PE-CAP: Revising Physics Conceptual Inventories with Introductory Faculty to Build Adaptive Assessments and Flexible Strategies

Physics education research has been historically advanced by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE), but over time significant flaws from these assessments have been revealed. Considering these flaws, such as psychometric issues and demographic biases, redesigning the assessment tools and reflecting on classroom practices is crucial. The goal of this collaborative effort is to build a portfolio of validated items organized into subscales, which will allow professors to personally customize assessments based on the needs of the classroom.

Using interview and survey data from introductory physics professors across the United States, we applied qualitative analysis to explore their experiences. On this poster, we will share preliminary findings on how physics professors use assessments in the classroom and why community feedback is important. Our current results place a high importance on flexible and interactive classroom strategies to better foster and grow student understanding, different ways to build formal assessment tools, and how introductory physics courses can use assessments to help improve and support students’ professional skills. We continuously invite introductory physics professors to participate and share their experiences in order to create fair and flexible assessments for physics students.