Preliminary results on a video-based force concept inventory

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI), one of the most widely used tools in the physics community, is commonly used as a pre and posttest assessment to gauge the effectiveness of various teaching strategies. Over the years there have been various studies on the FCI itself, and different formats have been created. In this preliminary study we are looking at the incorporation of videos that illustrate the problem statements as a way to see if these additions have positive effects on students’ responses to FCI questions. We took a subset of four questions from the FCI and varied the format of the questions and videos in quizzes administered to multiple introductory algebra-based physics courses. Though there were no quantitatively significant differences in students’ performance on questions between those who answered the as-written FCI questions versus the questions with the videos, we found significant differences on some questions with repeated responses to the same questions with and without video. Furthermore, students overall felt the videos helped them visualize the question scenarios.