Assessing concept mapping competence using item expansion‐based diagnostic classification analysis

Abstract Concept mapping is widely used as a tool for assessing students' understanding of science. To fully realize the diagnostic potential of concept mapping, a scoring method that not only provides an objective and accurate assessment of students' drawn concept maps but also provides a detailed understanding of students' proficiency and deficiencies in knowledge is necessary. However, few of the existing scoring methods focus on the latent constructs (e.g., knowledge, skills, and cognitive processes) that guide the creation of concept maps. Instead, they focus on the completeness of the concept map by assigning a composite score, which makes it difficult to generate targeted diagnostic feedback information for advancing students' learning. To apply the diagnostic classification model to the quantitative analysis of concept maps, this study introduced the novel application of the item expansion‐based diagnostic classification analysis (IE‐DCA) for this purpose. The IE‐DCA can not only assess students' concept mapping abilities along a continuum but also classify students according to their concept mapping attributes when constructing the concept maps. The application and benefits of this approach were illustrated using a physics concept‐mapping item related to particle and rigid body. Results showed that the estimated attribute profiles via the IE‐DCA provided more detailed information about students' latent constructs than the composite score. Overall, this study illustrates the feasibility and potential of applying IE‐DCA to analyze concept maps. Future applications of IE‐DCS in other assessments in science education are discussed.