Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

[Phys-L] Concept Inventories Alone Don't Gauge "Good Teaching"



Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a recent post "Concept Inventories Alone Don't Gauge 'Good Teaching' " [Hake (2012a)]. The abstract reads:

******************************************
ABSTRACT: In response to my post "The Value of Student Evaluations of Teaching" [Hake (2012b)] at <http://bit.ly/XX7OUX>, Math-Learn's Ed Wall stated that: (a) he used approximations to both "Student Evaluations of Teaching" (SET's) and "Concept Inventories" (CI's), but wondered what a "good" evaluation of "teaching" was; and (b) he's reasonably okay with a statement such as "I know good teaching when I see it" versus a statement such as "I know good teaching when I see a CI score)."

Let alone a *single* CI score, in my opinion even the normalized pre-to-posttest GAIN <g> on a Concept Inventory (CI) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_inventory>, should not, by itself, be interpreted as a gauge of "good teaching."

In the editor suppressed "Interactive-engagement methods in introductory mechanics courses" [Hake (1998b)] at <http://bit.ly/aH2JQN> I pointed out on p. 14 that among desirable outcomes of the introductory physics course that <g> *does not* measure directly are students': (a) satisfaction with and interest in physics; (b) understanding of the nature, methods, and limitations of science; (c) understanding of the processes of scientific inquiry such as experimental design, control of variables, dimensional analysis, order-of-magnitude estimation, thought experiments, hypothetical reasoning, graphing, and error analysis; (d) ability to articulate their knowledge and learning processes; (e) ability to collaborate and work in groups; (f) communication skills; (g) ability to solve real-world problems; (h) understanding of the history of science and the relationship of science to society and other disciplines; (i) understanding of, or at least appreciation for, "modern" physics; (j) ability to participate in authentic research.
******************************************

To access the complete 13 kB post please click on <http://bit.ly/VeDTWI>.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: <http://bit.ly/a6M5y0>
Links to Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Labs: <http://bit.ly/9nGd3M>
Academia: <http://bit.ly/a8ixxm>
Blog: <http://bit.ly/9yGsXh>
GooglePlus: <http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE>
Twitter: <http://bit.ly/juvd52>

"What we assess is what we value. We get what we assess, and if we don't assess it,
we won't get it."
- Lauren Resnick [quoted by Grant Wiggins (1990)]

REFERENCES [URL shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 28 Nov 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012a. " Concept Inventories Alone Don't Gauge 'Good Teaching'," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/VeDTWI>. Post of 28 Nov 2012 13:24:52-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/V6PSzT> with a provision for comments.

Hake, R.R. 2012b. "The Value of Student Evaluations of Teaching" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/XX7OUX>. Post of 26 Nov 2012 13:35:35-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/TqLDls> with a provision for comments.

Wiggins, G. 1990. "The Truth May Make You Free, But the Test May Keep You Imprisoned: Toward Assessment Worthy of the Liberal Arts," AAHE Assessment Forum: 17-31; online at <http://bit.ly/a7g09T>.