Resource Letter RBAI-1: Research-Based Assessment Instruments in Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

This resource letter provides a guide to research-based assessment instruments (RBAIs) of physics and astronomy content. These are standardized assessments that were rigorously developed and revised using student ideas and interviews, expert input, and statistical analyses. RBAIs have had a major impact on physics and astronomy education reform by providing a universal and convincing measure of student understanding that instructors can use to assess and improve the effectiveness of their teaching. In this resource letter, we present an overview of all content RBAIs in physics and astronomy by topic, research validation, instructional level, format, and themes, to help faculty find the best assessment for their course. I. INTRODUCTIONThe physics and astronomy education research communities have produced 60+ researchbased assessment instruments (RBAIs) of physics and astronomy content, which evaluate the effectiveness of different teaching methods. We define a research-based assessment as an assessment that is developed based on research into student thinking for use by the 2 wider physics and astronomy education community to provide a standardized assessment of teaching and learning. Conceptual RBAIs have had a major impact on physics education reform by providing a universal and convincing measure of student understanding that instructors can use to assess and improve the effectiveness of their teaching. Studies using these instruments consistently show that research-based teaching methods lead to dramatic improvements in students' conceptual understanding of physics. 1,2 These instruments are already being used on a very large scale: The Force Concept Inventory 3 (FCI), a test of basic concepts of forces and acceleration, has been given to thousands of students throughout the world; the use of similar instruments in nearly every subject area of physics is becoming increasingly widespread. According to a recent survey of faculty who are about to participate in the Workshop for New Faculty in Physics and Astronomy, nearly half have heard of the FCI, and nearly a quarter have used it in their classrooms. 4 The use of these instruments has the potential to transform teaching practice by informing instructors about their teaching efficacy so that they can improve it.Our previous research shows that many physics faculty are aware of the existence of RBAIs for introductory physics, but want to know more about RBAIs for a wider range of topics, including upper-division physics, and about which assessments are available and how to use them. 5 This resource letter addresses these needs of physics faculty by presenting an overview of content RBAIs by topic, research validation, instructional level, format, and themes, to help faculty find the best assessment for their course. A second resource letter will discuss the large number of RBAIs that cover non-content topics such 3 as attitudes and beliefs about physics, epistemologies and expectations, the nature of physics, problem solving, self-efficacy, math skills, reasonin...

Analysis of the most common concept inventories in physics: What are we assessing?

“…These (and other) concept inventories have provided straightforward, off-the-shelf ways to evaluate instructional practices and curricular materials [5]. Because of this, they have been used routinely to evaluate student learning in interactive environments [19,20,42], to compare student learning in different environments [43,44], and to investigate different learning outcomes for different groups of students within classes [10,42,45].…”

“…Taken as evidence of learning in physics, different forms of standardized assessment have helped shape many of the major changes that have occurred in physics education over the past 40 years [2][3][4]. Standardized assessment practices in undergraduate physics education emphasize the use of conceptual pre-and post-tests ("concept inventories")-the outcomes of which have been used to inform changes to curriculum design and instructional practices [5]. A wide variety of studies have been conducted using concept inventories [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], and student learning outcomes on such assessments are well documented [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Interview Validation of the Physics Lab Inventory of Critical thinking (PLIC)

“…The development framework for this assessment is illustrated in Fig. 1, and was established using protocol from [4,5] and further explained for the purpose of the PLIC in [6]. Because critical thinking of this sort is context dependent [7], assessing these skills requires a context-specific tool.…”

Assessment of critical thinking in physics labs: concurrent validity

“…This work is part of the ongoing validation and reliability assessment of the PLIC following steps laid out in Refs. [8] and [9]. Other validation studies of the PLIC have been published here [10] and here [11].…”