1. by John Chamberlain, CORD 4901 Bosque Blvd Waco, TX 76710 Email: chamber@cord.org Supported by National Science Foundation, DUE-0603389

2. Trade skills (welding, construction,…) High-risk (lasers, nuclear, bio-hazards,…) High-cost (space program, surgery,…) Rare/Controversial (procedures, research,…) Troubleshooting (complex devices and situations) Difficult (research, destructive testing, costly tools,…) 2

3. How do we assess hand skills? Students Employees Paper/Pencil test (worst case) Poorly represents performance Generally indicates only head-knowledge Requires well-designed test instrument Hands-on test (best case) Excellent measure of performance Requires real-world equipment/conditions Requires real-time proctor involvement 3

4. Created assessments in the middle ground Realistically simulated the performance tasks (Univ of CO: PhET; Natl Instruments: LabVIEW) Captured data and scored it with an objective rubric (Concord: SAIL/OTrunk) Compared scores with other tests Better than paper-pencil, and safer, more convenient and cost effective than real hands-on assessments. 4 C omputer- A ssisted P erformance A ssessments

5. Digital Multimeter Using a DMM Ohms Law Oscilloscope Freq and amplitude Amplitude modulation Circuit troubleshooting Logic gates (digital) Amplifier (analog) More details are available at: http://capa.concord.org 5

6. Compared to multiple choice tests, conflicting interpretations of results. Is the multiple choice test measuring the same thing as the hands-on simulation? Is simulation giving adequate motor-skill feedback to approximate real-hands-on task? Course instructors are very interested! We frequently heard students ask, Can I try it again? I can do better! They are very interested, too! 6

7. Aha! Students want to improve their scores! We can TEACH the skill/concept with simulations As in CAPA... Simulate real-world, hands-on tasks and equipment Watch over the shoulder as student performs task Score student actions as well as answers Provide detailed report to student and teacher In addition to CAPA... Enable students to repeat the assessment and encourage them to improve their score Track student performance: overall, and trouble areas Run in a browser, requiring minimal software Include tutorial material designed to teach! 7

8. Digital Multimeters, Breadboard, DC Oscilloscope, Function generator, AC 1 - Resistor Color Code 2 - Series Circuits 3 - Parallel Circuits 4 - Series-Parallel Circuits 5 – AC Series Circuits 6 - AC Parallel Circuits 7 - AC Series-Parallel Circuits 8 - Resonant Circuits 8 Simulated Performance Assessments for Related Knowledge and Skills

9. Students are presented with Realistic resistor Random (but real) R values A realistic, functioning interactive digital multimeter Tasks Interpret resistor color bands Measure R by properly using the digital multimeter Compare with rated tolerance range 9

10. Students are presented with Random (but real) R values Realistic resistors in circuits on a realistic breadboard A functioning, interactive digital multimeter (DMM) Tasked with Making voltage and current measurements in series and parallel circuits. Calculating resistance values by applying Ohms Law. 10

11. Tidewater Community College (Virginia Beach, VA) Minuteman High School (Boston, MA) 11

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13. For more information: http://sparks.concord.org (always under development ) To contact us, send email to: sparks@concord.org 13