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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Christopher Wheatley, James E. Wells, Rachel Henderson, and John Stewart
The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) is a widely used multiple-choice instrument measuring a student's conceptual understanding of electricity and magnetism. This study applied modified module analysis (MMA) and modified module analysis--partial (MMA-P), network analytic methods that identify groups of correlated responses, to CSEM data from two institutions (N=2538 and 3595). In module analysis, groups of correlated responses are called "communities." As in previous applications of MMA and MMA-P to mechanics conceptual inventories, a number of communities related to physics concepts and some communities related to the structure of blocked items in the inventory were identified. An item block is a set of items all referring to each other or to a common stem. Many blocked communities involved responses where the response to the later item would be correct if the response to the earlier item was correct. This suggests a modified scoring rubric for the CSEM is needed to account for these connections between items. A modified scoring rubric is proposed; however, the modified overall average scores changed by less than 1%. The communities of incorrect responses to the CSEM related to physical concepts had varied explanations. These explanations ranged from seemingly straightforward errors (the electric field pointing to higher potential or reversing the right-hand rule), to misconceptions about Newton's 2nd and 3rd laws carried over from mechanics, to naive reasoning conflating general topics in electricity and magnetism. The identification of incorrect communities allowed the computation of misconception scores showing how prevalent the misconceptions were in the classes studied.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 17, Issue 1, Pages 010102
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Assessment
= Conceptual Assessment
= Instruments
- Research Design & Methodology
= Data
= Validity
Electricity & Magnetism
- General
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
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Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102
NSF Numbers:
PHY-0108787
EPS-1003907
ECR-1561517
Keywords:
CSEM module analysis, CSEM validity
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created May 12, 2021 by Bruce Mason
Record Updated:
May 6, 2022 by Caroline Hall
Last Update
when Cataloged:
January 19, 2021
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AIP Format
C. Wheatley, J. Wells, R. Henderson, and J. Stewart, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17 (1), 010102 (2021), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102).
AJP/PRST-PER
C. Wheatley, J. Wells, R. Henderson, and J. Stewart, Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17 (1), 010102 (2021), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102>.
APA Format
Wheatley, C., Wells, J., Henderson, R., & Stewart, J. (2021, January 19). Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 17(1), 010102. Retrieved May 13, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102
Chicago Format
Wheatley, C, J. Wells, R. Henderson, and J. Stewart. "Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17, no. 1, (January 19, 2021): 010102, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102 (accessed 13 May 2024).
MLA Format
Wheatley, Christopher, James E. Wells, Rachel Henderson, and John Stewart. "Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17.1 (2021): 010102. 13 May 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Christopher Wheatley and James E. Wells and Rachel Henderson and John Stewart", Title = {Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {17}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010102}, Month = {January}, Year = {2021} }
Refer Export Format

%A Christopher Wheatley %A James E. Wells %A Rachel Henderson %A John Stewart %T Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 17 %N 1 %D January 19, 2021 %P 010102 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Wheatley, Christopher %A Wells, James E. %A Henderson, Rachel %A Stewart, John %D January 19, 2021 %T Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 17 %N 1 %P 010102 %8 January 19, 2021 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010102


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