Test of understanding of vectors: A reliable multiple-choice vector concept test

Abstract

In this article we discuss the findings of our research on students' understanding of vector concepts in problems without physical context. First, we develop a complete taxonomy of the most frequent errors made by university students when learning vector concepts. This study is based on the results of several test administrations of open-ended problems in which a total of 2067 students participated. Using this taxonomy, we then designed a 20-item multiple-choice test [Test of understanding of vectors (TUV)] and administered it in English to 423 students who were completing the required sequence of introductory physics courses at a large private Mexican university. We evaluated the test's content validity, reliability, and discriminatory power. The results indicate that the TUV is a reliable assessment tool. We also conducted a detailed analysis of the students' understanding of the vector concepts evaluated in the test. The TUV is included in the Supplemental Material as a resource for other researchers studying vector learning, as well as instructors teaching the material.

Student conception and perception of Newton’s law

“…The language of mathematics is needed in studying physics, yet the physics concept also needs to be understood, so that the meaning of both languages can be synergistic. Synergize the mathematical language with the language of physics absolute given, referring to the use of the mathematical symbol of physics problem solving through mathematical operations can help students understand the concepts of physics and addressing physics correctly [11]. The visual representation of the diagram needs to be a concern lecturers and teaching resources that are used (TABLE 3), Students don't understand the symbol and figure that represent the magnitude and direction of force, in FCI test students can't distinguish between force direction and velocity direction.…”

Unpacking physics representations: Towards an appreciation of disciplinary affordance

“…This theoretical article is about the teaching and learning challenges that arise from students experiencing this partiality of representations, where important physics aspects are not initially discernible. These issues are educationally important because what creates a powerful communicative system for physics at the same time manifests in the difficulties students experience in terms of becoming "fluent" [2] (p. 28) in the disciplinary-specific representations [2,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Theoretical details from the literature, together with the concept of disciplinary affordance [11,12], are used to underpin a case that physics representations need to be "unpacked" for students.…”

Dificultades del Aprendizaje sobre el principio de Arquímedes en el contexto de la Flotación

“…El [36][37][38]. Como se evidencia en la figura 4, elítem 8 tienen uníndice de dificultad inferior a lo deseado (0.3), lo cual nos sugiere su modificación, ya que con dificultad se puede responder correctamente a esta pregunta, de igual forma elítem 4 aunque se encuentre dentro del rango deseable, sugiere que su respuesta es evidente.…”

“…La forma de calcular elíndice es a través de D = (NH-NL)/(N/2), donde (NH) representa la cantidad de sujetos con una calificación mayor a la mediana y (NL) la cantidad de sujetos que tienen una calificación menor a la mediana. Una buena discriminación se cumple si el resultado delíndice es 0.3 [37,38]. En la figura 4 se observa que loś ıtems 2 y 8 no cumplen con los criterios establecidos.…”

“…Refleja la correlación entre las calificaciones de los sujetos en unítem con las calificaciones en todo el test. Tiene un rango entre (-1, +1) [36][37][38]. Si unítem es correlacionado positivamente con toda la prueba, significa que los sujetos con altos puntajes totales son más probables a responder que los sujetos con bajos puntajes totales.…”