The Assessment Package

From the Introduction to the Assessment Package

Multiple-Choice Questions and Essay Questions

Multiple-choice tests have come under attack because most of them are limited to pure recall of vocabulary. All too often they contain no explicit question; all the students are required to do is to fill blank space. Such "questions" provide no information on the students' thinking. However, multiple-choice questions can test for understanding and the ability to apply knowledge to new situations if they are constructed properly.

Good multiple-choice questions are bona-fide questions that do not require looking at the choices to find the answer. Students should approach each question as if it were an essay question, first composing an answer and only afterward looking for their answer among the choices. When the presented choices reflect common errors or misconceptions, then even wrong answers have a concrete diagnostic value.

Multiple-choice questions take less time to answer and less time to grade than essay questions. Therefore, more material can be covered in a given time. These are their strengths; Their weaknesses are that they give only indirect information about students' thinking processes, and they provide no outlet for creativity.

In the Sixth Edition the first weakness has been significantly ameliorated by paying even greater attention than before to the quality of the questions. To address the second weakness, we have included two essay questions in each of the chapter tests.

If you wish to see further expressions of your students' thought processes, the IPS testing package for the Sixth Edition gives you a number of options. First, you can request that each student write a rationale for his or her choice for one or two questions. Second, you can convert selected multiple-choice questions into essay questions simply by covering the choices before you reproduce the test for class use. If you do that, be sure to announce beforehand that these questions should be answered in detail, with all the work shown in a sequence of complete sentences.

We recommend that the tests be given as open book and open notebook tests. The positive effect of open-notebook tests on students' study habits has been widely demonstrated. Any students who think that with open notebooks and open books they will not have to study regularly will recognize their mistake after the very first test. The notebooks themselves become part of the assessment.

The A Series and the C Series

The IPS course was designed for and is being used by a broad spectrum of students. The relative emphasis on the development of generalizations and concrete experiences varies from class to class. In some classes more emphasis is placed on developing students' ability to generalize from their experience in the classroom; in other classes the learning is directed more to the concrete.

The A Series is more in tune with the first emphasis; the C Series, with the second. As these are subtle distinctions, it should not be surprising that some questions are common to both sets of tests. Nevertheless, the C Series is considered to be easier.

The Lab Tests

Many of the questions on the Chapter Tests relate to experiments; however, no pencil-and-paper test can take the place of an authentic hands-on test. In fact, you may find that the students who do well on the lab tests are not necessarily the same ones who do well on the Chapter Tests. Like the Chapter Tests, the Lab Tests can help you judge the effectiveness of your teaching.

When you distribute the Lab Tests, tell your class what resources will be available to them. In addition to the standard IPS equipment and materials, students should be allowed to use their textbooks and notebooks. The investigations better reflect the practices of the real world if references are available and the emphasis is shifted from memory work to practical and reasoning skills.

Inform your students that their work will be evaluated on the basis of the skills they show in the laboratory and the reasoning they apply to the investigation. Make it clear that the evidence they offer to support their conclusions is far more significant than any lucky guess.