FLAG - Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)

ConcepTests    (Screen 5 of 6)

Theory and Research
To our knowledge there has been relatively little research conducted on ConcepTests.1,2,4 Often ConcepTests have been used with other changes in content and pedagogy, making it difficult to decouple the impact of ConcepTests from the other course modifications. We urge the community to conduct research on this educational method. Some significant issues relating to course performance, retention, and attitude are listed above under
Analysis.


Links
ConcepTest Websites:

NSF Curriculum Reform Projects:
The following websites provide overviews of the New Traditions and ChemLinks Curriculum Reform Projects, which help to support and disseminate ConcepTests for Chemistry.


Sources
ConcepTest Video Tape:
The New Traditions Project has produced a videotape illustrating how ConcepTests can be used to promote active learning in large lectures. Four teachers at the University of Wisconsin - Madison are shown in actual classes, each using this innovation in a slightly different manner. In all cases the objective is to encourage the students to process information for themselves and not simply to record passively the instructor's lecture. Arthur Ellis and Lorena Tribe are shown teaching Chemistry 109 (General & Analytical Chemistry, a science/engineering majors course), Charles Casey is shown teaching Chemistry 343 (Introductory Organic Chemistry), and G. Earl Peace is shown teaching Chemistry 103 (General Chemistry, a nonmajors course). Although each of these classes enrolls more than 150 students, the techniques shown have also been found to be effective in much smaller classes. Copies of this videotape are available in limited quantity. If you would like to receive a complimentary copy, please contact G. Earl Peace, Jr., at
gpeacejr@facstaff.wisc.edu, or by phone (608-262-8674) or fax (608-265-8094).


References
1. Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: A User's Manual; Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997.

2. Hake, R.R. American Journal of Physics, 1998, 66(1), 64-74.

4. Landis, C.R., Ellis, A.B., Lisensky, G.C., Lorenz, J.K., Meeker, K., Wamser, C.C. Chemistry ConcepTests: A Pathway to Interactive Classrooms, Prentice Hall, Inc., in preparation. Preprints of this booklet are available; email concept@chem.wisc.edu for more information.


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