scholarly journals Sequential Reasoning in Electricity: Developing and Using a Three-Tier Multiple Choice Test

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hildegard Urban

Electricity is one of the areas in physics most studied in terms of learning difficulties. Misconceptions are strongly-held, stable cognitive structures, which differ from expert conception and affect how students understand scientific explanations. Therefore, there is a need for tests of conceptual understanding tests which are useful in diagnosing the nature of students’ misconceptions related to simple electric circuits and, in consequence, can serve as a valid and reliable measure of students’ qualitative understanding of simple electric circuits. As ordinary multiple choice tests with one-tier may overestimate the students’ correct as well as wrong answers, two- and three-tier tests were developed by researchers. Although, there is much research related to students’ conceptions in basic electricity, there is a lack of instruments for testing basic electricity concepts of students at grade 7, especially addressing an electric circuit as a system for a simple circuit of resistors and lamps in series. To address this gap, the context of the present study is an extension to the development of an already existing instrument developed by the author for testing electricity concepts of students at grade 7, specifically focusing on only two specific aspects in depth: first, to develop three-tier items for figuring out sequential reasoning, and second, to distinguish between misconceptions and lack of knowledge. The participants of the study included 339 secondary school students from grade 7 to 12 after instruction on electricity. Surprisingly, there are no dependences on students’ misconceptions either according to their gender or to their age. In conclusion, the findings of the study suggest that four items for uncovering students’ sequential reasoning can serve as a valid and reliable measure of students’ qualitative understanding of the systemic character of an electric circuit.

Author(s):  
V. L. Kiselev ◽  
V. V. Maretskaya ◽  
O. V. Spiridonov

Testing is one of the most effective ways for monitoring of students՚ current academic performance. Multiple choice tests are the most common and most often used tasks in the practical activities of higher education teachers. The approaches to the test development are shown and examples of test tasks for students of engineering specialties of highereducational institution are presented in the article.


2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurício Roberto Motta Pinto da Luz

In the present work, I investigated the origin of the misconception that glucose is the sole metabolic fuel previously described among Brazilian high school students. The results of a multiple-choice test composed of 24 questions about a broad range of biology subjects were analyzed. The test was part of a contest and was answered by a sample composed of undergraduate students as well as biologists and practicing biology teachers. The majority of the responders had difficulties in recognizing the existence of gluconeogenesis and the possibility of ATP production using other fuels other than carbohydrates. Biology teachers and biologists seemed to either lack the knowledge or present the misconception regarding energy-yielding metabolism found among students. I argue that in both cases, biology teachers are likely to teach metabolism-related subjects in a manner that may contribute to the appearance of the misconception among high school students.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Persson

In multiple-choice tests, guessing is a source of test error which can be suppressed if its expected score is made negative by either penalizing wrong answers or rewarding expressions of partial knowledge. We consider an arbitrarymultiple-choice test taken by a rational test-taker that knows an arbitrary fraction of its keys and distractors. For this model, we compare the relation between the obtained score for standard marking (where guessing is not penalized), marking where guessing is suppressed either by expensive score penalties for incorrect answers or by marking schemes that reward partial knowledge. While the “best” scoring system (in the sense that latent ability and test score are linearly related) will depend on the underlying ability distribution, we find a superiority of the scoring rule of Zapechelnyuk (Economics Letters, 132, 2015) but, except for item-level discrimination among test-takers, a single penalty for wrong answers seems to yield just as good or better results as more intricate schemes with partial credit.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1558
Author(s):  
Ahmet Suat Karahan

Ear Training is a basic course in Music Education Program. The success levels of the students in this course positively affect both their major area courses and their professional achievement levels. In other words, Ear Training courses have a very important place in the training process of a qualified music teacher. However, when various research results are analysed, students' success levels for Ear Training are observed to be unsatisfying. Students' interests in the lesson, their out-of class activities, and the close monitoring of the students' improvement in the lesson are considered as key factors in this case. However, there are mid-term and final exams, not extra quizzes, to evaluate the students in the Ear Training lessons. Quizzes cannot be made because of the reasons such as the teachers' excessive course loads, and long and laborious evaluation processes of written exams. For this reason, the aim of the research is to determine the availability of the multiple-choice tests, which ease the evaluation process, in Ear Training written exams and to determine to what extent they affect the students' success levels in the written exams. In the research in which experimental model was preferred, pre-test and post-test model was used and multiple-choice tests and written exams were compared in terms of their effects on students' success levels of theoretical and practical interval, rhythmic and melodic dictation. SPSS 22 was used in the processing of the data and the results obtained with dependent sample t test were interpreted by the p<.05 level.As a result of the research, it is found out that the experimental group students given multiple-choice test method were more successful in each questions of the theoretical and practical interval, rhythmic and melodic dictation than the control group students given written exams and there was a significant difference according to p<.05 level for the experimental group. The results obtained in the research show that multiple-choice test method could be successfully used for Ear Training written exam and the method increased the students' success levels considerably.    Moreover, it was concluded that multiple-choice test method shortened the evaluation process of the written exams and teachers could prepare quizzes with multiple-choice test methods and their evaluation process would be greatly short. ÖzetMüziksel İşitme Okuma Yazma MİOY Müzik Öğretmenliği Programındaki temel bir derstir. Bu ders kapsamında öğrencilerin başarı düzeyleri hem diğer alan derslerini hem de mesleki başarı düzeylerini olumlu yönde etkilemektedir. Yani MİOY dersleri, nitelikli müzik öğretmeni yetiştirme sürecinde çok önemi bir yere sahiptir. Ancak, çeşitli araştırma sonuçları incelendiğinde öğrencilerin MİOY dersi başarı düzeylerinin yetersiz bir seviyede kaldığı görülmektedir. Bu durumun oluşmasında öğrencilerin derse gösterdikleri ilgi düzeylerinin ve ders dışı çalışma süreçlerinin ayrıca öğrencilerin gelişim süreçlerinin yakından izlenmesi önemli etkenler olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Ancak, MİOY derslerinde öğrencilerin genel olarak vize ve final olmak üzere iki sınav ile değerlendirildiği ara sınavların genelde yapılmadığı görülmektedir. Ara sınavların yapılamamasında öğretmenlerin ders yüklerinin fazla olması ve klasik yazılı sınavı değerlendirme sürecinin uzun ve zahmetli olması vb. temel etkenlerdir. Bu sebeple araştırmanın amacı, değerlendirme sürecini önemli ölçüde kolaylaştıran çoktan seçmeli test yönteminin MİOY dersi yazılı sınavlarında kullanılabilirliğini belirlemek ve yöntemin öğrencilerin yazılı sınav başarı düzeylerini ne ölçüde etkilediğini tespit etmektir.Deneysel modelin tercih edildiği araştırmada ön-test son-test model kullanılmış ve çoktan seçmeli test yöntemiyle yapılan MİOY yazılı sınavlarıyla klasik yöntemle yapılan MİOY yazılı sınavları, öğrencilerin teorik ve uygulamalı aralık, akor, tartım ve ezgi diktesi yazma başarı düzeyleri üzerinden değerlendirilmiştir. Ulaşılan verilerin işlenmesinde SPSS 22 Programı kullanılmış, bağımlı örneklem t testiyle elde edilen sonuçlar p<.05 düzeyine göre yorumlanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, çoktan seçmeli test yönteminin uygulandığı deney grubu öğrencilerinin klasik yazılı yönteminin uygulandığı kontrol gurubu öğrencilerinden teorik ve uygulamalı aralık ve akor ayrıca tartım diktesi ve ezgi diktesi sorularının her birinde daha başarılı olduğu ve deney grubu yönünde p<.05 düzeyine göre anlamlı fark olduğu belirlenmiştir. Araştırma kapsamında ulaşılan bu sonuçlar, çoktan seçmeli test yönteminin MİOY yazılı sınavı kapsamında başarıyla uygulanabildiğini ve yöntemin öğrencilerin MİOY yazılı sınavı başarı düzeylerini kayda değer ölçüde arttırdığı sonuçlarına ulaşılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, çoktan seçmeli test yönteminin yazılı sınav değerlendirme süresini kayda değer bir ölçüde kısalttığı belirlenmiş ve bu sonuca dayalı olarak çoktan seçmeli test yönteminin MİOY derslerinde vize ve final sınavlarına ek olarak ara sınav değerlendirmelerinde kullanılması önerilmiştir.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1152
Author(s):  
Qingsong Gu ◽  
Michael W. Schwartz

In taking traditional multiple-choice tests, random guessing is unavoidable yet nonnegligible. To uncover the “unfairness” caused by random guessing, this paper designed a Microsoft Excel template with the use of relevant functions to automatically quantify the probability of answering correctly at random, eventually figuring out the least scores a testee should get to pass a traditional multiple-choice test with different probabilities of answering correctly at random and the “luckiness” for passing it. This paper concludes that, although random guessing is nonnegligible, it is unnecessary to remove traditional multiple-choice items from all testing activities, because it can be controlled through changing the passing score and the number of options or reducing its percentage in a test.


1997 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Russell ◽  
Walt Haney

Computer use has grown rapidly during the past decade. Within the educational community, interest in authentic assessment has also increased. To enhance the authenticity of tests of writing, as well as of other knowledge and skills, some assessments require students to respond in written form via paper-and-pencil. However, as increasing numbers of students grow accustomed to writing on computers, these assessments may yield underestimates of students' writing abilities. This article presents the findings of a small study examining the effect that mode of administration -- computer versus paper-and-pencil -- has on middle school students' performance on multiple-choice and written test questions. Findings show that, though multiple-choice test results do not differ much by mode of administration, for students accustomed to writing on computer, responses written on computer are substantially higher than those written by hand (effect size of 0.9 and relative success rates of 67% versus 30%). Implications are discussed in terms of both future research and test validity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 272
Author(s):  
M.S.D, Indrayani ◽  
A.A.I.N, Marhaeini ◽  
A.A.G.Y, Paramartha ◽  
L.G.E, Wahyuni

This study aimed at investigating and analyze the quality of teacher-made multiple-choice tests used as summative assessment for English subject. The quality of the tests was seen from the norms in constructing a good multiple-choice test. The research design used was descriptive research. Document study and interview were used as methods of collecting the data. The data was analyzed by comparing the 18 norms in constructing a good multiple-choice test and the multiple-choice tests, then, analyzed by using formula suggested by Nurkencana. The result showed the quality of the teacher-made multiple-choice tests a is very good with 79 items (99%) qualified as very good and I item (1%) qualified good. There were still found some problems referring to some norms. Therefore, it is suggested that the teachers have to pay attention to these unfulfilled norms. To minimize the issues, it is further suggested to do peer review, rechecking, and editing process.


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