Evaluación del entendimiento de gráficas de cinemática utilizando un test de opción múltiple en español

The “Test of Understanding of Graphs in Kinematics (TUG-K)”, is the most important multiple-choice test designed to date to evaluate the understanding of university students in kinematics graphs. In this study, we present a significant modification of this test in Spanish. We administered the test to 124 students who finished a mechanics-based course in a private Mexican university. The four objectives of this article are: (1) to present the test in Spanish and its redesign process, (2) to show that it is a reliable evaluation instrument with adequate discriminatory power, (3) to present a detailed analysis of students’ understanding on the concepts evaluated in the test, and (4) to establish specific recommendations, based on the previous analyzes, for the instruction of these concepts. In this way, this article offers a comprehensive analysis of understanding difficulties, research-based recommendations and the test available in the Appendix that can be used by researchers in the field of physics education, and by teachers who teach the subject of graphics of kinematics in physics courses in Spanish-speaking countries.