Progress on concept inventory assessment tools

Abstract

The foundation coalition and others have been working on the development of concept inventory (Cl) assessment instruments patterned after the well-known force concept inventory (FCI) instrument of Halloun and Hestenes. Such assessment inventories can play an important part in relating teaching techniques to student learning. Work first got started two years ago on CIs for the subjects of thermodynamics; solid mechanics; signals and processing; and electromagnetics. Last year work got underway on CIs for circuits; fluid mechanics; engineering materials; transport processes; and statistics. This year work began on chemistry; computer engineering; dynamics; electronics; and heat transfer. This panel session will discuss the progress on these concept inventories. More, importantly, the panelists will discuss the early student data that are emerging from the process of continuous improvement of the instruments. Results will be compared to the data collected by Hake that are segregated by how the content was managed and delivered (e.g., "traditional" lecture mode compared to the "interactive engagement" mode, as defined by Hake). Discussions of effective practices for use in the development of CIs will also be discussed.