Integrated Testlets for physics and chemistry: Multiple-Choice Testing 2.0

Speaker

Aaron Slepkov

Abstract

Multiple-choice exams are becoming more prevalent in physics courses as student populations rise and instructional resources dwindle.  Particularly in STEM disciplines, we would like to find ways to test deeper levels of understanding and knowledge integration than are typically afforded by multiple-choice tests. With simple immediate-feedback and answer-until-correct tools we can construct new types of multiple-choice assessment structures that test both higher-level thinking, and knowledge integration. Such “Integrated Testlets” (ITs) also add the benefits of simple and valid granting of partial credit, as well as turning a final exam into a formative assessment opportunity. In this talk, I will touch on the antagonism between constructed-response and multiple-choice testing, I will outline how ITs resolve some of this antagonism, and I will briefly review the development and usage of ITs at Trent University and beyond.