Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

Concept inventories are useful for assessing the effectiveness of your teaching, but as you use them, concerns and questions often come up. Here we discuss some common concerns about using concept inventories and related research that addresses these concerns.

Many research-based teaching methods in physics, including Peer Instruction, CAE Think-Pair-Share, Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment, and teaching with clickers, involve having your students discuss and answer multiple-choice conceptual questions. A challenge of using these methods is finding and writing good questions. This recommendation helps you find and write questions for your class.

Clicker questions are increasingly being used to stimulate student discussion and provide faculty and students with timely feedback. Research suggests that discussing clicker questions can lead to increased student learning, and that students exchanging constructive criticism can generate conceptual change.
What can you do as an instructor to encourage all students to have…