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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Genaro Zavala, Santa E. Tejeda-Torres, Pablo Barniol, and Robert J. Beichner
In this article, we present several modifications to the Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics. The most significant changes are (i) the addition and removal of items to achieve parallelism in the objectives (dimensions) of the test, thus allowing comparisons of students' performance that were not possible with the original version, and (ii) changes to the distractors of some of the original items that represent the most frequent alternative conceptions. The final modified version (after an iterative process involving four administrations of test variations over two years) was administered to 471 students of an introductory university physics course at a large private university in Mexico. When analyzing the final modified version of the test it was found that the added items satisfied the statistical tests of difficulty, discriminatory power, and reliability; also, that the great majority of the modified distractors were effective in terms of their frequency selection and discriminatory power; and, that the final modified version of the test satisfied the reliability and discriminatory power criteria as well as the original test. Here, we also show the use of the new version of the test, presenting a new analysis of students' understanding not possible to do before with the original version of the test, specifically regarding the objectives and items that in the new version meet parallelisms. Finally, in the PhysPort project (physport.org), we present the final modified version of the test. It can be used by teachers and researchers to assess students' understanding of graphs in kinematics, as well as their learning about them.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages 020111
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License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
G. Zavala, S. Tejeda, P. Barniol, R. Beichner
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111
Keywords:
graphing, representations
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created September 9, 2017 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
October 25, 2017 by Bruce Mason
Last Update
when Cataloged:
August 31, 2017
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AIP Format
G. Zavala, S. Tejeda-Torres, P. Barniol, and R. Beichner, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13 (2), 020111 (2017), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111).
AJP/PRST-PER
G. Zavala, S. Tejeda-Torres, P. Barniol, and R. Beichner, Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13 (2), 020111 (2017), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111>.
APA Format
Zavala, G., Tejeda-Torres, S., Barniol, P., & Beichner, R. (2017, August 31). Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 13(2), 020111. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111
Chicago Format
Zavala, G, S. Tejeda-Torres, P. Barniol, and R. Beichner. "Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13, no. 2, (August 31, 2017): 020111, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111 (accessed 26 April 2024).
MLA Format
Zavala, Genaro, Santa Esmeralda Tejeda-Torres, Pablo Barniol, and Robert Beichner. "Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13.2 (2017): 020111. 26 Apr. 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111>.
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@article{ Author = "Genaro Zavala and Santa Esmeralda Tejeda-Torres and Pablo Barniol and Robert Beichner", Title = {Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {13}, Number = {2}, Pages = {020111}, Month = {August}, Year = {2017} }
Refer Export Format

%A Genaro Zavala %A Santa Esmeralda Tejeda-Torres %A Pablo Barniol %A Robert Beichner %T Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 13 %N 2 %D August 31, 2017 %P 020111 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Zavala, Genaro %A Tejeda-Torres, Santa Esmeralda %A Barniol, Pablo %A Beichner, Robert %D August 31, 2017 %T Modifying the test of understanding graphs in kinematics %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 13 %N 2 %P 020111 %8 August 31, 2017 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.020111


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