Longitudinal study of student conceptual understanding in electricity and magnetism (original) (raw)
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Journal of Science Education and Technology, 2007
The introductory freshmen electromagnetism course at MIT has been taught since 2000 using a studio physics format entitled TEAL—Technology Enabled Active Learning. TEAL has created a collaborative, hands-on environment where students carry out desktop experiments, submit web-based assignments, and have access to a host of visualizations and simulations. These learning tools help them visualize unseen electromagnetic concepts and develop stronger intuition about related phenomena. A previous study has shown that students who took the course in the TEAL format (the experimental group) gained significantly better conceptual understanding than those who took it in the traditional lecture-recitation format (the control group). The present longitudinal study focuses on the extent to which these two research groups (experimental and control) retain conceptual understanding about a year to 18 months after finishing the course. It also examines students attitudes about whether the teaching format (TEAL or traditional) contributes to their learning in advanced courses. Our research has indicated that the long-term effect of the TEAL course on students' retention of concepts was significantly stronger than that of the traditional course. This research is significant because it documents the long-term cognitive and affective impact of the TEAL studio physics format on learning outcomes of MIT students.
Assessing students’ conceptual knowledge of electricity and magnetism
Physical Review Physics Education Research, 2017
We present the Electricity and Magnetism Conceptual Assessment (EMCA), a new assessment aligned with second-semester introductory physics courses. Topics covered include electrostatics, electric fields, circuits, magnetism, and induction. We have two motives for writing a new assessment. First, we find other assessments such as the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment and the Conceptual Survey on Electricity and Magnetism not well aligned with the topics and content depth of our courses. We want to test introductory physics content at a level appropriate for our students. Second, we want the assessment to yield scores and gains comparable to the widely used Force Concept Inventory (FCI). After five testing and revision cycles, the assessment was finalized in early 2015 and is available online. We present performance results for a cohort of 225 students at Siena College who were enrolled in our algebra-and calculus-based physics courses during the spring 2015 and 2016 semesters. We provide pretest, post-test, and gain analyses, as well as individual question and whole test statistics to quantify difficulty and reliability. In addition, we compare EMCA and FCI scores and gains, and we find that students' FCI scores are strongly correlated with their performance on the EMCA. Finally, the assessment was piloted in an algebra-based physics course at George Washington University (GWU). We present performance results for a cohort of 130 GWU students and we find that their EMCA scores are comparable to the scores of students in our calculus-based physics course.
As part of our efforts to systematically improve our junior-level Electricity & Magnetism I (Electro-and Magneto-Statics) course, we have developed a conceptual instrument, the CUE (Colorado Upper-division Electrostatics) diagnostic. Two central goals of this tool are: to assess impacts of transformed curricula, and to systematically identify and document student learning difficulties. We find persistent issues involving students' ability to conceptually approach and visualize E&M, to accurately communicate that understanding, and to appropriately identify and apply upper-level problem-solving strategies. Our work underlines the need for further research on the nature of student learning -and appropriate instructional interventions -at the upper division.
A Tale of Two Curricula: The performance of two thousand students in introductory electromagnetism
2009
The performance of over 2000 students in introductory calculus-based electromagnetism (E&M) courses at four large research universities was measured using the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA). Two different curricula were used at these universities: a traditional E&M curriculum and the Matter & Interactions (M&I) curriculum. At each university, post-instruction BEMA test averages were significantly higher for the M&I curriculum than for the traditional curriculum. The differences in post-test averages cannot be explained by differences in variables such as pre-instruction BEMA scores, grade point average, or SAT scores. BEMA performance on categories of items organized by subtopic was also compared at one of the universities; M&I averages were significantly higher in each topic. The results suggest that the M&I curriculum is more effective than the traditional curriculum at teaching E&M concepts to students, possibly because the learning progression in M&I reorganizes and augments the traditional sequence of topics, for example, by increasing early emphasis on the vector field concept and by emphasizing the effects of fields on matter at the microscopic level.
As part of our efforts to systematically improve our junior-level Electricity & Magnetism I (Electro- and Magneto- Statics) course, we have developed a conceptual instrument, the CUE (Colorado Upper-division Electrostatics) diagnostic. Two central goals of this tool are: to assess impacts of transformed curricula, and to systematically identify and document student learning difficulties. We find persistent issues involving students’ ability to conceptually approach and visualize E&M, to accurately communicate that understanding, and to appropriately identify and apply upper-level problem-solving strategies. Our work underlines the need for further research on the nature of student learning – and appropriate instructional interventions –at the upper division.
Surveying students' conceptual knowledge of electricity and magnetism
American Journal of …, 2001
The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism ͑CSEM͒ was developed to assess students' knowledge about topics in electricity and magnetism. The survey is a 32-question, multiple-choice test that can be used as both a pretest and posttest. During four years of testing and refinement, the survey has been given in one form or another to more than 5000 introductory physics students at 30 different institutions. Typical pretest results are that students in calculus-based courses get 31% of the questions correct and student's in algebra/trigonometry-based courses average 25% correct. Posttest correct results only rise to 47% and 44%, respectively. From analysis of student responses, a number of student difficulties in electricity and magnetism are indicated.
Tale of two curricula: The performance of 2000 students in introductory electromagnetism
2009
The performance of over 2000 students in introductory calculus-based electromagnetism ͑E&M͒ courses at four large research universities was measured using the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment ͑BEMA͒. Two different curricula were used at these universities: a traditional E&M curriculum and the Matter & Interactions ͑M&I͒ curriculum. At each university, postinstruction BEMA test averages were significantly higher for the M&I curriculum than for the traditional curriculum. The differences in post-test averages cannot be explained by differences in variables such as preinstruction BEMA scores, grade point average, or SAT Reasoning Test ͑SAT͒ scores. BEMA performance on categories of items organized by subtopic was also compared at one of the universities; M&I averages were significantly higher in each topic. The results suggest that the M&I curriculum is more effective than the traditional curriculum at teaching E&M concepts to students, possibly because the learning progression in M&I reorganizes and augments the traditional sequence of topics, for example, by increasing early emphasis on the vector field concept and by emphasizing the effects of fields on matter at the microscopic level.
2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Effective instruction in Engineering and Technology requires knowledge of how students understand or lack understanding of key concepts in these disciplines. Incorrect mental models, deeply rooted in everyday experience, can significantly affect student learning. Evidence suggests that students who learn new material may already have some understanding and preconceptions about the new concepts. Misconceptions about electricity of novice students (college freshmen and first-semester sophomores) were analyzed and compared to the misconceptions of senior students. The study targeted: (1) correlation between student academic success (grades) and student misconceptions, and (2) understanding how student mental models and misconceptions change with increasing levels of competency and expertise during students' progression from the freshman to senior level. Non-equivalent groups of 20 novices and 22 seniors participated in this study. The mixedmethods research methodology included two phases. In the quantitative phase all students responded to the Concept Inventory [1] questions. During the qualitative phase 8 novices and 8 seniors were interviewed and responded to open-ended questions about their understanding of electricity. The two most interesting and unexpected results deserve attention. First, in the novice group negative correlation between grades and misconceptions was stronger than in the senior group. Incorrect understanding of electricity in the senior group is frequently disguised by welldeveloped technical vocabulary. Even the brightest high-GPA students had numerous mistaken beliefs. The other unexpected result was that, despite significant improvements in understanding of electricity, seniors had more misconceptions (and were more confused) than novices about physical and fundamental electrical phenomena, such as 'charge' or 'electrical field'. Also, the two most widespread analogies among the students were between 'water flow' and electrical current, and electricity is a 'substance-that-can-be-used-up'. Identified as the most popular mental models, these analogies remained frequently used from the novice to senior levels.