Rolf Vegar Olsen

Introducing quantum mechanics in the upper secondary school: A study in Norway

The study reported in this paper is a survey (n=236) that examines how upper secondary students (18-19 years old) in Norway come to terms with the wave-particle duality as presented as part of a short introduction to quantum physics. The main conclusion is that this concept is poorly understood. Some students demonstrate clear and explicitly formulated misconceptions rooted in a classical physics world-view. Scholars in physics have stated that the concept of duality is unnecessary, but still included in school and university physics. It is argued that school physics should give a more explicit focus to the challenge that quantum physics presents to the classical worldview, thus introducing the importance of an affective dimension in the learning and teaching of quantum physics. This study replicates evidence from other studies that wave-particle duality does not introduce such a challenge.

Profiles of Students’ Interest in Science Issues around the World: Analysis of data from PISA 2006

The Programme for International Student Assessment in 2006 included several measures of students’ interest in science. These measures were constructed by combining information from several items where students are asked to respond to statements along Likert scale categories. Since there is evidence for Likert scales providing culturally biased country scores, we demonstrate in this article that the relative profiles of interest can be meaningfully analysed across countries. Hence, we have developed national relative profiles of interest in science constructed from the country‐ and item‐specific residuals at the item level. Subsequently, these relative profiles of interest have been used as input in a cluster analysis providing identification of distinct groups of countries with similar item‐by‐item patterns of interest in science. The most notable feature of the analysis is an overall division between two larger groups of countries, roughly corresponding to European/Western countries in one group and non‐European countries, with only a few exceptions, in the other group. A number of meaningful clusters of countries, partly defined by language and partly by localisation, are identified within each of the two main clusters. In order to develop a more detailed understanding of the characteristic features of the various clusters, descriptive information about the items is included in the analysis. The most notable finding is the strong relative preference for life and health issues among the non‐European countries, contrasted with the distinct favouring of items relating to physical/technological systems in the European/Western countries.

Learning about Students' Knowledge and Thinking in Science through Large-Scale Quantitative Studies.

The main issue addressed in this article is that there is much to learn about students’ knowledge and thinking in science from largescale international quantitative studies beyond overall score measures. Response patterns on individual or groups of items can give valuable diagnostic insight into students’ conceptual understanding, but there is also a danger of drawing conclusions that may be too simple and nonvalid. We discuss how responses to multiple-choice items could be interpreted, and we also show how responses on constructed-response items can be systematised and analysed. Finally, we study, empirically, interactions between item characteristics and student responses. It is demonstrated that even small changes in the item wording and/or the item format may have a substantial influence on the response pattern. Therefore, we argue that interpretations of results from these kinds of studies should be based on a thorough analysis of the actual items used. We further argue that diagnostic information should be an integrated part of the international research aims of such large-scale studies. Examples of items and student responses presented are taken from The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).RésuméL’article met à jour le fait que les études quantitatives internationales à grande échelle nous disent beaucoup, au-delà des mesures générales de scores, sur les connaissances et les pensées des élèves par rapport aux sciences. Les patterns des réponses données à des items individuels ou bien à des groupes d’items peuvent nous éclairer sur la compréhension conceptuelle des élèves, mais risquent de conduire à des conclusions trop simples et non-valides. On discute les moyens de systématiser et d’analyser les réponses à des items à choix multiple. Enfin, on étudie empiriquement les interactions entre certains caractéristiques des items et les réponses des élèves. On montre qu’il suffit d’une petite modification dans la manière de formuler et/ou formater l’item pour produire un effet substantiel dans le pattern de la réponse. Il s’ensuit que l’interprétation des résultats provenant de ce type d’études doit être basée sur une analyse approfondie des items administrés. Il s’ensuit également que l’information diagnostique peut être une partie constitutive des objectifs de recherche internationaux qu’on cherche à réaliser par ce type d’études à grande échelle. Les exemples présentés d’items et de réponses des élèves sont extraits de la Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Rasch analysis of the Psychiatric Out-Patient Experiences Questionnaire (POPEQ)

BackgroundThe Psychiatric Out-Patient Experiences Questionnaire (POPEQ) is an 11-item core measure of psychiatric out-patients experiences of the perceived outcome of the treatment, the quality of interaction with the clinician, and the quality of information provision. The POPEQ was found to have evidence for reliability and validity following the application of classical test theory but has not previously been assessed by Rasch analysis.MethodsTwo national postal surveys of psychiatric outpatients took place in Norway in 2004 and 2007. The performance of the POPEQ, including item functioning and differential item functioning, was assessed by Rasch analysis. Principal component analysis of item residuals was used to assess the presence of subdimensions.Results6,677 (43.3%) and 11,085 (35.2%) psychiatric out patients responded to the questionnaire in 2004 and 2007, respectively. All items in the scale were retained after the Rasch analysis. The resulting scale had reasonably good fit to the Rasch model. The items performed the same for the two survey years and there was no differential item functioning relating to patient characteristics. Principal component analysis of the residuals confirmed that the measure to a high degree is unidimensional. However, the data also reflects three potential subscales, each relating to one of the three included aspects of health care.ConclusionsThe POPEQ had excellent psychometric properties and Rasch analysis further supported the construct validity of the scale by also identifying the three subdimensions originally included as components in the instrument development. The 11-item instrument is recommended in future research on psychiatric out-patient experiences. Future development may lead to the construction of more precise measures of the three subdomains that the POPEQ is based on.

Relation of Student Achievement to the Quality of Their Teachers and Instructional Quality

This chapter examines how crucial input and process characteristics of schooling are related to cognitive student outcomes. It was hypothesized that teacher quality predicts instructional quality and student achievement, and that instructional quality in turn predicts student achievement. The strengths of these relations may vary across countries, making it impossible to draw universal conclusions. However, similar relational patterns could be evident within regions of the world. These hypotheses were investigated by applying multi-level structural equation modeling to grade four student and teacher data from TIMSS 2011. The sample included 205,515 students from 47 countries nested in 10,059 classrooms. Results revealed that teacher quality was significantly related to instructional quality and student achievement, whereas student achievement was not well predicted by instructional quality. Certain characteristics were more strongly related to each other in some world regions than in others, indicating regional patterns. Participation in professional development activities and teachers’ sense of preparedness were, on average, the strongest predictors of instructional quality across all countries. Professional development was of particular relevance in Europe and Western Asian/Arabian countries, whereas preparedness played an important role in instructional quality in South-East Asia and Latin America. The ISCED level of teacher education was on average the strongest predictor of student achievement across all countries; this characteristic mattered most in the Western Asia/Arabia region.

Standard Setting in PISA and TIMSS and How These Procedures Can Be Used Nationally

In this chapter, we compare and discuss similarities and differences in the way the two large-scale international studies, PISA and TIMSS, formulate and set descriptions of standards. Although the studies use similar methods, different decisions have been made regarding the nature and properties of the final descriptions of student achievement. In addition to this overview, we treat PISA and TIMSS as case studies in order to illustrate an under-researched area in standard setting: the nature of and empirical basis for the development of performance level descriptors (PLDs). We conclude by discussing how these procedures may be relevant for formulating useful standards in tests and assessments in the Norwegian context.