TOPCIS TREATED IN CONCEPTESTS


GOALS FOR CONCEPTESTS

ConcepTest questions differ from written exam questions in several
ways.  

1) As the name suggests, concepts, not memory, should be tested.

The use of jargon should be minimized.  Some names, dates, and
technical terms are unavoidable vocabulary in the language
of astronomy.  Unfortunately, I must give historical astronomy short
shrift here; I have chosen to emphasize the physical concepts, and not the
process by which they were understood, and I have opted to avoid names
and dates completely.  

ConcepTests can be also be used as thought-provokers rather than
evaluation tools, as generators of interest and excitement rather than
as part of a lecture pacing feedback loop.  There are some topics of
universal, almost philosophical interest to students.  Is there life
in the universe? Is there intelligent life?  What do we mean by life?
By intellignce? Did our universe have a beginning? What's at the edge
of the universe? Are there other universes?  Can we know? 

2) A single concept should be tested. 

Typically, ConcepTest questions are meant to be relevant to a single
lecture or a subunit, so the span of knowledge required to understand and
answer ConcepTests will be limited to closely relevant topics.  This
also helps the instructor understand exactly which concepts may be
troublesome and need further explication.  While their
individual focus may be narrow, the ensemble reach of ConcepTests can vary
widely.   This is important for wider applicability of the database,
since students, classes, and curricula vary widely.   

3) Calculations should be simple, or avoided altogether.

Because we want students to think and be challenged, a
any calculations should be simple enough to perform between the
ears, rather than with a pencil or a calculator.  The now
distant wane of the slide rule, and the easy access of cheap
calculators and computers is eclipsing many students' experience with
even a rudimentary ability to approximate. 

4) Student misconceptions should be exposed and confronted.

This means challenging the intuition, or requiring the student to
forge a longer path of analytic thought.  Not only does the challenge
to misconception provoke the most rapid learning, but the greatest
challenges to students can in many cases also spur the greatest
interest, and not because of the difficulty.  People often find a
challenge to the intuition to be exhilarating, almost like a
dizziness, where your feet do not find the ground to be where you
expected it.