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SOM Concept Inventory Assessment

The document discusses the development of a concept inventory to assess students' mastery of structural mechanics (SOM) concepts. [1] It provides preliminary results from testing the inventory on students who have completed an SOM course. [2] The results show some questions were too easy or did not adequately discriminate between high- and low-scoring students. [3] The authors plan to modify the inventory and release a beta version in January 2002.

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Suresh g.s.
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35 views13 pages

SOM Concept Inventory Assessment

The document discusses the development of a concept inventory to assess students' mastery of structural mechanics (SOM) concepts. [1] It provides preliminary results from testing the inventory on students who have completed an SOM course. [2] The results show some questions were too easy or did not adequately discriminate between high- and low-scoring students. [3] The authors plan to modify the inventory and release a beta version in January 2002.

Uploaded by

Suresh g.s.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jim Morgan, Texas A&M University

Jim Richardson, University of Alabama


• Background
• Preliminary Assessment Results
• Example Questions from Inventory
Purpose: Assess students’ mastery of
SOM concepts

Motivated by personal experience


• Calculus Physics Statics SOM
• SOM concepts are new to students
• May preclude “pre-testing”
• SOM concepts are essential to follow-on
courses
• Shear & Bending Moment Distributions
• Stress & Strain
– Axial & Torsional on Rods
– Axial, Shear & Bending on Beams
• Axial Buckling
• Pressure Vessels
• Failure of Ductile & Brittle Materials
• Met with developer of FCI
• Shared with professors
• Interviewed students
• Pyschometric assessment (on students
who have already taken SOM)
• Modify concept inventory to do
• Beta version available by Jan. 2002
Item Difficulty
(Percent who got the item correct)

1
Questions are very easy
0.9

0.8

0.7
Difficulty Index

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
Questions are very difficult
0
Q1 Q3 Q5 Q7 Q9 Q11 Q13 Q15 Q17 Q19 Q21 Q23
Question Number
Discrimination
How well do questions discriminate between high and low scorers?

(Interpret as percent more high scorers than low scorers who got the question correct)

0.70

0.60
Discrimination Index

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00 Poor discrimination

-0.10
Q1 Q3 Q5 Q7 Q9 Q11 Q13 Q15 Q17 Q19 Q21 Q23
Question Number
Correlation of Inventory to SOM Grade

25

20
Score on Inventory

15

10
R = .343
R-square = .118
F (28,1) = 3.595
5 a = .069

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Grade in SOM Course
26 %

42 %

32 % correct answer
48 % 40 % 12 %

correct
answer
88 %
correct
answer

2%

10%
• Good start on a SOM concept inventory
• Psychometrics show it needs more work
• We plan to modify the inventory this Fall
• Release the beta version in Jan. 2002

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