Developing statics knowledge inventories

Following the lead of the physics community, engineering faculty have recognized the value of good assessment instruments for evaluating the learning of their students and to evaluate changes in teaching. As a result, significant efforts are underway to develop engineering subject assessment tools. These efforts have focused on developing "concept" inventories for determining student understanding of the subject's fundamental concepts. But for most engineering subjects, concepts are closely linked to "skill" components. However, concept inventory developers appear to have relied on a "I know it when I see it" approach when distinguishing between a concept and a skill. In this paper, a cognitive psychology-based taxonomy of declarative and procedural knowledge is discussed in relation to knowledge assessment in the engineering education literature. This foundation can be used to help distinguish concepts from skills and guide question construction. In addition, the paper describes the process used and resulting delineation of important statics' concept and skill statements. An ongoing Delphi process to refine the inventory of these statements, validating their form, and establishing their relative importance by a broad group of subject matter experts is described.