In Computer-related technology use in the high school physics classroom: A case study, the study was done with a focus on qualitative data, but the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) was administered to students and analyzed to add a quantitative component to the study (McClure, 1996). The copy of the Force Concept Inventory in the study shows that it focuses on material from the first half of a physics curriculum, such as Newton’s laws, kinematics, and uniform circular motion. The study Assessing the Effectiveness of E-learning Integration in College Physics in the Alamo Community Colleges District, also used the Force Concept Inventory to assess achievement. According to the researcher, “The examination was designed to probe all the dimensions that are central to basic college physics. It serves as the most reliable single index of students ' understanding of basic college physics” (Zhou, 2012). The researcher also talks about how since the FCI was created it has been validated multiple times. The consistent validity makes this measure great for measuring achievement but only for the content in the first half of a college physics course.While this is extremely useful it is not useful for my study. The Physics Achievement Test (PAT) may be a more useful measure for my study. “This is a researcher developed multiple choice objective test, made up of forty items. Each item has one correct option and four distractors. The instrument tested the pre-service teachers’ intellectual
Standardized tests are exams that are supposed to measure a child’s academic knowledge but have long been a controversial subject of discussion. Although it is one method to see how a child is performing, is it the best method? Standardized testing can be biased or unfair, inhibit both the teacher’s and the children’s creativity and flexibility, affect funding for schools, cause untested subjects to be eliminated from the curriculum, and cause anxiety for children and teachers.
I assessed the students’ intellectual involvement during the Science Tool Learning Center and the Help Harry STEM activity. The assessment included worksheets, designing a perch, and a survey of the students’ teamwork efforts. During the learning center, the students had to complete a worksheet the corresponded with the station they were currently at. For example, at the balance station, the students had to follow the prompts by using the balance and answering the questions on the worksheet. Not only did they have to have their “minds-on” to complete the worksheet, they were also involved in “hands-on” activities by using the science tools. Furthermore, during the Help Harry STEM activity, the students were instructed to design and build a
These tests use reasoning, analysis, problem solving, and what your previous knowledge of the subject is. It measures the kinds of tasks that college students are expected to learn (http://www.act.org, 2004).
The use of standardized testing to measure students’ knowledge is an inaccurate reflection of their capabilities. By being forced to take a test that does not effectively show their abilities, students become overstressed, and the tests themselves do not promote true academic achievement. Rather than learning about subjects in order to gain knowledge, students simply memorize facts and formulas to get a decent test score. Standardized tests are not an appropriate measure of student performance, only benefit certain groups of students, and do not prepare students for the real world.
There are many ways to test if a student or teacher is doing an effective job or not, but have you ever considered what kind of harmful stress the test is putting on these students and teachers? Teachers are graded on how effectively they are teaching their students and students are looked at to see if they are making progress and often told whether they can go on to the next grade or not. This kind of test can cause a great deal of stress and often kids completely giving up. These test cause stress, internalized failure, loss of curiosity, and students also lose their love of learning.
The TAKS test has became ineffective in several ways it’s used to determine a teacher’s bonus or how well they communicate given information. When taking into account all theses view points, I have come to the conclusion that the TAKS and the STARR should no longer be used in its current role. One of the difficulties that arise with this test is the pass or Fail System.
Downing, S., & Haladyna, T. (1996). A model for evaluation of high-stakes testing programs: Why the fox should not guard the chicken coop. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 5(1), 5–12.
“No issue in the U.S. Education is more controversial than (standardized) testing. Some people view it as the linchpin of serious reform and improvement, others as a menace to quality teaching and learning” (Phelps). A tool that educators use to learn about students and their learning capabilities is the standardized test. Standardized tests are designed to give a common measure of a student’s performance. Popular tests include the SAT, IQ tests, Regents Exams, and the ACT. “Three kinds of standardized tests are used frequently in schools: achievement, diagnostic, and aptitude” (Woolfolk 550). Achievement tests can be used to help a teacher assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses in a
Each year many high school students are encouraged to take standardized tests. They are told how essential the tests are and to spend vast amounts of time preparing for them. Although many people think that standardized tests are a useful tool for the measurement of students’ aptitude and intelligence, they are ineffective to represent the true proficiency of their understanding.
These test results will influence a lesson plan by giving the teacher proper knowledge they need when planning a lesson in order
Furthermore, the purpose of these achievement tests are to measure the efficiency of the schools. Consequently, every year schools have to administer a standardized achievement tests to students to evaluate how much they have learned throughout the year. These tests not only evaluate the students’ progress but also the teachers, who are considered responsible for their learning. Unfortunately, not many of us have been very keen of these tests. The reason why, is
In the society of today, there are various educators who believe in assessment as proper method to measure the performance of a child in school as well as the overall achievement of a specific school system. The assessment may be presented in the form of verbal, written, or multiple choice, and it usually pertains to certain academic subjects in the school curriculum. Recently, many educators began to issue standardized tests to measure the intelligence of a common student body. (Rudner, 1989) These standardized tests were initially created to reveal the success in institutional school programs, and exhibit the abilities of students today. The standardized tests can reveal the strengths and weaknesses
There are a variety of topics that are interesting in life. This interest may then become a point of inquisition, where an individual may formulate a relationship between two variables, which may or may not influence each other. Next, a hypothesis is formed and tested. In this same manner, a school educator was interested in determining the potential relationship between grade point average (GPA) and IQ scores among ninth graders. The educator random sampled 30 ninth graders, ages 14 years old and administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). This writer will be expanding further on this topic and will formulate the null and alternative hypothesis, describe the four scales of measurement, describe whether if there is a correlation significant (positive, negative, or no correlation) enough between both variables, describe the strength of the relationship, describe what the results reveals about the hypothesis, and what conclusions can be drawn from the results.
It’s important to make sure that the assessments are accurately measuring what students know, however, good test items are difficult to write. An item analysis can help improve assessments because it shows which items are too easy or too difficult as well as how well a question distinguishes between students at the top and bottom (Making sense of test analysis, n.d.). This analysis is helpful to understand which questions need to be changed, removed or should be kept (Making sense of test analysis, n.d.). In this way, it is designed to enhance the quality of each question and therefore will help teachers increases the validity and reliability of the full assessment (Making sense of test analysis, n.d.). Thus, item analysis is essential
Throughout the semester, the class was composed of lectures and recitations where we learn to use MatLab, PSpice, and myDAQ. After ten recitations, we were assign a group project that demonstrated the knowledge we had gained throughout the entirety of the course. Although we had the option to choose from the following three detention circuits: a resistor-thermistor voltage divider circuit, a phototransistor-resistor voltage divider circuit, or a standard PC microphone driving the audioInput of the myDAQ, my group opted out towards the PC microphone detention circuit. Within the PC microphone detention circuit, the microphone should have been able to detect three different states of noise. The first state consists of the microphone detecting no noise, the second state consists of the microphone detecting the presence of some noise, and the third state consists of the microphone detecting a louder noise than usual.