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Re: [Phys-L] Evaluation tests

On Dec 16, 2013, at 18:23 PM, Robert Cohen wrote:

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?


I'd love to see a copy of this survey if I could. Have you ever administered it as a pre/post test in a physics class? It'd be interesting if the physics class, as opposed to a math class, having an impact on improving this sort of thinking.


thanks,

Brian Blais
--
Brian Blais
bblais@bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais
http://brianblais.wordpress.com/