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Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi
Energy band theory is a central topic in upper-division solid state physics and plays a foundational role in semiconductors and material science research. However, no validated concept inventory is currently available to measure students' conceptual understandings of this topic. As an initial step toward assessment development, this study reports a content analysis of four widely used textbooks--two in English and two in Chinese--aimed at identifying core concepts in energy band theory across different sources. Results revealed five key concept categories, common across all texts, including foundational approximations, Bloch's theorem, the nearly free electron model, the tight-binding model, and symmetry operators. We validated these concept categories by comparing them against graduate entrance exam syllabi from three major Chinese universities. The convergence between textbook content and national curricular expectations supports these five concept categories as the focus for assessment. This work lays the foundation for future development of a research-based concept inventory, capable of supporting instruction and learning in upper-level solid state physics.
Physics Education Research Conference 2025
Part of the PER Conference series Washington, DC: August 6-7, 2025 Pages 240-245
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<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17147">Ma, Guofu, and Lin Ding. "Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC, August 6-7, 2025.</a>
G. Ma and L. Ding, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC, 2025, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17147&DocID=6075).
G. Ma and L. Ding, Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC, 2025, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17147&DocID=6075>.
Ma, G., & Ding, L. (2025, August 6-7). Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC. Retrieved December 12, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17147&DocID=6075
Ma, Guofu, and Lin Ding. "Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2025, Washington, DC, August 6-7, 2025. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17147&DocID=6075 (accessed 12 December 2025).
Ma, Guofu, and Lin Ding. "Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi." Physics Education Research Conference 2025. Washington, DC: 2025. 240-245 of PER Conference. 12 Dec. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17147&DocID=6075>.
@inproceedings{
Author = "Guofu Ma and Lin Ding",
Title = {Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2025},
Pages = {240-245},
Address = {Washington, DC},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {August 6-7},
Year = {2025}
}
%A Guofu Ma %A Lin Ding %T Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi %S PER Conference %D August 6-7 2025 %P 240-245 %C Washington, DC %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17147&DocID=6075 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2025 %O August 6-7 %O application/pdf %0 Conference Proceedings %A Ma, Guofu %A Ding, Lin %D August 6-7 2025 %T Toward a Concept Inventory for Energy Band Theory: Insights from Textbooks and Graduate Exam Syllabi %B Physics Education Research Conference 2025 %C Washington, DC %P 240-245 %S PER Conference %8 August 6-7 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17147&DocID=6075 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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