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Re: [Phys-L] Evaluation tests



Although I suspect there might be some gain, we do not use our diagnostic test in that way since we do not see the purpose of the class as being to teach them such basic mathematical concepts. We do use a small physics survey in this way.


________________________________________
From: Phys-l [phys-l-bounces@phys-l.org] on behalf of John Clement [clement@hal-pc.org]
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 7:27 PM
To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Evaluation tests

I am pretty sure the Epstein's test correlates highly with the Lawson test,
so this does not surprise me. But do you see gain on the diagnostic test?
That is even more important.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


We have found a very strong correlation between students
passing this course with a C or better and our own survey,
which is based partly on Jerome Epstein's "Basic Skills
Diagnostic Test" (BSDT) and focuses a great deal on
proportions and the meaning of algebraic letters (variable
and unit abbreviations) vs. numbers. The key is to ask as
simple a question as possible that still reveals the
weakness. For example, without the help of a calculator,
which is bigger: 25/27 or 15/17?

[Note: We have tried to structure our course such that
students cannot pass by plug-and-chug; it is not perfect
(yet) but this may have something to do with the strong correlation]

Robert A. Cohen, Department of Physics, East Stroudsburg University
570.422.3428 rcohen@esu.edu http://www.esu.edu/~bbq

-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@phys-l.org] On Behalf Of
John Clement
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 11:31 AM
To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Evaluation tests

Is this really true? Where is the evidence other than what
you believe?
When someone says something is obvious or self evident, I
wish to see the evidence.

As to discouraging students, a physics class taught in a PER
based fashion can be the best way to improve student math
ability, so perhaps an instructor who uses PER should welcome
the lower students. I would agree that a conventional course
probably lines up with the math evaluation test.

As to IQ tests, they are NOT an indicator of intelligence,
but rather they were cooked to be an indicator of how well
students can do in "conventional"
schools. In either case the correlation is far below 100%.
As has been shown by Feuerstein it is possible to
dramatically push up scores on these tests. A PER based
course probably does push up such scores somewhat. It is
obvious to many in school guidance counseling that IQ scores
are fixed, but there are experiments that show completely the
opposite. These people habitually say things like a dyslexic
should not be in advanced courses, and ignore the federal law
which grants LD students the right to be in such courses.

So it is quite possible that denying student entry into a PER
based course is denying them access to exactly the type of
course they need. The problem is that failure can act to
traumatize the student, and retard graduation.
Here is a case where real education is at odds with
bureaucratic mandates.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


Memo #1 from the keen-grasp-of-the-obvious department:

Give them an /algebra/ test. A poor algebra score is a strong
predictor of a poor showing in the algebra-based physics course.

The converse is not necessarily true, but one-sided information
is better than none.


Students who are weak in algebra should be strongly
discouraged from
enrolling in the physics course to begin with. This is
waaaay better
than enrolling and then dropping after it is too late to
sign up for
something else.



_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l



_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l