ConcepTests are flexible tools for active learning in large classes. These
purposefully crafted multiple choice questions, combined with a suitable
response system, allow all students to participate, rather than
just the few who might otherwise respond to questions. A key feature is the debate among
the students when they initially disagree on the answer. This approach was developed
by Eric Mazur
and is described in his book Peer Instruction: A User's Manual (Prentice Hall, 1997).
Although originally conceived for intermittent use in lectures, more intense use and
variations can support continuous classroom conversation
to replace lectures that are generally redundant with the textbook. That is the intent of
the large set of ConcepTests provided here and is how they are used at Brandeis University.
Such an active classroom presents some management challenges,
but these are minor compared to the benefits.
The materials provided here are for classroom use only.
All other uses are copyright protected.
Answers are not supplied because the site is open to students.
(In any case, it makes no sense for a question to be used by an
instructor who is unsure of the answer.) The easier questions
are warm up exercises for confidence building and the more
difficult ones are for constructivist learning via debate.
This collection is a work in progress and will be edited based on experience.
If you find that a question can be interpreted in such a fashion that it has more or
less than one correct answer, please
send us a message
(specifying the question number), so that we can tune up the question.
Other comments are also welcome.