The focus of this paper is on the first and third stages of the model, both of which depend on designing ways to identify misconceptions. In previous studies, researchers have used changes in performance on individual items to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional interventions. The instrument designed and used in this study differs from previous instruments, not in the content of the items, but in the way responses to items are analysed. Instead of considering responses to single items, pairs of items are designed so that meaningful error patterns can be identified. The identification of error patterns allow assessment that goes beyond the reporting of gain scores. Once error patterns are identified, an intervention can be evaluated according to the types of misconceptions (i.e. error patterns) that are affected.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education