Current instruction affects previously learned knowledge (interference), calling into question the accuracy of any single assessment¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q1
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? Because student response to vector-based topics is sensitive to whatever physics instruction is being received at the time, instructors are cautioned against reading too much into any single assessment. → Clark 2010

Evidence¶

Clark 2010¶

Clark, J. W., Sayre, E. C., and Franklin, S. V. (2010). Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton's 3rd Law. arXiv preprint. https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.0260 doi:10.48550/arxiv.1009.0260

q1 · i? · associational · r1

Authors' interpretive conclusion (type e) drawn from the response-curve findings: even strong students with high initial scores struggle to reconcile a strange prompt with their current frame of mind.

"The implications for testing and assessment may be profound, calling into question the accuracy of any single evaluation. It broadens the range of contexts that are known to affect student performance (both positively and negatively), and therefore cautions instructors from reading too much into any single assessment."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The interference dip disappears once instruction returns to vector-based topics such as magnetic fields — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Instruction on scalar electric potential produces a pronounced dip in correct vector-based Newton's Third Law responses in E&M — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Students enter E&M with a higher initial Newton's Third Law response (66%) than they exited Mechanics, most likely due to a winnowing effect — related
• Letter sound only instruction may interfere with letter name learning relative to incidental exposure — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Correct responses to Newton's Third Law questions rose while forces were taught, peaked at the end of that instruction and fell back toward chance by the end of the quarter — a narrower finding that bears on this claim