Assessment of preparedness of first-year chemistry students: development and application of an instrument for diagnostic and placement purposes

Potgieter, Marietjie; Davidowitz, Bette; Venter, Elsie

doi:10.1080/10288457.2008.10740638

Cited by 11 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As part of a bigger project, we have developed an assessment instrument to monitor baseline conceptual understanding of students on first entry to tertiary chemistry (Potgieter et al, 2008). This instrument was designed to serve the dual purpose of diagnosis and prediction.…”

Section: Methodology Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inaccuracy of self-evaluation as additional variable for prediction of students at risk of failing first-year chemistry

Potgieter¹,

Ackermann²,

Fletcher³

2010

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Early identification of students at risk of failing first-year chemistry allows timely intervention. Cognitive factors alone are insufficient predictors for success; however, non-cognitive factors are usually difficult to measure. We have explored the use of demographic and performance variables, as well as the accuracy of self-evaluation as an indicator of metacognitive ability, as possible indicators for students at risk of failing the first semester course in General Chemistry (CMY 117) at the University of Pretoria. Variables with a strong correlation with performance in CMY 117 were used to develop a prediction model based on logistic regression. Three variables, i.e. prior performance in mathematics and in physical science, and the extent of overconfidence expressed as the ratio between expected and actual performance in a chemistry pre-test written at the start of the semester, were shown to be significant predictors for risk of failing. The highest overall accuracy of prediction (76%) was obtained for a subset of students with a C or D grade for their high school leaving examination in mathematics when high risk students were defined as those with a final mark for CMY 117 as 51% or lower. The prediction model, based on the model building data set, had a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 46%; whilst the sensitivity and specificity using the validation data set were 88% and 38% respectively.

show abstract

Section: Methodology Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inaccuracy of self-evaluation as additional variable for prediction of students at risk of failing first-year chemistry

Potgieter¹,

Ackermann²,

Fletcher³

2010

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rasch analysis of the data showed an item reliability of 0.99 and person reliability of 0.81. The predictive ability of the CCT for performance in first-year chemistry compares well with non-South African placement tests and with Grade 12 mathematics performance; the latter is widely used for this purpose in South Africa (Potgieter et al, 2008a). Based on these statistical parameters the test instrument was judged to have performed according to expectations and remained unchanged during future rounds of implementation (from 2005 to the present).…”

Section: The Chemistry Competence Test (Cct)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The design criteria and performance of our instrument, called the Chemistry Competence Test, CCT, have been reported elsewhere (Potgieter et al, 2008a), but are briefly described here. For diagnostic purposes, coverage of fundamental concepts generally accepted as pre-knowledge in all subject topics included in a typical first-year chemistry syllabus was required (content validity).…”

Section: The Chemistry Competence Test (Cct)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Preparedness for tertiary chemistry: multiple applications of the Chemistry Competence Test for diagnostic and prediction purposes

Potgieter¹,

Davidowitz²

2011

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The development of the Chemistry Competence Test was prompted by the extensive curriculum changes in the South African school system after democracy was established in 1994. As chemists, we were concerned that there might be a lack of articulation between secondary and tertiary levels, since we anticipated that curriculum changes would have an impact on the knowledge base and skills development of prospective students. A diagnostic test developed initially to document proficiencies of first-time entering students to South African universities has proved to be a versatile instrument for multiple uses. Apart from monitoring levels of preparedness for tertiary chemistry during a period of systemic change, it has also been used to evaluate institutional placement policies, to identify specific conceptual problems and procedural deficiencies, and to measure conceptual gains over the course of the first year at university. In addition, its application for the prediction of risk of failure in first-year chemistry based on cognitive and non-cognitive variables was demonstrated. All these findings are valuable resources to inform lecturers who are concerned about minimizing the conceptual gap between secondary and tertiary chemistry.

show abstract

“…The first was by Boone and Rogan (2005) who gave an outline and explanation of the Rasch model itself and motivated its use to achieve greater rigour in quantitative analysis. The second was by Potgieter, Davidowitz, and Venter (2008) who designed a performance instrument as a diagnostic and placement tool of first-year chemistry students and used the Rasch model to demonstrate its quality in terms of alignment and internal consistency. A number of mathematics education researchers have applied the Rasch model in their work in South African studies, e.g.…”

Section: The Rasch Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Usefulness of the Rasch Model for the Refinement of Likert Scale Questionnaires

Retief

Potgieter

Lutz

2013

African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper the use of the Rasch model is explored as a transparent, systematic and theoretically underpinned response to quality issues that are widely recognised as problematic in the refinement of Likert scale questionnaires. Key issues are the choice of length of scale, the pursuit of a favourable estimate of Cronbach's alpha at the possible expense of construct validity, and the fact that total raw scores arise from ordinal data but are used and interpreted as if measurement had occurred. We use a questionnaire under development for the measurement of perceptions of first-year chemistry students on demonstrator effectiveness to illustrate the process of Rasch analysis and instrument refinement. This process involves investigation of fit of the data to the model, possible violations of the assumption of local independence, and several aspects of item functioning. We identified disordered response categories as the probable reason for misfit in this data set and propose strategies for modification of items so that they can be retained rather than rejected.

show abstract

Assessment of preparedness of first-year chemistry students: development and application of an instrument for diagnostic and placement purposes

Cited by 11 publications

References 23 publications

Inaccuracy of self-evaluation as additional variable for prediction of students at risk of failing first-year chemistry

Inaccuracy of self-evaluation as additional variable for prediction of students at risk of failing first-year chemistry

Preparedness for tertiary chemistry: multiple applications of the Chemistry Competence Test for diagnostic and prediction purposes

The Usefulness of the Rasch Model for the Refinement of Likert Scale Questionnaires

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About