Collaborative Research: Assessment of Student Understanding of Measurement and Uncertainty in Experimental Physics

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by improving assessment of student understanding in introductory physics laboratory courses. The project focuses on two critical concepts that are central to physics: experimentation and measurement uncertainty. Experimentation plays a central role in physics for the development of both new knowledge and technology. Many students' introduction to experimentation happens in physics laboratory courses. A common learning objective for these courses is for students understand how to make measurements and that these measurements have a level of uncertainty. This project is significant because it will use modern assessment frameworks that draw on learning and measurement theory to develop a better tool to measure students' understanding of these concepts. This assessment will be available to all instructors of introductory laboratory courses, so that they can measure student outcomes and use this information iteratively improve student learning. This project is motivated by the need to assess student learning outcomes in physics laboratory courses. This work will document the collective needs of the physics laboratory community regarding assessing student understanding of measurement and uncertainty. Its scope will include documenting the myriad ways in which students present their understanding of these concepts. By using modern assessment frameworks (e.g., Evidence Centered Design) with well-established validity frameworks (e.g., Item Response Theory), the PIs will provide the first assessment of student understanding in physics that is grounded in the current best practices of assessment design. Although this research is foundational, with direct implications for future studies of student learning in laboratory settings, it will also have practical value in teaching physics. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.