Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessing Student Reasoning In Upper-Division Electricity And Magnetism At Oregon State University, Justyna P. Zwolak, Corinne A. Manogue

Stem Transformation Institute

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] Standardized assessment tests that allow researchers to compare the performance of students under various curricula are highly desirable. There are several research-based conceptual tests that serve as instruments to assess and identify students’ difficulties in lower-division courses. At the upper-division level assessing students’ difficulties is a more challenging task. Although several research groups are currently working on such tests, their reliability and validity are still under investigation. We analyze the results of the Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics diagnostic from Oregon State University and compare it with data from …