Force Concept Inventory (FCI)¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 causal),q2· 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study
Description¶
A standardized multiple-choice assessment developed by David Hestenes, Malcolm Wells, and Gregg Swackhamer to measure introductory students’ conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics.
Components¶
- Force Concept Inventory pretest/post-test protocol for measuring Newtonian conceptual gains in introductory physics: In this study the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) served as both pretest and post-test for examining 222 students in introductory physics courses taught by traditional lecture or Just-in-Time Teaching over five semesters. It provided both the overall normalized-gain comparison and the restricted Newton's Third Law item analysis, making it the measurement backbone of the study's instructional comparison. (S. P. Formica et al. (2010))
Claims¶
- Introductory physics students taught with Just-in-Time Teaching showed larger overall Force Concept Inventory gains (37.6%±2.0%) than students in traditional lecture courses (17.9%±2.5%) [+M]
- On Newton's Third Law questions specifically, Just-in-Time Teaching students gained 50.8%±4.1% while traditional lecture students gained only 6.6%±5.2% [+M]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- S. P. Formica, J. L. Easley, and M. C. Spraker. (2010). Transforming common-sense beliefs into Newtonian thinking through Just-In-Time Teaching. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6(2), 020106. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.6.020106
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
force-concept-inventory-fci |
title |
Force Concept Inventory (FCI) |
description |
A standardized multiple-choice assessment developed by David Hestenes, Malcolm Wells, and Gregg Swackhamer to measure introductory students’ conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics. |
status |
review |
product_kind |
assessment |
generated |
by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-14 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
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