Assessments »Electricity and Magnetism Conceptual Assessment
Electricity and Magnetism Conceptual Assessment (EMCA)

Developed by Darren L. Broder, Michele W. McColgan, and Rose A. Finn

Purpose To assess basic concepts in introductory E&M courses.
Format Pre/post, Multiple-choice
Duration 45 min
Focus Electricity / Magnetism Content knowledge (electrostatics, electric fields and force, circuits, magnetism, induction)
Level Intro college
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Sample questions from the EMCA:

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M. McColgan, R. Finn, D. Broder, and G. Hassel, Assessing students’ conceptual knowledge of electricity and magnetism, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13 (020121), (2017).
RESEARCH VALIDATION
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Bronze Validation
This is the third highest level of research validation, corresponding to at least 3 of the validation categories below.

Research Validation Summary

Based on Research Into:

  • Student thinking

Studied Using:

  • Student interviews
  • Expert review
  • Appropriate statistical analysis

Research Conducted:

  • At multiple institutions
  • By multiple research groups
  • Peer-reviewed publication

The multiple-choice questions on the EMCA were developed by a group of five faculty members based on their experience teaching the relevant topics. The EMCA was given to over 200 algebra-based and calculus-based second-semester introductory physics students, and appropriate statistical analyses of reliability, difficulty and discrimination were conducted. Reasonable values were found. Scores for men and women were similar.

References

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Language Translator(s)  
Indonesian Riska Meikana Br Ginting, Syuhendri, and Nely Andriani

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Typical Results

Average scores and standard deviation for pretest, post-test, and normalized gain in introductory electromagnetism courses at Sienna College and George Washington University (GWU). The Sienna College algebra-based course has an emphasis on topics relevant to life sciences and is "taught in a traditional lecture style interspersed with students completing preassigned problems on the board during class." The Sienna College calculus-based course is taught with "a mix of short lectures frequently interspersed with think-pair-share questions and other mini problems." The GWU course is taught using a SCALE-UP model. From McColgan et al. 2017.

Course type n Pretest SD Post-test SD Normalized gain SD
Siena calculus-based 105 10.5 3.7 17.1 5.1 0.342 0.242
Siena algebra-based 120 10.1 4.4 12.7 5.1 0.126 0.228
Siena all 225 10.3 4.1 14.7 5.6 0.224 0.258
GWU algebra-based 130 11.5 3.5 17.4 4.8 0.309 0.256

The latest version of the EMCA, released in 2015, is version 1.