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Re: [Phys-l] Instrument to Assess General Scientific Understanding



If you reply to this long (6 kB) post please don't hit the reply button unless you prune the copy of this post that may appear in your reply down to a few relevant lines, otherwise the entire already archived post may be needlessly resent to subscribers.

"John" (2008), in his EvalTalk post titled "Instrument to Assess General Scientific Understanding" wrote [bracketed by lines "JJJJJJJJ . . . . . ."]

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I am looking for an instrument designed to assess general scientific understanding of college freshmen who have completed a one year sequence in biology, chemistry, or physics.

I realize this is a very vague description, but this is preliminary research so am casting a very broad net. In addition to an actual instrument, references, articles, etc to help me get oriented will be greatly appreciated. BTW, I am well versed in psychometrics and measurement so am in less need of assistance in those areas.
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

To which Sam Held (2008) replied:

". . . . . Plenty of tests are available out there but I think to cast the big net, you may want to look at concept inventories. . . ."

For an inventory of Concept Inventories see "Formative Pre/post Tests For Various Disciplines" [Hake (2008a)]. The abstract reads:

*******************************************
ABSTRACT: I give references to: (I) well-known early concept inventories; (II) formative pre/post diagnostic tests for Astronomy, Economics, Biology, Biomechanics, Calculus, Chemistry, Geoscience, Statistics, Statics, and Engineering (Circuits, Computer Engineering, Dynamics, Electromagnetics, Electronics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Materials, Signals and Systems, Strength of Materials, Thermodynamics, and Waves); and (III) seven reviews that discuss pre/post testing. *******************************************

Regarding III above (seven reviews that discuss pre/post testing), most concept inventories are designed to be used in formative pre/post testing to gauge the relative effectiveness of courses in promoting higher-order student learning. In my opinion, their use as only posttests would be of limited value.

Note: In an attempt to counter the bugs in the LISTSERV 15.0 software used by EvalTalk, Chemed-L, and EdResMeth - see e.g., "Re: art of teaching #2 - Cold URL's [Hake (2008c)] - I have inserted spaces between the angle brackets and the URL's as in < URL >. I suspect that the LISTSERV experts at L-Soft
< http://www.lsoft.com/products/listserv.asp > could easily correct this problem - it has persisted for several months.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands.
< rrhake@earthlink.net >
< http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/ >
< http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/ >


REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy < http://tinyurl.com/create.php >.]
"John." 2008. "Instrument to Assess General Scientific Understanding," EvalTalk post of 22 Sep 2008 06:05:39-0700; online at
< http://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0809d&L=evaltalk&D=1&T=0&P=165 >.

Hake, R.R. 2008a. "Formative Pre/post Tests For Various Disciplines," online as it appears on the OPEN! AERA-D archives at < http://tinyurl.com/6cyemf > where URL's in my post are properly HOT-LINKED (unlike those on EdResMeth, EdStat, EvalTalk, and POD). Post of 7 and 8 July to AERA-D, ASSESS, Biopi-L, Chemed-L, DrEd, EdResMeth, EdStat, EvalTalk, IFETS, Net-Gold, PhysLrnR, POD, RUME, & WBTOLL-L.

Hake, R.R. 2008b. "Re: Formative Pre/post Tests For Various Disciplines," online on the OPEN! AERA-D archives at < http://tinyurl.com/3jcmsl >. Post of 9 Jul 2008 14:12:18 -0700 to AERA-D, Chemed-L, EvalTalk, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, and POD.

Hake, R.R. 2008c. "Re: art of teaching #2 - Cold URL's," EvalTalk post of 23 Sep 2008 15:20:11-0700; online at <http://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0809d&L=evaltalk&T=0&F=&S=&P=2812>

Held, S. 2008. "Re: Instrument to Assess General Scientific Understanding," EvalTalk post of 22 Sep 2008 14:10:06-0400; online at
< http://bama.ua.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0809d&L=evaltalk&D=1&T=0&P=1158 >.