Math Forum Discussions

Richard Hake

Posts: 1,251
From: Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Registered: 12/4/04

[math-learn] Concept Inventories Alone Don't Gauge "Good Teaching"
Posted: Nov 28, 2012 6:09 PM

Plain Text

att1.html (15.2 K)

Some subscribers to Math-Learn might be interested in a recent post
"Concept Inventories Alone Don't Gauge 'Good Teaching' " [Hake
(2012a)]. The abstract reads:

******************************************
ABSTRACT: In response to my post "The Value of Student Evaluations of
Teaching" [Hake (2012b)] at <http://bit.ly/XX7OUX>, Math-Learn's Ed
Wall stated that: (a) he used approximations to both "Student
Evaluations of Teaching" (SET's) and "Concept Inventories" (CI's),
but wondered what a "good" evaluation of "teaching" was; and (b) he's
reasonably okay with a statement such as "I know good teaching when I
see it" versus a statement such as "I know good teaching when I see a
CI score)."

Let alone a *single* CI score, in my opinion even the normalized
pre-to-posttest GAIN <g> on a Concept Inventory (CI)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_inventory>, should not, by
itself, be interpreted as a gauge of "good teaching."

In the editor suppressed "Interactive-engagement methods in
introductory mechanics courses" [Hake (1998b)] at
<http://bit.ly/aH2JQN> I pointed out on p. 14 that among desirable
outcomes of the introductory physics course that <g> *does not*
measure directly are students': (a) satisfaction with and interest in
physics; (b) understanding of the nature, methods, and limitations of
science; (c) understanding of the processes of scientific inquiry
such as experimental design, control of variables, dimensional
analysis, order-of-magnitude estimation, thought experiments,
hypothetical reasoning, graphing, and error analysis; (d) ability to
articulate their knowledge and learning processes; (e) ability to
collaborate and work in groups; (f) communication skills; (g) ability
to solve real-world problems; (h) understanding of the history of
science and the relationship of science to society and other
disciplines; (i) understanding of, or at least appreciation for,
"modern" physics; (j) ability to participate in authentic research.
******************************************

To access the complete 13 kB post please click on <http://bit.ly/VeDTWI>.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: <http://bit.ly/a6M5y0>
Links to Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Labs: <http://bit.ly/9nGd3M>
Academia: <http://bit.ly/a8ixxm>
Blog: <http://bit.ly/9yGsXh>
GooglePlus: <http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE>
Twitter: <http://bit.ly/juvd52>

"What we assess is what we value. We get what we assess, and if we
don't assess it,
we won't get it."
- Lauren Resnick [quoted by Grant Wiggins (1990)]

REFERENCES [URL shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 28 Nov 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012a. " Concept Inventories Alone Don't Gauge 'Good
Teaching'," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/VeDTWI>. Post of 28 Nov 2012 13:24:52-0800 to AERA-L
and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being
transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog
"Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/V6PSzT> with a provision for
comments.

Hake, R.R. 2012b. "The Value of Student Evaluations of Teaching"
online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/XX7OUX>. Post
of 26 Nov 2012 13:35:35-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and
link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion
lists and are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at
<http://bit.ly/TqLDls> with a provision for comments.

Wiggins, G. 1990. "The Truth May Make You Free, But the Test May Keep
You Imprisoned: Toward Assessment Worthy of the Liberal Arts," AAHE
Assessment Forum: 17-31; online at <http://bit.ly/a7g09T>.

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