A Space Physics Concept Inventory

A Space Physics concept inventory project has been begun using a large lecture Introduction to Space Weather General Education course for non-science majors at UCLA. Students submit brief 150-250 word essays prior to material be discussed in class through Eds Tool-web-based system developed at the University of Colorado under the Biology Concept Inventory project. Eds Tool enables science education specialists to identify key concepts within the essays and classify them based on their occurrence and type. Initial results based on a class of 74 students taught Winter 2006 show common misconceptions found in understanding intro astronomy occur in Space Physics. This includes confusion between the heliosphere, solar system, galaxy and universe (students often use these terms interchangeably). Space Physics specific misconceptions include confusion between the IMF spiral pattern and the radially flowing solar wind (students often have the idea that the solar wind flows along IMF field lines, instead of the solar wind and IMF flowing out together and hence describe the radial solar wind flow as spiral). Students also have misconceptions regarding multiple step physical mechanisms such as the flow of energy from the solar wind into the Earth's ionosphere through currents or the cause of the aurora. Students will often simplify these processes into a one-step process (solar wind electrons flow directly along the Earth's field line to cause the aurora). This talk will describe our methodology and initial results.