261 research outputs found
Integrated Testlets and the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique
The increased use of multiple-choice (MC) questions in introductory-level
physics final exams is largely hindered by reservations about its ability to
test the broad cognitive domain that is routinely accessed with typical
constructed-response (CR) questions. Thus, there is a need to explore ways in
which MC questions can be utilized pedagogically more like CR questions while
maintaining their attendant procedural advantages. we describe how an
answer-until-correct MC response format allows for the construction of
multiple-choice examinations designed to operate much as a hybrid between
standard MC and CR testing. With this tool - the immediate feedback assessment
technique (IF-AT) - students gain complete knowledge of the correct answer for
each question during the examination, and can use such information for solving
subsequent test items. This feature allows for the creation of a new type of
context-dependent item sets; the "integrated testlet". In an integrated testlet
certain items are purposefully inter-dependent and are thus presented in a
particular order. Such integrated testlets represent a proxy of typical CR
questions, but with a straightforward and uniform marking scheme that also
allows for granting partial credit for proximal knowledge. We present a case
study of an IF-AT-scored midterm and final examination for an introductory
physics course, and discuss specific testlets with varying degrees of
integration. In total, the items are found to allow for excellent
discrimination, with a mean item-total correlation measure for the combined 45
items of the two examinations of (mean standard
deviation) and a final examination test reliability of (
items). Furthermore, partial credit is shown to be allocated in a
discriminating and valid manner in these examinations.Comment: 13 pages. 7 figures. Accepted to the American Journal of Physics
(August 2013
A comparison of integrated testlet and constructed-response question formats
Constructed-response (CR) questions are a mainstay of introductory physics
textbooks and exams. However, because of time, cost, and scoring reliability
constraints associated with this format, CR questions are being increasingly
replaced by multiple-choice (MC) questions in formal exams. The integrated
testlet (IT) is a recently-developed question structure designed to provide a
proxy of the pedagogical advantages of CR questions while procedurally
functioning as set of MC questions. ITs utilize an answer-until-correct
response format that provides immediate confirmatory or corrective feedback,
and they thus allow not only for the granting of partial credit in cases of
initially incorrect reasoning, but furthermore the ability to build cumulative
question structures. Here, we report on a study that directly compares the
functionality of ITs and CR questions in introductory physics exams. To do
this, CR questions were converted to concept-equivalent ITs, and both sets of
questions were deployed in midterm and final exams. We find that both question
types provide adequate discrimination between stronger and weaker students,
with CR questions discriminating slightly better than the ITs. Meanwhile, an
analysis of inter-rater scoring of the CR questions raises serious concerns
about the reliability of the granting of partial credit when this traditional
assessment technique is used in a realistic (but non optimized) setting.
Furthermore, we show evidence that partial credit is granted in a valid manner
in the ITs. Thus, together with consideration of the vastly reduced costs of
administering IT-based examinations compared to CR-based examinations, our
findings indicate that ITs are viable replacements for CR questions in formal
examinations where it is desirable to both assess concept integration and to
reward partial knowledge, while efficiently scoring examinations.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, with appendix. Accepted for publication in
PRST-PER (August 2014
Teacher professional growth in an authentic learning environment
The last several decades have been marked by tremendous changes in education
- technological, pedagogical, administrative, and social. These changes have led to
considerable increments in the budgets devoted to professional development for teachers
~ with the express purpose of helping them accommodate their practices to the new
realities oftheir classrooms. However, research has suggested that, in spite of the
emphasis placed on encouraging sustained change in teaching practices, little has been
accomplished. This begs the question of what ought to be done to not only reverse this
outcome, but contribute to transformational change. The literature suggests some
possibilities including: a) considering teachers as learners and applying what, is known
about cognition and learning; b) modifying the location and nature ofprofessional
development so that it is authentic, based in the classroom and focusing on tasks
meaningful to the teacher; c) attending to the infrastructure underlying professional
development; and d) ensuring opportunities for reflective practice. This dissertation
looks at the impact of each ofthese variables through an analysis ofthe learning
journeys of a group ofteachers engaged in a program called GrassRoots in one midsized
school board in Ontario. Action research was conducted by the researcher in his
role as consultant facilitating teacher professional growth around the use of Web sites as
culminating performance tasks by students. Research focused on the pedagogical
approach to the learning of the teachers involved and the infrastructure underlying their
learning. Using grounded theory, a model for professional development was developed
that can be used in the future to inform practices and, hopefully, lead to sustained
transformational school change
Far-off resonance conditional phase-shifter using the ac-Stark shift
We propose a simple technique that achieves a conditional phase shift of pi
radians between two weak lasers with energies at the 1000-photon level. The key
idea is to set up a V-system with two far-off resonant lasers by coupling the
ground state to two excited electronic states. The lasers interact through the
ac Stark shift of the ground state and thereby acquire a large conditional
phase shift.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Monte Carlo Studies of the Intrinsic Second Hyperpolarizability
The hyperpolarizability has been extensively studied to identify universal
properties when it is near the fundamental limit. Here, we employ the Monte
Carlo method to study the fundamental limit of the second hyperpolarizability.
As was found for the hyperpolarizability, the largest values of the second
hyperpolarizability approaches the calculated fundamental limit. The character
of transition moments and energies of the energy eigenstates are investigated
near the second hyperpolarizability's upper bounds using the missing state
analysis, which assesses the role of each pair of states in their contribution.
In agreement with the three-level ansatz, our results indicate that only three
states (ground and two excited states) dominate when the second
hyperpolarizability is near the limit.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
CARS and SHG microscopy to follow the collagen production in living human corneal fibroblasts and mesenchymal stem cells in fibrin gel 3D cultures
Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is combined with
second harmonic generation (SHG) technique in order to follow the early stage
of stem cell differentiation within a 3D scaffold. CARS microscopy can detect
lipid membranes and droplet compartments in living cells and SHG microscopy
enables a strong imaging contrast for molecules with a non-centrosymmetric
ordered structure like collagen. One of the first evidence of hMSCs
differentiation is the formation of an extracellular matrix (ECM) where the
collagen protein is its main component. This work demonstrated the multimodal
CARS and SHG microscopy as a powerful non-invasive label free technique to
investigate the collagen production dynamic in living cell 3D cultures. Its
ability to image the cell morphology and the produced collagen distribution on
a long term (4 weeks) experiment allowed to obtain important information about
the cell-scaffold interaction and the ECM production. The very low limit
reached in detecting collagen has permitted to map even the small amount of
collagen produced by the cells in few hours of culture. This demonstrates
multimodal CARS and SHG microscopy as a novel method to follow cells collagen
production and cells differentiation process. In addition the experiment shows
that the technique is a powerful tool for imaging of very thick sections (about
4 mm). The study conducted on mesenchymal stem cell in fibrin gel cultures
confirmed that differentiation stimulus is induced by the scaffold. The
monitoring of stem cell differentiation within a scaffold in a non-destructive
way will be an important advantage in regenerative medicine and tissue
engineering field.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, ECONOS 201
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