Optimizing the teaching of electromagnetic wave polarization: A cognitive structure diagnostic approach

Compared with traditional educational assessment methods, cognitive diagnosis theory pays more attention to the interpretability and guidance of assessment results, with the aim of better-guiding teaching and conducting personalized learning. This study aims to determine the learning progression, cognitive diagnosis, hierarchical relationship of cognitive attributes, and cognitive diagnosis model for undergraduate students majoring in electrical communication engineering with different learning levels, taking the learning of “electromagnetic wave polarization” as an example. Guided by the Q-matrix theory and the cognitive development theory, the cognitive attributes of the concept of “electromagnetic wave polarization” were defined: A1 (Definition and Classification of Electromagnetic Wave polarization), A2 (linearly polarized waves), A3 (circularly polarized waves), A4 (Elliptically polarized waves), and A5 (Decomposition and Application of polarized waves) have determined the hierarchical relationship among each cognitive attribute. Based on the attribute hierarchical relationship, combined with the ChemQuery evaluation system, an advanced learning model for the concept of “electromagnetic wave polarization” has been preset. Based on the cognitive diagnosis theory, the Q matrix of the concept of “electromagnetic wave polarization” was established. The test Q matrix used for the design of project test questions was calculated, and the reliability of the test attributes was tested. Finally, by testing the examination scores of the knowledge point of “electromagnetic wave polarization” of two groups of different students, it was further demonstrated that the cognitive diagnosis model designed in this paper is reasonable and can be used to improve the achievement of the teaching objectives of the course.