| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | August 13, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 13, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1832880 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
R. Corby Hovis
chovis@nsf.gov (703)292-4625 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $46,553.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $46,553.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
201 MULLICA HILL RD GLASSBORO NJ US 08028-1702 (856)256-4057 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
Glassboro NJ US 08028-1701 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | IUSE |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
To improve physics teaching and learning, it is important to have validated and standardized assessment tools to measure students' quantitative literacy in physics. To meet this need, this project will develop a valid and reliable multiple-choice assessment instrument to measure introductory physics students' quantitative literacy, a subcategory of mathematical reasoning. Quantitative literacy is a set of interconnected skills, attitudes, and habits of mind. Together, they support the sophisticated use of elementary mathematics to describe and understand the world. Sophisticated quantitative literacy is a foundation for work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Although development of quantitative reasoning is a goal of many introductory science courses, particularly physics, research suggests that students often have difficulty using mathematical reasoning to make sense of physical situations. However, it is not known if instruction in introductory-level physics helps students overcome this difficulty. The goal of this project is to develop and implement an instrument to assess how students' quantitative reasoning ability changes over time in an introductory physics course. Data from such an instrument could drive improvements in instruction to increase students? ability to conceptualize the mathematics that they do in physics. This instrument could also assess the efficacy of such instructional changes. In addition, the resulting instrument could be modified and exported to other math-based disciplines. In this way, it has the potential to improve understanding of how quantitative reasoning skills grow as students progress through their college curricula. Since these quantitative skills are core to students' success in physics and other STEM fields, this project could enhance student retention in STEM disciplines and broaden our STEM workforce in the United States.
An effective STEM workforce needs to possess quantitative literacy, which is the ability use numerical data in tabular or graphical form to make appropriate conclusions about its meaning. Developing these skills is an important objective of introductory physics. However, few research studies have been published about the effect of instruction on students' development of physics quantitative literacy (PQL). The proposed research will fill this gap by developing the Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL), a multiple-choice assessment instrument. The project team will develop the PIQL in the context of a multi-course introductory physics sequence. They will then develop and pilot statistical methods to measure and evaluate students' growth in three components of PQL: reasoning about ratios and proportions, reasoning about negative quantities, and reasoning about co-variation between quantities. Various psychometric analyses will be used to ensure that the PIQL is both valid and reliable. (A valid instrument accurately measures students' PQL. A reliable instrument measures PQL consistently across different student populations.) Another major goal of the project is to use statistical analyses to develop a scoring model that quantifies growth, not just mastery, by incorporating the rich information contained in students' incorrect answers. This project will address the critical need for a valid and reliable instrument to measure student PQL in the introductory physics curriculum, and to assess its growth. The project will facilitate the improvement of sophisticated quantitative literacy as an educational outcome in physics classes. Furthermore, the results will provide a model for assessing quantitative literacy in other STEM disciplines.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project focused on development of the Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL), a 20-item multiple choice instrument to assess quantitative reasoning in introductory physics contexts.
Intellectual Merit:
This instrument helps to fill a gap in the assessment toolkit for physics education research, which has historically emphasized conceptual understanding much more than quantitative reasoning. The PIQL provides a tool for researchers to characterize the development of quantitative literacy in physics courses. We have established strong evidence for the validity of the PIQL in the calculus-based introductory physics course sequence.
Funding from the National Science Foundation has supported quantitative data collection and analysis to develop an argument for validity. This has included:
-
administering PIQL to large numbers of introductory physics students,
-
categorizing responses dichotomously as correct or incorrect,
-
counting the number of items each student answered correctly to determine a total score, and
-
using descriptive and inferential statistics to compare student populations (by level of instruction, demographic factors, etc.)
In accordance with research-based best practices for developing assessment instruments, we have developed and refined all PIQL items to ensure that each incorrect response option is associated with a well-documented student idea.
A recently published journal article describing the development of the PIQL and the evidence for its validity was selected as an Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review Physics Education Research, an honor reserved for only a small fraction of articles submitted to the premier journal for physics education research. Additionally, the current validated version of the PIQL is available for interested instructors on the PhysPort website.
This project has resulted in 40 scholarly presentations, four peer-reviewed journal articles, and 16 publications in peer-reviewed conference proceedings. In addition to developing the PIQL, two important theoretical frameworks have emerged from this work, for exploring the natures of signs and signed quantities and for characterizing covariational reasoning in introductory physics contexts.
Broader Impacts:
The development and dissemination of the PIQL provides instructors the means to systematically measure students' quantitative reasoning in the context of physics. A measure of this type has not previously been available. With this tool, instructors can track the development of their students? reasoning facility over time, and can evaluate the impact of instructional interventions targeted at improving quantitative reasoning.
Impact on students involved. One postdoc has conducted research on this grant, establishing a publication record different from their dissertation work, in addition to obtaining supplemental funding for the project from the NSF. Two graduate students (one Masters and one Doctoral) conducted their dissertation research and extended their work beyond the scope of this grant. Thirty-four undergraduate students have engaged in authentic research experiences associated with this grant. Their work has been presented at local, regional and national conferences, and published in peer-reviewed conference proceedings. The PIQL project provided experiences to these students that are vital for helping develop their research trajectories, collaboration, and communication skills.
Broadening access to research-validated assessment for course improvement. This project, originally focused on introductory calculus-based physics courses, gave rise to an algebra-based version of the instrument, the Generalized Equation-based Reasoning inventory for Quantity and Negativity (GERQN), currently under development. The GERQN can be used with a broader population of students at a variety of institutions, including pre-college students.
Characterizing opportunity windows for teacher professional development. This work ignited a collaboration that explores PQL similarities and differences between study subjects in the US and in Belgium, sampling STEM preservice and in-service teachers, and providing research projects for Belgian graduate students.
Last Modified: 12/19/2022
Modified by: Trevor I Smith
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
