An example should be just an example. Which tasks really check skills?

• Main Authors: Wojciech Grajkowski, Barbara Ostrowska
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych 2012-09-01
• Series: Edukacja
• Subjects: skills assessment; exam; national curriculum; science education; test question
• Online Access: http://www.edukacja.ibe.edu.pl/images/numery/2013/6-5-grajkowski-ostrowska-an-example-should-be-just-an-example.pdf

The new core curriculum for natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics and geography) at lower secondary school level details each topic and the teaching goals involved, defining the generic skills that a lower secondary school graduate should possess. The aim of the lower secondary school leaving examination is, therefore, not only to assess memorisation of specific material but also mastery of more universal skills. The authors of the article advocate the use of test questions that check the skills included in the core curriculum and employ unfamiliar examples. In this way, it should be possible to distinguish between cases in which the student knows the example (remembers the facts), and the one in which they know the principle (have mastered the skill and know how to apply it in different situations). In addition, an analysis of example tasks of this type and the results obtained by students solving them, invites the thesis that embedding a task in an unusual context does not lead to significant increase in its difficulty.