Measuring misconceptions through item response theory

Abstract

In this paper we propose an assessment model to measure both student knowledge and misconceptions through testing. For this purpose we use a well-founded psychometric theory, i.e. the Item Response Theory (IRT). Our proposal is an extension of our previous work in this field and permits, in the same test, the data-driven evaluation of knowledge and several misconceptions, thereby more efficiently using the evidence provided by the students, while solving a test, to enrich student perturbation models.