Conservation Ecology" (a free
"peer-reviewed journal of integrative science and fundamental policy
research") at
<http://www.consecol.org/Journal/vol5/iss2/index.html>; also online
as ref. 10 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>:
[ConEc-Hake-O081901b.pdf], 8/19/01, 284K, 241 references, 123
hot-linked URL's.
Halloun, I., R.R. Hake, E.P Mosca, D. Hestenes. 1995. "Force Concept
Inventory (Revised, 1995)"; online - PASSWORD PROTECTED !! at
<http://modeling.la.asu.edu/R&E/Research.html>.
Hestenes, D., M. Wells, & G. Swackhamer, 1992. "Force Concept
Inventory." Phys. Teach. 30:141-158.
Maloney, D.P., T.L. O'Kuma, C.J. Hieggelke, & A. Van Heuvelen. 2001.
"Surveying students' conceptual knowledge of electricity and
magnetism," Physics Ed. Res. Supplement to Am. J. Phys. 69(7):
S12-S23.
Meltzer, D.E. 2001. "The relationship between mathematics preparation
and conceptual learning gains in physics: a possible 'hidden
variable' in diagnostic pretest scores, manuscript submitted to the
Physics Education Research Supplement, American Journal of Physics;
online at <http://www.public.iastate.edu/~per/articles/>.
NCSU. 2001. "Assessment Instrument Information Page" Physics
Education R & D Group, North Carolina State University; online at
<http://www.ncsu.edu/per/TestInfo.html>. With the exception of the
"Maryland Expectations Survey (MPEX)," all the web versions of
instruments listed here are PASSWORD PROTECTED.