The Force Concept Inventory

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The Force Concept Inventory

• Glenn Wagner
• Centre Wellington D.H.S.

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What is the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)

• Diagnostic tool designed to test student
  conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics
• 30 multiple choice questions
• Developed and revised starting in 1993
• Over 20 000 students tested in the U.S. at the
  high school and university levels

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(No Transcript)
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17. An elevator is being lifted up an elevator
shaft at a constant speed by a steel cable as
shown in the figure below. All frictional effects
are negligible. In this situation, forces on the
elevator are such that (A) the upward force by
the cable is greater than the downward force of
gravity. (B) the upward force by the cable is
equal to the downward force of gravity. (C) the
upward force by the cable is smaller than the
downward force of gravity. (D) the upward force
by the cable is greater than the sum of the
downward force of gravity and a
downward force due to the air. (E) none of the
above. (The elevator goes up because the cable is
being shortened, not because an upward force is
exerted on the elevator by the cable).
Elevator going up at constant speed      
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What does the FCI results tell the teacher?

• Students who score below 60 on the FCI do not
  have a sufficient grasp of the principles of
  mechanics to use them reliably in reasoning and
  problem solving.
• A score of gt85 is the mastery level

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How To Administer the FCI

• Give as a pre-test at beginning of your course
• Teach as you would normally teach
• Give as a post-test at the end of the Newtonian
  mechanics section of the course

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Calculating the Gain

• Find out how well your class gained in their
  understanding of Newtonian mechanics
• Gain (post-test ? pre-test)/ (100
  ?pre-test)
• high gain ? 0.7
• medium gain 0.3 to 0.7 ?
  0.48
• low gain lt 0.3

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How Do You Obtain the FCI Test?

• E-mail Jane Jackson at Arizona State University
• E-mail from your teaching institution or provide
  evidence that you are a teacher
• Jane.jackson_at_asu.edu

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A Few Dont s

• Do not let the students keep a copy of the test
• Do not post the test on local web sites
• Avoid using the post-test results as part of
  their grade

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Want more information?

• http//modeling.asu.edu
• Jane.jackson_at_asu.edu