Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

The multiple-choice questions on the ECA were developed using test objectives that described the goals of the M&I course and expert review of the test objectives. Many of the multiple-choice options come from students’ ideas. The test questions were reviewed by experts and student interviews were conducted to ensure students were interpreting the questions correctly. Appropriate statistical analyses of reliability, difficulty and discrimination were conducted and reasonable values found for each. Questions were classified according to the revised Blooms taxonomy, and most were found to require application. A factor analysis found two factors: the first groups questions about the energy principle and basic forms of energy, the second includes questions about the graphical representation of gravitational/kinetic energy of a closed system. The ECA has been used with over 300 students at several institutions. There is one peer-reviewed publication presenting ECA data.