Presentation
Using psychometric tools as a window into students’ quantitative reasoning in introductory physics
2019 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings
(2019)
Abstract
The Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL), a reasoning inventory under development, aims to assess students' physics quantitative literacy at the introductory level. The PIQL's design presents the challenge of isolating types of mathematical reasoning that are independent of each other in physics questions. In its current form, the PIQL spans three principle reasoning subdomains previously identified in mathematics and physics education research: ratios and proportions, covariation, and signed (negative) quantities. An important psychometric objective is to test the orthogonality of these three reasoning subdomains. We present results from exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and module analysis that inform interpretations of the underlying structure of the PIQL from a student viewpoint, emphasizing ways in which these results agree and disagree with expert categorization. In addition to informing the development of existing and new PIQL assessment items, these results are also providing exciting insights into students' quantitative reasoning at the introductory level.
Keywords
- Introductory physics,
- PIQL,
- Physics literacy
Disciplines
Publication Date
July 24, 2019
Location
Provo, UT
DOI
10.1119/perc.2019.pr.smith_t
Citation Information
Trevor I. Smith, Philip Eaton, Suzanne White Brahmia, Alexis Olsho, et al.. "Using psychometric tools as a window into students’ quantitative reasoning in introductory physics" 2019 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings (2019) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/andrew_boudreaux/31/