In physics education, assessments address various forms of scientific knowledge. Most of the existing test instruments emphasise the assessment of content knowledge. These tests fail to measure the epistemic aspects of science. Thus, assessing epistemic knowledge is a theme that demands investigation. This study applies Rasch analysis to help validate an epistemic knowledge test in electricity and magnetism. Each of the initial 30 items represents distinct features of scientific reasoning. The construct dimensions are derived from Kind and Osborne’s framework of Styles of Scientific Reasoning. Based on expert validation, a final 20 items were selected. The test was administered to 156 graduating in-service natural science teachers. Reliability and separation indices, person-item mapping, and principal component analysis using standardised residuals are reported. No meaningful secondary dimension was found in the test data. Invariant properties showed that the test had internal coherence. The Wright Map showed the difficulty of the test to the test takers. The overall fit statistics were within the acceptable range. Along the continuum of item difficulty, there were some notable gaps, where future test items judged to be that level of difficulty could be included. We acknowledge that there may be other reasons for these gaps.

中文翻译：

---

用Rasch分析法开发和验证在职理科教师的电磁学知识知识测验

在物理教育中，评估涉及各种形式的科学知识。现有的大多数测试工具都强调内容知识的评估。这些测试无法衡量科学的认知方面。因此，评估认知知识是需要调查的主题。这项研究应用Rasch分析来帮助验证电和磁的认知知识测试。最初的30项中的每一项都代表科学推理的独特特征。构造维度源自Kind和Osborne的科学推理风格框架。根据专家确认，最终选择了20个项目。该测试是针对156名即将毕业的在职自然科学教师进行的。可靠性和分离指数，人员项目映射，并报告了使用标准化残差的主成分分析。在测试数据中未找到有意义的次级尺寸。不变的性质表明该测试具有内部一致性。赖特地图向考生展示了考试的难度。总体拟合统计在可接受的范围内。沿着项目难度的连续性，存在一些显着的差距，可以将以后被认为是该难度级别的测试项目包括在内。我们承认，这些差距可能还有其他原因。存在一些显着的差距，将来的测试项目被判断为具有这种难度。我们承认，这些差距可能还有其他原因。存在一些显着的差距，将来的测试项目被判断为具有这种难度。我们承认，这些差距可能还有其他原因。