Abstract Thermal and Statistical Mechanics courses are a core part of every physics degree.
The topics covered in this course can also vary substantially from institution to institution or
even instructor to instructor. This makes it difficult to develop an assessment that allows for
comparisons of student understanding within and between institutions. In this talk, I will
introduce our work to develop an assessment for upper level thermal and statistical physics
courses. We use Evidence-Centered Design to insure that questions assess not just …