NUE: Nanoscience Based Supplementary Items for ACS Exams Institute Assessment Materials

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This Nanotechnology in Undergraduate Education (NUE) award to Professor Thomas A Holme of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee is made by the Division of Chemistry in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Division of Undergraduate Education in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources to develop multiple choice assessment items that test student knowledge of chemistry content found in traditional subdisciplines, but uses nanoscience examples. These items will be collected into a supplementary nanoscience-based items booklet to be published by the Examinations Institute of the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society. These booklets will be printed and provided free of charge to educators that order traditional exams in General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry. To facillitate the use of these questions as complements to or supplements in the traditional exams, an interactive web site will also be developed that allows users to determine norms for exams adjusted by the use of the nanoscience based items (based on items statistics for all items involved.) The intellectual merit of this project lies largely in the development and analysis of these items. The major task of writing and editing the items will be carried out by a committee of volunteer educators. Once items have been written they will be trial tested, and the results of these trials will be subjected to statistical analysis. These analyses will allow for determination of what types of nanoscience content provide difficulties for student and the determination if any items operate differentially within definable subgroups of students. The broader impact of the project is related primarily to this differential item functioning (DIF) analysis. As part of the development of the proposed assessment instrument, DIF will be investigated, and, if found, studied further to elucidate ways in which nanoscience related content presents learning barriers for definable ethnic or gender groups. Such information can help address issues of underrepresented minorities in science by determining better ways to present nanoscience related content for these groups. The proposal for this award was received in response to the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education announcement, NSF 03-044, category NUE.