Diagnostic Tools
These materials are effective means of teachers evaluating their teaching practice. They are not really designed to be assessment tools.
The Diagnoser
The Diagnoser is a set of diagnostic instructional tools for middle and high school teachers and students. The tools are sets of questions as formative assessments (e.g., assessments to inform learning and instruction rather than assign scores.) Students receive feedback on their thinking as they work through their assignment. Teachers can access reports on students’ thinking related to the assigned content.” To access the material you need to register and set up a username and password. You can set up your classes and give each student a unique username and password and assign specific topics. There is no cost. For further details check entry D258 in the file ‘Selected items from Vicphysics News’ in the ‘News’ Page.
Force Concept Inventory
The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) is designed to assess student understanding of Forces. It consists of 30 multiple choice questions on kinematics, Newton’s First, Second, and Third Laws, the superposition principle, and types of forces (such as gravitation, friction). Each question has distracters that reflect common misconceptions. The FCI is described half way down the page, a password needs to be requested before the FCI can be downloaded. There is also a Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT) available at this website. The MBT is a step beyond the FCI and can be used as a post test. It also requires a password. The FCI now comes in different versions: a Gender FCI, an animated FCI and a familiar context FCI as well as numerous languages. Check also here.
Energy Concept Inventory
This is a pdf file of a Energy Concept Inventory, prepared by Michigan State University. It contains 35 multiple choice items.
Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation
FMCE is a survey containing 47 items in a multiple-choice multiple-response format. This covers a wider variety of topics than the Forces Concept Inventory. You need to register with PhysPort to access the material. The PhysPort page includes question examples, resources and related educational research and references.
Energy and Momentum Conceptual Survey
EMCS is similar in format to the Force Concept Inventory and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. Its purpose is to understand the difficulties students have in interpreting the concepts of energy and momentum and in correctly identifying and applying them in different physical situations. You need to register with PhysPort to access the material. The PhysPort page includes question examples, resources and related educational research and references.
Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA)
The purpose of the BEMA is to assess students’ qualitative understanding of basic concepts in electricity and magnetism, in particular: circuits, electrostatics, magnetic fields and forces. You need to register with PhysPort to access the material. The PhysPort page includes question examples, resources and related educational research and references.
Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM)
The purpose of the CSEM is to assess students’ understanding of electrostatics, magnetic fields and forces and Faraday’s law . You need to register with PhysPort to access the material. The PhysPort page includes question examples, resources and related educational research and references.
Magnetism Conceptual Survey (MCS)
The purpose of the MCS is to assess students’ understanding of magnetic fields and forces, and Faraday’s law. You need to register with PhysPort to access the material. The PhysPort page includes question examples, resources and related educational research and references.
Electricity and Magnetism Conceptual Assessment (EMCA)
The purpose of the EMCA is to assess students’ understanding of electrostatics, electric fields and force, circuits, magnetism and induction. You need to register with PhysPort to access the material. The PhysPort page includes question examples, resources and related educational research and references.
Resources on the Assessment of Scientific Abilities
The Rutgers Physics and Astronomy Education Research group has developed an extensive set of resources that focus on the development and assessment of scientific abilities.
Their website includes:
- several rubrics covering different aspects such as designing an experiment, communicating a scientific idea, analysing data, etc.
- about 20 online practical activities across motion, electricity and magnetism,
- a number of formative assessment tasks including one on ‘video problems’ and
- modelling activities.
These are freely available, but by registering, at no cost, you gain access to the instructor site.