Re-thinking the Rubric for Grading the CUE: The Superposition Principle

TL;DR

This paper examines the assessment rubric for the CUE diagnostic in upper-division E&M, proposing improvements to better evaluate diverse teaching methods and student understanding, especially regarding the superposition principle.

Contribution

It introduces a revised rubric for the CUE diagnostic, enhancing its applicability across different teaching approaches and providing a detailed analysis of superposition principle questions.

Findings

Current rubric aligns closely with Colorado teaching methods

Alternative analysis scheme reveals different student understanding levels

Implications for more inclusive assessment practices

Abstract

While introductory electricity and magnetism (E&M) has been investigated for decades, research at the upper-division is relatively new. The University of Colorado has developed the Colorado Upper-Division Electrostatics (CUE) Diagnostic to test students' understanding of the content of the first semester of an upper-division E&M course. While the questions on the CUE cover many learning goals in an appropriate manner, we believe the rubric for the CUE is particularly aligned to the topics and methods of teaching at the University of Colorado. We suggest that changes to the rubric would allow for better assessment of a wider range of teaching schemes. As an example, we highlight one problem from the CUE involving the superposition principle. Using data from both Oregon State University and the University of Colorado, we discuss the limitations of the current rubric, compare results using a different analysis scheme, and discuss the implications for assessing students' understanding.