Developing the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory

Lindell, Rebecca; Olsen, James P.

doi:10.1119/perc.2002.pr.011

Cited by 53 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The current researcher (William Alexander) scored a 100% agreement with another previously trained researcher with a training set of interviews in May, 2003. The reliability for the LPCI was established by Lindell and Olsen (2002) and found the Cronbach's alpha for the pretest to be 0.55 and for the posttest to be 0.75. The pretest is lower than the generally acceptable value of 0.70.…”

Section: Reliability and Validity Of Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MAT mental models can be represented as a series of "concept dimensions". Lindell and Olsen (2002) discuss the MAT process, which is used to establish reliability. There were eight concept domains within the same single construct of lunar phases.…”

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An initial 14-question quantitative diagnostic tool to inventory alternative conceptions regarding the lunar phases was developed. Lindell and Olsen (2002) documents the establishment of reliability and validity of the LPCI. At the heart of the LPCI is the recognition that ideally the determination of a student's pre-existing mental models regarding the phases of the moon should be determined by interview.…”

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lindell (2001) and Lindell and Olsen (2002) documents the establishment of reliability and validity of the LPCI. Lindell (2003) and Lindell and Sommer (2003) document the use of the LPCI to assess college students' conceptual understandings of the phases of the moon.…”

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a similar vein to the ADT 2.0, a Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) has been developed (Lindell, 2003;Lindell & Sommer, 2003;Lindell & Olsen, 2002;Lindell, 2001). Lindell (2001) and Lindell and Olsen (2002) documents the establishment of reliability and validity of the LPCI.…”

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulating Science: Using a Computer to Facilitate Conceptual Change for Moon Phases

Alexander¹

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The teaching of lunar phases to pre-service elementary teachers is important since lunar phases and the relationship of the earth-moon-sun system are specifically stated in the national science education reform documents. Moreover, Benchmarks for Science Literacy (Benchmarks) (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993), National Science Education Content Standards (NSES) (National Research Council, 1996), as well as Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (National Research Council, 2013) give specific recommendations for making use of physical models to help students understand the geometry of the sun-earth-moon system that is critical for understanding phases of the moon. Each of these documents view concepts of lunar phases as foundational for understanding the sun-earth-moon system. Additionally, these national reform documents have been modified by many states to serve as a basis for their state science education standards.Pre-service elementary teachers' conceptions of shape, sequence, and scientific understanding of the cause of moon phases improve both statistically and substantively after inquiry-based, conceptual change instructional intervention based on a computer simulation. More specifically, planetarium software was found useful to facilitate a constructivist approach to science education where the students constructed their own understanding of lunar phases by the use of this inquiry-based, conceptual change approach. Gains in conceptual understanding were measured by a semi-structured interview protocol as well as the LPCI and an Abridged-LPCI that is a version of the LPCI that includes only the questions that align directly with the interview protocol.The Abridged-LPCI results correlate better than the LPCI with the semi-structured interview protocol. Although there were statistically significant correlations, they were not practically significant. Student interviews, as well as student daily written reflections, provided data that helped to illuminate the conceptual change process and are not available from forced-choice instruments.Additionally, there are no statistical or substantive differences in achievement between students who collect moon observation data in a whole class setting versus those who collect this data working with the computer simulation in pairs. In general, the factors measured from the writing of student reflections were not significantly correlated with measures of conceptual gains although they can provide insights into the learning process.And finally, the Styrofoam™ ball (scientific model) activity was found to be a significant instructional component that positively impacted improvement of scientific conceptions of moon phases. Only 2 of 12 possible correlations between student reflection and LPCI were statistically significantly positively correlated and none of the 12 possible correlations for the Abridged-LPCI were statistically significantly correlated with student reflections, although they were not practically significant.Moreover, ...

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Section: Reliability and Validity Of Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Instrument Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulating Science: Using a Computer to Facilitate Conceptual Change for Moon Phases

Alexander¹

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Developing a construct‐based assessment to examine students' analogical reasoning around physical models in Earth Science

Rivet

Kastens

2012

J Res Sci Teach

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In recent years, science education has placed increasing importance on learners' mastery of scientific reasoning. This growing emphasis presents a challenge for both developers and users of assessments. We report on our effort around the conceptualization, development, and testing the validity of an assessment of students' ability to reason around physical dynamic models in Earth Science. Building from the research literature on analogical mapping and informed by the current perspectives on learning progressions, we present a three-tiered construct describing the increasing sophistication of students' analogical reasoning around the correspondences and non-correspondences between models and the Earth System: at the level of entities (Level 1), configurations in space or relative motion of entities (Level 2), and the mechanism or cause for observed phenomena (Level 3). Grounded in a construct-centered design approach, we describe our process for developing assessments in order to examine and validate this construct, including how we selected topics and models, designed items, and developed outcome spaces. We present the specific example of one assessment centered on moon phases, which was administered to 164 8th and 9th grade Earth Science students as a pre/postmeasure. Two hundred ninety-four responses were analyzed using a Rasch modeling approach. Item difficulties and student proficiency scores were calculated and analyzed regarding their relative performance with respect to the three levels of the construct. The analysis results provided initial evidence in support of the construct as conceived, with students displaying a range of analogical reasoning spanning all three construct levels. It also identified problematic items that merit further examination. Overall, the assessment has provided us the opportunity to better describe and frame the cognitive uses of models by students during learning situations in Earth Science. Implications for instruction and future directions for research in this area are discussed. ß 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 2012

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