Assessment formats: do they make a difference?

This study has explored the relationships between the results of various formats of paper-and-pencil classroom assessments in five classroom chemistry tests. The formats of assessment that have been used were: multiple choice, short answer, and structural communication grid. The study was conducted in Greece with the participation of first year upper secondary public school pupils (Lykeio, Grade 10, age 15-16). The correlations between the different formats of assessment tended to be between 0.30 and 0.71. This is a wide range but even the highest value is well short of 1.0. This suggests that the best student found by one method is not necessarily the best student by another method. This raises questions about the validity of the formats of the assessment and what different formats of assessment are testing

Some Strategies to improve performance in school chemistry, based on two cognitive factors

The background to this study are the difficulties facing the majority of Greek pupils in understanding chemistry concepts and, therefore, performing well in the National Examinations. The aim was to explore the problems and to suggest ways in which the situation might be improved. Working with 105 Greek pupils aged 15 to 16, the first stage of the enquiry confirmed that both working memory space and extent of field dependency were two psychological factors affecting performance. This is at least part of the nature of the problem. In the second stage, an attempt was made to explore how the problems might be reduced. New teaching materials were constructed to minimize any limitations to learning caused by working memory space and problems associated with being field dependent. The use of the new materials was compared to the normal teaching process working with 210 Greek pupils aged 15 to16. It was found that there was a significant difference in the average improvement of the experimental group and the control group, in favour of the experimental group. This result was independent of the effect of the teacher, and of the interaction of teaching method and teacher. It is suggested that approaches to learning must take into account cognitive factors in the learners in the context of information processing understandings of learning. If this is done, learning is much more effective

Large-Scale Assessment of Change in Student Achievement: Dutch Primary School Students’ Results on Written Division in 1997 and 2004 as an Example

large-scale assessment, primary school, achievement, change, written division,