Developing, Field-Testing, and Validating An Elementary Algebra Concept Inventory Database For Use In The College Context

曼哈顿社区学院的EHR核心研究项目旨在为学生对传统大学代数课程中所学概念的理解提供新的知识和建立新的理论。大学代数一直被认为是学生学位进步和完成的障碍，特别是对于传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的群体。学生进步的障碍之一是缺乏有效的评估来衡量对代数概念的理解。该项目将通过建立一个项目库来评估概念理解，然后在七所不同的学院和大学测试和验证数据库，从而承担这项重要的工作。该项目的目的是生成一个由200个经过验证的问题组成的校准题库，用于评估大学代数中的概念理解。然后，这个校准的项目库可以用于：1)研究人员评估课程和教学方法在提高代数概念理解方面的有效性；2)从业者生成诊断测试，其结果可用于有针对性的指导，以解决特定的学生误解。本研究将建立第一个经过验证的校准题库来测试大学背景下的初等代数概念理解。该研究建立在最初成功的工作开发和验证22个问题的初等代数概念清单。经过校准的题库还将允许多个版本的测试相同，因此教师或研究人员可以给不同的学生不同的测试形式，但分数相等，从而提高考试的安全性和结果的可靠性。概念清单数据库将在纽约城市学院系统的学生中进行验证，该系统的学生人数约为80%非白人，60%女性，60%佩尔助学金获得者，50%第一代大学生，40%英语不是他们的第一语言。该工具还将在全国其他六所大学进行测试，以确保在不同的机构背景下进行推广。该项目还将为大学生理解初等代数提供一个概念框架。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This EHR Core Research Project at Manhattan Community College aims to contribute new knowledge and build new theory about students' understanding of the concepts traditionally learned in a college algebra course. College algebra has consistently been identified as a barrier to student degree progress and completion, particularly for groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. One part of the barrier to student progress is the lack of validated assessments to measure understanding of algebra concepts. The project will undertake this important work by building a pool of items to assess conceptual understanding and then testing and validating the database at seven different colleges and universities. The aim of this project is to generate a calibrated item pool of 200 validated questions that assess conceptual understanding in college algebra. This calibrated item pool can then be used by: 1) researchers to assess the effectiveness of curricula and teaching approaches in improving algebraic conceptual understanding; and 2) practitioners to generate diagnostic tests, the results of which could then be used to target instruction to address specific student misconceptions. This research will create the first validated calibrated item pool to test elementary algebra conceptual understanding in the college context. The research builds on initial successful work developing and validating a 22-question elementary algebra concept inventory. A calibrated item pool also will allow for multiple versions of the test to be equated, so instructors or researchers can give different students different test forms but equate the scores, thus improving exam security and the reliability of results. The concept inventory database will be validated with students from the City College of New York system, where the student population is roughly 80% non-white, 60% female, 60% Pell-grant recipients, 50% first-generation college students, and 40% for whom English was not their first language. The instrument will also be tested at six other colleges across the country to ensure generalization to different institutional contexts. The project will also produce a conceptual framework for college students' understanding of elementary algebra.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.