POWRE:Development of a Problem Solving Skill Assessment Tool For Use In Evaluation of Introductory Physics Curricula

许多物理教师和潜在雇主都同意，一门有效的物理课程最有价值的方面是发展学生多才多艺和强大的定量解决问题的技能。我们在教授物理入门课程的能力方面取得了重大进展，使学生对材料有了深刻的概念性理解。定量评估工具，如力量概念清单和力量和运动概念评估，衡量了学生在教学过程中对概念理解的增加，在激励和指导课程改革方面发挥了重要作用。为了在我们教授定量问题解决技能的能力上取得类似的收获，需要开发一种有效的评估工具，以确定有效的教学技术，以发展我们的学生的问题解决技能。这个项目的重点是开发和初步验证一种衡量问题解决能力的量化评估工具。该工具基于引导式面试协议，要求学生解决一个现实的、新颖的和量化的问题。学生在引导式面试中的反应是根据以下几个方面进行数字评估的：行动或反应是否是独立产生的，而不是根据面试官的提示而提供的，正确性，以及导致问题解决的可能性。将该工具分配给特定学生的分数与学生导师对学生在定量问题解决任务中的表现的评估进行比较，为初步评估提供了机制。有了合适、可靠和有效的工具，就可以对教学技术的有效性进行比较。如果我们要在教学中实现像我们在概念学习领域所看到的那样，在强大的问题解决能力方面取得同样的改进，那么比较课程和教学法是必要的。

Many physics instructors and potential employers agree that the most valuable aspect of an effective physics course is the development of versatile and robust quantitative problem solving skills in our students. Significant gains have been made in our ability to teach introductory physics courses in such a way that students gain a deep conceptual understanding of the material. Quantitative assessment tools like the Force Concept Inventory and Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation, which measure the increase in student conceptual understanding resulting from instruction, have been instrumental in motivating and guiding curricular reform along these lines. To make similar gains in our ability to teach quantitative problem solving skills, a valid assessment instrument that can identify the effective pedagogical techniques for problem solving skill development in our students needs to be developed. This project focuses on the development and preliminary validation of a quantitative assessment tool to measure problem solving ability. The tool is based on a guided interview protocol in which students are asked to solve a realistic, novel and quantitative problem. The student's responses during the guided interview are numerically evaluated based on: whether the action or response is independently generated rather than provided in response to prompting by the interviewer, correctness, and potential to result in the solution of the problem. Comparison of the score assigned to a given student by the tool and the student's instructor's evaluation of the student's performance on quantitative problem solving tasks provides the mechanism for preliminary evaluation. With an appropriate, reliable and valid tool, comparisons regarding the effectiveness of instructional techniques can be made. Comparing curricula and pedagogies is imperative if we are to realize the same improvement in teaching for robust problem solving ability as we have seen in the area of conceptual learning.