As much as I like to use other forms of test items, please don't be
quite so judgemental about multiple choice items. We use a mixture of
multiple choice and other types of questions in most of our classes, and
we also try to implement 'critical thinking'. Guess which variety is
used the most for measuring critical thinking?? Multiple choice!!
I certainly agree that multiple choice items can be written to measure a
very, very low level of knowledge; I would also assert that a multiple
choice item can be written to measure a deeper understanding of the
material than most short-answer types.
IF a course uses STRICTLY multiple-choice items, this probably does
place some restrictions on the learning that can be assessed -- but the
limits are probably not what we would first think of.
IF we are going to criticize any particular testing method, we should
criticize those tests and quizes which we write in a hurry with the
assumption that they measure what we thought was important. I suspect
we have all written some very bad items, simply due to not thinking
enough about each item.
Thanks for reading this far! (Hopefully, it was helpful.)
--
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< from >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jack Rotman phone (517)483-1079
Math Professor ROTMAN@ALPHA.LANSING.CC.MI.US
Lansing Community College Lansing, MI
"Like all art & science, mathematics surrounds us."
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Math Success ! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
dept web page http://www.lansing.cc.mi.us/sas/mathsci
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