Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a recent
discussion-list post "Re: FCI and CCI in China #2" [Hake (2012)].
The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: PhysLrnR's Jerry Epstein wrote (paraphrasing): "The
Calculus Concept Inventory (CCI) has been given to about 1000
university students enrolled in a TEACHER-CENTERED calculus course in
Shanghai, China. Their average normalized gains <g> were about
two-standard deviations above those of U.S. university calculus
courses, possibly due to student-organized out-of-class interactive
group work."
Craig Ogilvie responded: "Are there FCI (Force Concept Inventory)
gains reported for a similar group of students/physics courses in
China? It would support your hypothesis if they also showed high
gains for non-IE pedagogy." Here IE = "Interactive Engagement,"
*operationally* defined [Hake (1998a)] as "those designed at least in
part to promote conceptual understanding through the active
engagement of students in heads-on (always) and hands-on (usually)
activities that yield immediate feedback through discussion with
peers and/or instructors."
David Meltzer then pointed to the research of Bao et al. on FCI
pretest scores of Chinese and U.S. freshmen university students
enrolled in science/engineering major courses, whose publication in
the "Science" article "Learning and Scientific Reasoning: Comparisons
of Chinese and U.S. Students" at <http://bit.ly/90sdAG> has been
widely publicized.
Although Bao et al. measured only pretest scores (not pre-to-posttest
gains) for Chinese freshmen university students enrolled in
science/engineering major courses, they pointed out that those
students had taken "algebra-based courses with emphasis on
development of conceptual understanding and skills needed to solve
problems" for FIVE YEARS in grades 8-12, whereas the U.S. students
had taken at most ONE YEAR of physics.
That suggests that the Chinese K-12 math curriculum might also be
more intensive than that in the U.S. IF that's the case then it
might help to explain the relatively high CCI gains for non-IE
pedagogy, irrespective of possible student-organized out-of-class
interactive group work.
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REFERENCES [URL shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 22 Jan 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012. "Re: FCI and CCI in China #2 online on the OPEN!
AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/zz7WXk>. Post of 22 Jan 2012
16:27:43-0800 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/AbW5oy> with a
provision for comments.