The knowledge of Hungarian students in the light of the Mechanics Baseline Test

In the introductory courses in physics at Loránd Eötvös University (ELTE) students with very different physics knowledge can be found. It seems the core problem is the undeveloped thinking skills and the deficiency in conceptual understanding. The investigation of the conceptual understanding is not simple, however, there are some reliable instruments for it such as the Mechanics Baseline Test which was constructed by Hestenes and Wells. In this paper the results of this test obtained in Hungary (mainly at ELTE) are presented. The test is universal in the sense that it is limited to the concepts that should be addressed in introductory physics at any level from secondary schools to universities. In 2016 at the Faculty of Science of ELTE students enrolled in introductory physics courses were tested. The students’ majors were Biology, Earth Sciences, Physics and Physics Teaching. The same test was given as a post test for the students of Physics major and Earth Sciences. The results were compared to those of obtained previously in Hungarian secondary schools, at ELTE courses and at the universities in the USA (Arizona State University, Harvard University). It can be stated that at ELTE the test scores of the students of physics major has decreased significantly in the last 20 years. (Maybe it is the consequence of the implementation of Bologna Process due to which the number of the students entering into the University highly increased.) It was also revealed that there are difficult topics in kinematics and dynamics the understanding of which shows serious deficiencies at any level. (For example the dynamics of the curvilinear motion.) Finally on the basis of the results some proposal for the improvement of the instruction strategy is presented