Developing a three-tier test to assess high school students' misconceptions concerning force and motion

---

Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Matematik ve Fen Bilimleri Eğitimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2005

Öğrenci: FATMA TÜRKER

Danışman: ALİ ERYILMAZ

Özet:

The purpose of this study is to develop a three-tier test for assessing high school students̕ misconceptions concerning force and motion. The first tier is a traditional multiple choice item, the second tier presents several alternatives addressing the reason for the response for the first tier, and the third tier asks if examinees are confident for their responses to the first two tiers. In the process of test development, Force and Motion Test Requesting Reasoning was developed and utilized to determine the alternatives of Force and Motion Three Tier Test (FMTTT). The test was administered to 207 students, but 19 students were removed from all analyses due to too many missing items. For checking validity of the FMTTT, correlation was investigated between confidence levels and student scores on the first two tiers, and also correlation between confidence levels and student misconception scores on the first two tiers was investigated. Factor analyses were conducted using scores and misconception scores; and percentages of false negatives and false positives were estimated. The percentages of false negatives and false positives were found to be 6% and 8%, respectively. The reliability coefficients were estimated for student scores and misconception scores as 0.48 and 0.62, respectively. In conclusion, using the FMTTT as an achievement test may not be as reliable as using it as a misconception test.