Preliminary Results of Validating a New Closed-Format Instrument: The Colorado Classical Mechanics and Math Methods Instrument

Assessment is an integral part of improving educational environments as it allows us to ground decisions in reliable data on student learning. Closed response assessments can be scored by computer and administered online, thus increasing the ease with which they can be given to large populations of students. This scalability is important in allowing researchers to administer instruments to large populations to do comparative studies to learn more about effective pedegogy. We have translated the Colorado Classical Mechanics and Math Methods Instrument (CCMI) from an open-response format to a closed-response one. This process inherently decreases the amount of insight gained from each question on the inventory but vastly improves the ease of grading. This presentation will describe the preliminary results of work we have done over the last semester to validate this new version of the assessment as a standalone instrument using classical test theory.