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Testing Students’ Understanding of Vector Concepts
written by Pablo Barniol and Genaro Zavala
After four years of research we designed a 20-item multiple choice vector concept test (Test of Understanding of Vectors, TUV). In this article we analyze: 1) the reliability and discriminatory power of the test, and 2) students' understanding of the vector concepts evaluated in the test. The final version of the test was administered in English to 423 students who were finishing an Electricity and Magnetism course at a large private Mexican university. In the first part of the article, we show results indicating that the TUV is a reliable assessment tool. In the second part, we examine students' overall performance on the test and analyze the results of the five most difficult items for students: geometric interpretation of dot product, calculation of dot product of two vectors written in unit-vector notation, graphic representation of a unit vector, calculation of the direction of a vector written in unit-vector notation, and graphical subtraction of vector in 2D.
Physics Education Research Conference 2013
Part of the PER Conference series
Portland, OR: July 17-18, 2013
Pages 65-68
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education - Basic Research
- Alternative Conceptions
- Assessment
= Conceptual Assessment
= Instruments
Mathematical Tools
- Vector Algebra
= Cross Product
= Dot Product
= Vector Addition
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
PER-Central Type Intended Users Ratings
- PER Literature
- Researchers
- Professional/Practitioners
- Educators
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Format:
application/pdf
Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2013…
Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
Rights Holder:
American Association of Physics Teachers
DOI:
10.1119/perc.2013.pr.004
PACSs:
01.40.Fk
01.40.G
TdM Grant:
CAT140
Keywords:
PERC 2013, TUV, Test of Understanding of Vectors, Vector concept test, multiple-choice test, reliability analysis
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created December 21, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
December 21, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
December 16, 2013
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Record Link
AIP Format
P. Barniol and G. Zavala, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, 2013, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13098&DocID=3633).
AJP/PRST-PER
P. Barniol and G. Zavala, Testing Students’ Understanding of Vector Concepts, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, 2013, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13098&DocID=3633>.
APA Format
Barniol, P., & Zavala, G. (2013, July 17-18). Testing Students’ Understanding of Vector Concepts. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR. Retrieved December 5, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13098&DocID=3633
Chicago Format
Barniol, Pablo, and Genaro Zavala. "Testing Students’ Understanding of Vector Concepts." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, July 17-18, 2013. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13098&DocID=3633 (accessed 5 December 2024).
MLA Format
Barniol, Pablo, and Genaro Zavala. "Testing Students’ Understanding of Vector Concepts." Physics Education Research Conference 2013. Portland, OR: 2013. 65-68 of PER Conference. 5 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13098&DocID=3633>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Author = "Pablo Barniol and Genaro Zavala", Title = {Testing Students’ Understanding of Vector Concepts}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2013}, Pages = {65-68}, Address = {Portland, OR}, Series = {PER Conference}, Month = {July 17-18}, Year = {2013} }
Refer Export Format

%A Pablo Barniol %A Genaro Zavala %T Testing Students' Understanding of Vector Concepts %S PER Conference %D July 17-18 2013 %P 65-68 %C Portland, OR %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13098&DocID=3633 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2013 %O July 17-18 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Barniol, Pablo %A Zavala, Genaro %D July 17-18 2013 %T Testing Students' Understanding of Vector Concepts %B Physics Education Research Conference 2013 %C Portland, OR %P 65-68 %S PER Conference %8 July 17-18 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13098&DocID=3633


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