How well do exams probe scientific understanding?
Distillates: David Read looks at some recent chemical education research
Many observers have expressed concern in recent years that excessive testing and the over-reliance of the authorities on the results of national tests in judging teaching standards and school performance has been harmful to teaching and learning. Furthermore, many students at all levels of academic ability fail to demonstrate their potential in terms of exam results, and the arguments about how best to assess performance are ongoing. In a US study, Noble et al have investigated the correlation between students’ conceptual understanding and their ability to answer exam questions correctly.
While the study focuses on grade 5 science tests, any teacher whose students are regularly sitting exams will be interested in the outcomes. Most teachers will have students in their classes who clearly have a good grasp of the underlying scientific principles behind a particular concept, but are then unable to produce the appropriate response to gain the marks on an exam. The aim of this study was to determine whether the knowledge and skills that students report using to answer questions are the same as those that the questions intended to test. Students completed a six question science test which was followed by an interview that probed their actual level of understanding of the concept. This produced some interesting results, particularly when students from different social groups were compared.
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