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Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics
written by Lin Ding
The well-established approaches to energy in traditional introductory mechanics courses are often oversimplified or even erroneous. Unlike the traditional courses, Matter & Interactions (M&I) Modern Mechanics presents students a scientific view of energy by emphasizing the energy principle and the atomic nature of matter. Motivated by a great need for an appropriate assessment tool that matches the accurate approaches to energy as employed in the M&I mechanics course, this study carries out a valid and reliable energy assessment to evaluate student understanding of energy topics. This energy assessment is a 33-item multiple-choice test and is suitable for the M&I mechanics course or courses of similar content and approaches. In general, questions in the energy assessment test higher-level thinking yet involve only short reasoning processes.

Students from different academic levels participated in completing the energy assessment. The majority participants are students from the M&I mechanics course who took both the pretest and posttest in the 2006 fall semester at North Carolina State University. Results from a series of quantitative analyses show that the M&I students performed significantly better in the posttest than in the pretest not only on the entire assessment, but also on most of the individual items and all the test objectives. Moreover, a small number of student interviews were conducted to probe student reasoning. Qualitative analyses of the student interviews indicate that students are able to use the energy principle correctly to tackle physics questions if they choose to start from the fundamental principles. Another aspect highlighted in the interviews is that students are capable of performing qualitative analysis without using exact formulas.
University: North Carolina State University
Academic Department:  Physics
Pages 264
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Assessment
= Instruments
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
= Thesis/Dissertation
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- application/pdf
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Mirror:
https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/h…
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© 2007 Lin Ding
Type:
Ph.D.
Keywords:
Matter and Interactions, assessment, energy, evaluation, introductory mechanics, introductory physics, physics education
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created June 20, 2007 by Shawn Weatherford
Record Updated:
August 19, 2020 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
May 14, 2007
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AIP Format
L. Ding, , Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2007, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=5345&DocID=2844).
AJP/PRST-PER
L. Ding, Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics, Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2007, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=5345&DocID=2844>.
APA Format
Ding, L. (2007, May 14). Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics (Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2007). Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=5345&DocID=2844
Chicago Format
Ding, Lin. "Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics." Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2007. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=5345&DocID=2844 (accessed 29 March 2024).
MLA Format
Ding, Lin. "Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics." Ph.D.. 14 May 2007. North Carolina State University, 2007. 29 Mar. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=5345&DocID=2844>.
BibTeX Export Format
@phdthesis{ Author = "Lin Ding", Title = {Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics}, School = {North Carolina State University}, Type = {Ph.D.}, Month = {May}, Year = {2007} }
Refer Export Format

%A Lin Ding %T Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics %R Ph.D. %D May 14, 2007 %P 264 %I North Carolina State University %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=5345&DocID=2844 %O Physics %O application/pdf %O Ph.D.

EndNote Export Format

%0 Thesis %A Ding, Lin %D May 14, 2007 %T Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics %B Physics %I North Carolina State University %P 264 %8 May 14, 2007 %9 Ph.D. %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=5345&DocID=2844


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Designing an Energy Assessment to Evaluate Student Understanding of Energy Topics:

References Key Document Energy Concept Assessment

The Energy Concept Assessment, appendix B & C of Ding's thesis, is provided separately in a password protected file to help ensure its integrity.

To obtain the password, please send a request with your name, email, institution, and a link to a page at your institution that confirms you are an instructor.

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