Concept Inventories: Teaching Information Literacy like a Physicist

Workshop facilitated at LOEX 2016, Pittsburgh, PA.

Transcript

1. Concept Inventories: Teaching Information Literacy like a Physicist Greg Szczyrbak, Millersville University @libmandu http://bit.ly/tillap
2. How does a physicist teach?
3. An item from the Force Concept Inventory was shared on this slide during live presentation, but removed to ensure the continued security and validity of the FCI.
4. Force Concept Inventory (FCI)
5. A Private Universe https://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html
6. INK --- PAIR --- SHARE What are some Enduring Misconceptions in Information Literacy?
7. ACRL Framework and Threshold Concept Theory (TCT)
8. Concept Inventory and Threshold Concept Comparison “...used to identify and classify misconceptions” “Without this concept [Newtonian Concept of Force] the rest of mechanics is useless, if not meaningless.” “...not a test of intelligence, it is a probe of belief systems” (Hestenes, Wells and Swackhamer, 1992, p. 150) “...troublesome knowledge - knowledge that is conceptually difficult...” “...way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learners cannot progress” “...opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking” (Meyer and Land, 2003) Concept Inventory Threshold Concept Theory
9. Concept Inventory and Threshold Concept Comparison “...used to identify and classify misconceptions” “Without this concept [Newtonian Concept of Force] the rest of mechanics is useless, if not meaningless.” “...not a test of intelligence, it is a probe of belief systems” (Hestenes, Wells and Swackhamer, 1992, p. 150) “...troublesome knowledge - knowledge that is conceptually difficult...” “...way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learners cannot progress” “...opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking” (Meyer and Land, 2003) Concept Inventory Threshold Concept Theory TROUBLESOME BOUNDED TRANSFORMATIVE INTEGRATIVE IRREVERSIBLE
10. Create an Information Literacy Threshold Concept Inventory? Our Challenge
11. Our Activity (25 minutes) 1. Examine a Frame from the ACRL Framework to identify areas of enduring misconceptions. Select one at your table and write down ONE enduring misconception. 2. Write a concept inventory question(s) based on an authentic real life example/scenario. Focus on application, not knowledge. Testing understanding, not memorization. 3. Consider Distractors. (i.e. forced choice between correct answer and common sense alternatives) Best way to get these is to ask actual students open ended questions. 4. Report back to the group
12. Why this might not work? Do we have a “coherent conceptual system”, like Newtonian physics? Is this a Subtractive model, rather than Additive? Are we focusing too much on what the students don’t know? Would we all score 100% on our own IL Concept Inventory? - No correct answer? - Dispositional Our content is changing rapidly. Newtonian Physics - probably not as much
13. References "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education", American Library Association, February 9, 2015. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework (Accessed April 27, 2016) Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Producer). (1987) A Private Universe. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html Hestenes, D., Wells, M., & Swackhamer, G. (1992). Force Concept Inventory. The Physics Teacher, 30, 141 - 158.
14. References Meyer, J. & Land, R. (2003). Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising within the Disciplines. IN: Rust, C. (ed.) Improving Student Learning - Theory and Practice Ten Years On. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development (OCSLD), 412-424 http://www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk/docs/ETLreport4.pdf (Accessed April 27, 2016) Scott, J., Harlow, A., and Peter, M. (2014)Towards a TCT-Inspired Concept Inventory. Townsend, L., Brunetti, K., & Hofer, A. (2011). Threshold Concepts and