Development, Validation, and Application of the Microbiology Concept Inventory

Area of Science:

• Microbiology Education
• Assessment Tools

Background:

• Effective teaching requires tools to measure student learning.
• Concept inventories (CI) are widely used for assessing understanding of core concepts.
• Existing tools may not fully address microbiology's specific learning outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create and validate a comprehensive microbiology concept inventory (MCI).
• To align the MCI with the American Society for Microbiology Curriculum Guidelines (ASMCG).
• To provide a reliable tool for assessing student comprehension of fundamental microbiology concepts.

Main Methods:

• Developed the MCI in three phases, starting with T/F questions and open responses based on ASMCG.
• Analyzed student misconceptions from MCI 1.0 to create multiple-choice distractors for MCI 2.0.
• Validated MCI 3.0 (23 questions) with 1,043 students, assessing reliability and item performance.

Main Results:

• MCI 3.0 demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.705) and validity.
• Item analysis confirmed good discriminatory power.
• Students showed increased understanding post-instruction, with notable gains except in metabolism.

Conclusions:

• The validated MCI is a reliable tool for quantitative analysis of student learning in microbiology.
• The MCI effectively identifies common student misconceptions.
• Results suggest areas for targeted pedagogical interventions, particularly in teaching metabolism.