Development of CAD-Related Items for a Concept Inventory for Engineering Graphics

This research paper describes the development of a concept inventory for Engineering Graphics. As instructional methods continue to evolve in the area of graphics, there is a need for a concept inventory instrument that is able to measure the students’ misconceptions of important graphical concepts. In a Delphi study, CAD was identified as an important component of the graphics curriculum to be included in the concept inventory. There have been unanticipated challenges in the creation of multiple-choice items designed to assess the understanding of the concepts in the CAD construct. This paper is a work-in-progress describing the evolution of possible CAD items. Details documenting the evolution of a representative item will be highlighted in this paper

Engineering Graphics Concept Inventory: Instrument Development and Item Selection

[EN] More reliable instruments need to be developed to assess curricula and measure student learning. It is important to ensure that students properly understand fundamental concepts, as scaffolding learning on a poor foundation can have a negative cascading effect. A concept inventory is an example of an instrument that aims to assess student learning and identifying their misconceptions. Such an instrument is typically comprised of an assessment whose items are prudently chosen to test understanding of a single concept per item. The result of this careful selection of items for the Engineering Graphics Concept Inventory resulted in a 30-question multiple choice instrument that can be used to identify deep-seated misconceptions and to assess course outcomes. This paper will outline the development of the Engineering Graphics Concept Inventory, focusing specifically on developing distractors and the selection process for the items in the instrument. The instrument will provide a means to assess and streamline curricula for engineering graphics educators. The research team would like acknowledge the support of NSF grants 1432280 and 1432288.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Nabutola, K.; Steinhauer, H.; Nozaki, S.; Study, N.; Sadowski, M. (2018). Engineering Graphics Concept Inventory: Instrument Development and Item Selection. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1317-1324. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8196OCS1317132