Laboratory testing of classes in high school physics

Abstract

Scope of Study: Testing of work covered in the high school physics laboratory seems, at the present time, to be an unusual practice. On the basis that a systematic, objective method of evaluating laboratory work will be of material benefit to both students and instructor, this study has developed a series of ten tests which cover a major part of the work commonly found in high school physics laboratories. It also points out the specific advantages to be gained from the use of such a test battery. Resource materials used were chiefly drawn from the author's own experience in teaching the subject and from standard high school physics laboratory manuals.

Findings and Conclusions: To test material covered in laboratory work the test should adhere to a set of objectives. It should refer to things which are better learned in laboratory work than in the classroom. It should confront the student with actual laboratory equipment and situations. It should test his grasp of the principles studied as well as his grasp of scientific method. On these bases it was concluded that the tests should be in the form of performance tests. These include several stations per test, at each of which the student is presented with a task or problem and the necessary equipment to solve the problem. It is felt that in this way the objectives for the tests and for the laboratory itself may be met.