the case of a student who correctly answers just 9 of the 29
questions on the inventory in the pre-test. At the end of the
subject the student scores 17 correct answers for the post-test,
an improvement of 8 correct answers. This improvement represents
40% of the total improvement that the student could
have achieved if he had got the additional 20 questions correct.
By building up a comparison between pre-test and post-test
scores it is possible to gain a quantitative measure of the correction
of these fundamental misconceptions initially held by
the class. Savinainen and Scott (2002) discuss the development
of the force concept inventory and its precursor, The
Mechanics Diagnostic Test.