• DOI:10.1103/physrevphyseducres.17.020129
• Corpus ID: 221857297

Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy: A tool for assessing mathematical reasoning in introductory physics

@article{WhiteBrahmia2020PhysicsIO,
  title={Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy: A tool for assessing mathematical reasoning in introductory physics},
  author={Suzanne White Brahmia and Alexis Olsho and Trevor I. Smith and Andrew Boudreaux and Philip Eaton and Charlotte Zimmerman},
  journal={Physical Review Physics Education Research},
  year={2020}
}

• Suzanne White Brahmia, Alexis Olsho, +3 authors Charlotte Zimmerman
• Published 23 September 2020
• Education, Physics
• Physical Review Physics Education Research

One desired outcome of introductory physics instruction is that students will be able to reason mathematically about physical phenomena. Little research has been done regarding how students develop the knowledge and skills needed to reason productively about physics quantities, which is different from either conceptual understanding or problem-solving abilities. We introduce the Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL) as a tool for measuring quantitative literacy (i.e., mathematical reasoning) in the context of introductory physics. We present the development of the PIQL and results showing its validity for use in calculus-based introductory physics courses. As has been the case with many inventories in physics education, we expect large-scale use of the PIQL to catalyze the development of instructional materials and strategies--in this case, designed to meet the course objective that all students become quantitatively literate in introductory physics. Unlike concept inventories, the PIQL is a reasoning inventory, and can be used to assess reasoning over the span of students' instruction in introductory physics.