ERIC Number: ED633097
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0732-3123
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Validating a Concept Inventory for Measuring Students' Probabilistic Reasoning: The Case of Reasoning within the Context of a Raffle
Hollylynne S. Lee; Hamid Sanei; Lisa Famularo; Jessica Masters; Laine Bradshaw; Madeline Schellman
Grantee Submission, Journal of Mathematical Behavior v71 Article 101081 2023
Assessing students' conceptions related to independence of events and determining probabilities from a sample space has been the focus of research in probability education for over 40 years. While we know a lot from past studies about predictable ways students may reason with well-known tasks, developing a diagnostic assessment that can be used by teachers to inform instruction demands the use of familiar and unfamiliar contexts. This paper presents the current work of a research team whose aim is to create a formative concept inventory with strong evidence of validity that uses a psychometric model to confidently predict whether a student exhibits one or more misconception across many items. We illustrate this process in this paper using a particular item with a context of a raffle aimed to measure whether a student reasons with misconceptions related to independence or equiprobability. The results of two aspects of the validity process: cognitive interviews to assess response proce sses on individual items, and a large-scale administration to examine internal structure of the concept inventory revealed difficulties in assessing students' reasoning about these key probability concepts and trends in the prevalence of misconceptions across grades. Results can provide guidance for others aiming to develop assessments in mathematics education and also support further possibilities for research into understanding students' reasoning about independence and sample space.
Descriptors: Probability, Concept Formation, Validity, Misconceptions, Student Evaluation, Diagnostic Tests, Formative Evaluation, Prediction, Psychometrics, Measurement Techniques, Task Analysis, Incidence, Mathematics Education, Thinking Skills, Decision Making, Mathematical Concepts, Middle School Students
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305A170441
Author Affiliations: N/A