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Abstract Title: Preliminary development and validation of a diagnostic of critical thinking for introductory physics labs
Abstract: Recent work has demonstrated the affordances of physics labs to develop high-level critical thinking skills. For broad change, however, there is a need for efficient and validated assessment methods. In this paper, we present preliminary work on developing and validating a closed-response assessment of critical thinking skills, which focuses on how students reason with experimental data and test the validity of scientific models. The assessment asks students to reason about the methods, data, and analysis of two hypothetical case studies of students experimentally testing a model of Hooke's law. We describe the development and refinement of the cases and questions, and present preliminary results of validation and reliability.
Abstract Type: Contributed Poster Presentation

Author/Organizer Information

Primary Contact: Natasha Holmes
Stanford University
Co-Author(s)
and Co-Presenter(s)
Carl Wieman, Stanford University