
%0 Journal Article
%A Hufnagel, Beth 
%A Slater, Timothy 
%A Deming, Grace 
%A Zeilik, Michael 
%A Adrian, Rebecca Lindell 
%A Brick, Christing 
%A Adams, Jeff 
%T Pre-Course Results from the Astronomy Diagnostic Test
%J Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
%D 2000/07/01
%V 17
%N 2
%P 152-155
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/AS00152
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AS00152 
%X We present selected results from the January 1999 semester pre-course administration of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT), a research-based, multiple-choice instrument that assesses student knowledge and understanding about selected concepts in astronomy. The ADT is valid for undergraduate non-science majors taking an introductory astronomy course. This paper briefly summarises the development and validation processes, which included pre-course administration to 1557 students in 22 classes attending 17 various post-secondary institutions across the USA in the January 1999 semester. Two interesting results of the ADT’s pre-course administration are (1) the average class score of the ADT is about the same (32%) regardless of type of post-secondary institution or class size and (2) there is a significant gender difference, with women scoring an average of 28% and men 38%, with the standard errors both less than 1%. The current version of the ADT (Version 2 dated 21 June 1999) and a comparative by-class database is available to astronomy instructors at the (USA) Association of Astronomy Educators’ and the National Institute for Science Education’s (NISE) WebPages. 
