Brazilian National High School Examination: assessing student's learning in Physics

TL;DR

This study analyzes Brazilian high school students' Physics exam results from 2009-2014, revealing low performance levels, gender and school type disparities, and providing insights into Physics learning quality in Brazil.

Contribution

It combines qualitative content analysis with Item Response Theory to profile Physics exam questions and student performance, highlighting learning gaps and disparities.

Findings

Students perform poorly on Physics questions requiring disciplinary knowledge.

Female students generally perform worse than male students.

Students from federal and private schools outperform those from state schools.

Abstract

The entrance to public universities in Brazil depends on scores obtained by students in Enem, Brazilian National Assessment of High School Education. This exam consists of four multiple choice tests (Language, Maths, Natural and Human Sciences) scored by Item Response Theory (IRT). It is a high stake exam for students, allowing the use of its results of this exam to provide conditions for monitoring high school learning and quality of education in Brazil. We present a study of the Physics items of Enem from 2009 to 2014. The questions were classified based on qualitative categories, providing a profile of the Natural Sciences test: a disciplinary exam (Physics, Chemistry and Biology), with mostly qualitative questions, long and time consuming items, only a few of them demanding more complex reasoning and assessing some problem solving skills. The answers of the students were analyzed, using basic statistical exploration and IRT to draw the ICC of the Physics items. A comparison was made between the qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis for the Physics questions. The study of student performance reveals the low attaining levels of Physics learning at the end of high school, with a small percentage of correct answers; students perform worse in questions that require disciplinary knowledge or use of basic mathematical reasoning. It is also possible to observe discrepancies on the results of two subsets of groups: female students perform worse than male students in most items, and students that come from federal and private high school perform significantly better that those from state high school (75% of students in high school attend state or regional schools). In conclusion, the combined analysis of student's performance and content of the items reveal some of the characteristics of student's learning in Brazil, at around 18 years, that can impact Physics Education system.