Developed by David Maloney, Alan van Heuvelen, Curtis Hieggelke, and Thomas O'Kuma
Purpose | To assess students’ knowledge about topics in introductory electricity and magnetism. |
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Format | Pre/post, Multiple-choice |
Duration | 50 min |
Focus | Electricity / Magnetism Content knowledge (electrostatics, magnetic fields and forces, Faraday's law) |
Level | Intro college |
Sample questions from the CSEM:
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This is the second highest level of research validation, corresponding to at least 5 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 CSEM were developed using students’ explanations for their responses on both open-ended and multiple-choice versions of the questions, expert review (100+ physics instructors) and analyzing large sets of test data (from over 5000 students at over 30 institutions including two-year and four-year colleges, and universities). Appropriate statistical analyses of difficulty, discrimination and reliability were performed. The CSEM questions have a reasonable range of difficulties and most questions are able to satisfactorily distinguish students who know the material well from those who don’t. The overall reliability of the CSEM is good. A factor analysis was performed, but no strong factors were identified. The CSEM has been used to compare the effectiveness of different teaching methods and the results published in over 15 peer-reviewed publications. It has been administered at many different institutions.
References
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- L. DeSilva, A. Pullen, and J. Hasbun, Enhancing student performance in introductory physics in topics related to electricity and magnetism through the use of voluntary workshops, Eur. J. Phys. 39 (3), 035702 (2018).
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- P. Eaton, B. Frank, K. Johnson, and S. Willoughby, Comparing exploratory factor models of the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15 (2), 020133 (2019).
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- R. Henderson, P. Miller, J. Stewart, A. Traxler, and R. Lindell, Item-level gender fairness in the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14 (2), 020103 (2018).
- R. Henderson, G. Stewart, J. Stewart, L. Michaluk, and A. Traxler, Exploring the gender gap in the conceptual survey of electricity and magnetism, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13 (2), 020114 (2017).
- R. Henderson, J. Stewart, and A. Traxler, Partitioning the gender gap in physics conceptual inventories: Force Concept Inventory, Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation, and Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15 (1), 010131 (2019).
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- A. Madsen, S. McKagan, and E. Sayre, Gender gap on concept inventories in physics: What is consistent, what is inconsistent, and what factors influence the gap?, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 9 (2), 020121 (2013).
- D. Maloney, T. O'Kuma, C. Hieggelke, and A. Van Heuvelen, Surveying students' conceptual knowledge of electricity and magnetism, Am. J. Phys. 69 (S1), S12 (2001).
- A. Maries, M. Brundage, and C. Singh, Using the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism to investigate progression in student understanding from introductory to advanced levels, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 18 (2), 020114 (2022).
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- C. Wheatley, J. Wells, R. Henderson, and J. Stewart, Applying module analysis to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17 (1), 010102 (2021).
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PhysPort provides translations of assessments as a service to our users, but does not endorse the accuracy or validity of translations. Assessments validated for one language and culture may not be valid for other languages and cultures.
Language | Translator(s) | |
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Indonesian | Mutmainna | |
Malay | Mohd Ariff Ab Ghani & Shahrul kadri Ayop | |
Spanish | Genaro Zavala, Pablo Barniol, and Esmeralda Campos | |
Swedish | David Nordman |
If you know of a translation that we don't have yet, or if you would like to translate this assessment, please contact us!
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Typical Results | |||||||||||||||
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Typical results from study by Eaton et al., 2019 who analyzed BEMA and CSEM data obtained from PhysPort's Data Explorer.
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The latest version of the CSEM is version H, originally published in Maloney, O’Kuma, Hieggelke, & Van Heuvelen, 2001. The development of the CSEM began with the development of two separate assessments on electricity and magnetism, originally called the Electric Concepts Inventory (ECI) and the Magnetism Concepts Inventory (MCI), which were tested in 1995-97. These assessments were later renamed the Conceptual Survey of Electricity (CSE) and the Conceptual Survey for Magnetism (CSM), and combined to form the CSEM. Earlier versions of the CSEM include versions D and G. Version H differs only slightly from Version G, and has the same answer key.