Assessing high school students’ conceptual understanding of physics: A cognitive approach

This study used a descriptive quantitative method and mainly aimed at putting forward the idea that the select-and-fill-in (SAFI) concept maps could be used as a valid instrument to assess the conceptual understanding of thermodynamics among students. For this purpose, the concurrent validity of the SAFI concept map was evaluated according to the Thermodynamic Concept Survey (TCS) in order to develop a standard conceptual assessment test in thermodynamics. The TCS had a total KR-20 of approximately 0.78, an acceptable value, which could be employed as a valid test to assess the expert-developed SAFI concept map in this study. The study population included 60 students from two physics classes. An evaluation of the conceptual understandings of thermodynamics students was made concurrently using two assessment tools. Results showed that there is a moderate to strong correlation (0.6) between the SAFI concept map and TCS. This leads us to the conclusion that SAFI concept maps are valid tools, at least, as a complementary test in science classrooms.