Do people think about genetic inheritance as a deterministic or probabilistic process? Do adults display systematic biases when reasoning about genetic inheritance? Knowing how adults think about genetic inheritance is valuable, both for understanding the developmental endpoint of these concepts and for identifying biases that persist even after…

This paper investigates two specific probabilistic biases which middle graders usually exhibit when reasoning about probability and randomness on assessment items. We discuss how students' reasoning about key probability concepts undergirds statistics literacy related to randomness, independence, and the likelihood of future events based on past…

Assessing students' conceptions related to independence of events and determining probabilities from a sample space has been the focus of research in probability education for over 40 years. While we know a lot from past studies about predictable ways students may reason with well-known tasks, developing a diagnostic assessment that can be used by…

The research shared in this conference paper report illustrates how an iterative process to item development that involves expert review and cognitive lab interviews with students can be used to collect evidence of validity for assessment items. Analysis of students' reasoning was also used to expand a model for identifying conceptions and…

Understanding students' misconceptions and how they change is an essential part of supporting students in their science learning. This paper presents results from distractor-driven multiple-choice assessments that target students' misconceptions about energy. Over 20,000 elementary, middle and high school students from across the U.S. participated…

Energy plays a central role in our society, so it is essential that all citizens understand what energy is and how it moves and changes form. However, research has shown that students of all ages have difficulty understanding these abstract concepts. This paper presents a summary of elementary, middle, and high school students' understanding of…