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ERIC Number: EJ1076821
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1554-9178
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Assessing Student Reasoning in Upper-Division Electricity and Magnetism at Oregon State University
Zwolak, Justyna P.; Manogue, Corinne A.
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, v11 n2 p020125-1-020125-11 Jul-Dec 2015
Standardized assessment tests that allow researchers to compare the performance of students under various curricula are highly desirable. There are several research-based conceptual tests that serve as instruments to assess and identify students' difficulties in lower-division courses. At the upper-division level assessing students' difficulties is a more challenging task. Although several research groups are currently working on such tests, their reliability and validity are still under investigation. We analyze the results of the Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics diagnostic from Oregon State University and compare it with data from the University of Colorado. In particular, we show potential shortcomings in the Oregon State University curriculum regarding separation of variables and boundary conditions, as well as uncover weaknesses of the rubric to the free-response version of the diagnostic. We also demonstrate how the diagnostic can be used to obtain information about student learning during a gap in instruction. Our work complements and extends the previous findings from the University of Colorado by highlighting important differences in student learning that may be related to the curriculum, illuminating difficulties with the rubric for certain problems and verifying decay in post-test results over time. [This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.]
American Physical Society. One Physics Ellipse 4th Floor, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Tel: 301-209-3200; Fax: 301-209-0865; e-mail: assocpub@aps.org; Web site: http://prst-per.aps.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Colorado; Oregon
Grant or Contract Numbers: DUE 1023120; DUE 1323800
Author Affiliations: N/A