We are revising concept inventories that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the course transformations. The inventories under development are based on published concept inventories. Published inventories are more global in nature and span the entire content of the courses.
Our work in this area follows two approaches.
We are revising the published inventories to be more appropriate for use in chemistry courses at CU. The general chemistry working group has contributed to this process.
We are developing inventories that are more focused on specific content areas of these courses. The new concept inventory in CHEM 1111 will focus on the relationship between chemical bonding and molecular polarity. The 1131 inventory is focused on student understanding of acids and bases. Both of these new inventories are being developed using a "learning progression" model. The rasch model from item response theory is being used to evaluate and to develop validation arguments for the inventories.
In addition, we have increased efforts to ask more questions that are conceptual in nature and/or linked to the recitation materials on the regular course exams.