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FCI pre-test comparison: Cuesta College versus UC-Davis (fall semester 2013)

Students at both Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo, CA) and the University of California at Davis were administered the 30-question Force Concept Inventory (Doug Hestenes, et al.) during the first week of instruction.

Cuesta College
Physics 205A
Fall semester 2013    
UC-Davis
Physics 7B
Summer session II 2002
N74 students*76 students*
low 0 2
mean     9.4 +/- 5.5 9.1 +/- 4.3
high2627

*Excludes students with negative informed consent forms (*.pdf)

Student's t-test of the null hypothesis results in p = 0.64 (t = -0.473, sdev = 4.91, degrees of freedom = 148), thus there is no significant difference between Cuesta College and UC-Davis FCI pre-test scores.

Later this semester (fall 2013), a comparison will be made between Cuesta College and UC-Davis FCI post-tests, along with their pre- to post-test gains.

D. Hestenes, M. Wells, and G. Swackhamer, Arizona State University, "Force Concept Inventory," Phys. Teach. 30, 141-158 (1992).
Development of the FCI, a 30-question survey of basic Newtonian mechanics concepts.

Previous FCI results:

1 comment:

Patrick M. Len said...

Student's t-Test: Results

The results of an unpaired t-test performed at 11:52 on 22-AUG-2013
t=-0.473
sdev= 4.91
degrees of freedom =148 The probability of this result, assuming the null hypothesis, is 0.64

Group A: Number of items= 76
2.00 2.00 3.00 3.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 11.0 11.0 11.0 11.0 11.0 11.0 12.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 14.0 14.0 14.0 15.0 15.0 15.0 15.0 16.0 18.0 21.0 27.0
Mean = 9.03
95% confidence interval for Mean: 7.914 thru 10.14
Standard Deviation = 4.26
Hi = 27.0 Low = 2.00
Median = 8.00
Average Absolute Deviation from Median = 3.03

Group B: Number of items= 74
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 3.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.00 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 11.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 13.0 13.0 13.0 14.0 14.0 14.0 15.0 15.0 15.0 16.0 17.0 18.0 18.0 20.0 23.0 24.0 24.0 26.0
Mean = 9.41
95% confidence interval for Mean: 8.278 thru 10.53
Standard Deviation = 5.50
Hi = 26.0 Low = 0.00
Median = 8.00
Average Absolute Deviation from Median = 4.08

Data Reference: 6B0B