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的雇主都认为，一个有效的物理课程最有价值的方面是在我们的学生的多功能和强大的定量解决问题的能力的发展。 我们在教授入门物理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理解。 定量评估工具，如力的概念库存和力和运动的概念评价，测量学生的概念理解的增加，导致教学，一直在激励和指导课程改革沿着这些路线。 为了使我们的定量解决问题的能力，教类似的收益，一个有效的评估工具，可以确定有效的教学技术解决问题的技能发展，在我们的学生需要开发。本计画主要针对解决问题能力之量化评估工具之开发与初步验证。 该工具是基于一个指导面试协议，其中要求学生解决一个现实的，新颖的和定量的问题。 学生的反应在引导面试的基础上进行数值评估：是否独立产生的行动或响应，而不是提供在响应由面试官，正确性，并有可能导致问题的解决方案提示。 通过工具分配给给定学生的分数与学生的教师对学生在定量问题解决任务上的表现的评价的比较提供了初步评价的机制。 有了一个适当的，可靠的和有效的工具，就可以比较教学技术的有效性。如果我们要在教学中实现同样的改进，以提高我们在概念学习领域所看到的强大的问题解决能力，那么比较课程和教学法势在必行。

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.