extended · article · 2019

Measuring students’ conceptual understanding of wave optics: A Rasch modeling approach

Vanes Mešić; Knut Neumann; Ivica Aviani; E. Hasović; William J. Boone; Nataša Erceg; Vladimir Grubelnik; Ana Sušac; Džana Salibašić Glamočić; M. Karuza; Andrej Vidak; Adis Alihodžić; Robert Repnik; Benjamin D. Wright

Even graduate physics students have many misconceptions about basic wave optics phenomena. This suggests that there is much room for improvement of the traditional wave optics curriculum. An effective way for initiating a curriculum change is to reconsider and revise the expected learning outcomes and corresponding assessment instruments. By systematically enriching our wave optics instruction and assessment with conceptual tasks, we may increase the probability of students actively engaging in learning the conceptual aspects of wave optics. In this paper, we present the process of developing an item bank for measuring understanding of wave optics in typical introductory physics courses at universities. Thereby, the Rasch modeling approach has been used. The development of the item bank has been guided by results from multiple expert and student surveys, as well as from group interviews ...