0000000000616913
AUTHOR
Auli Toom
Problematising the equivalence of the test results of performance-based critical thinking tests for undergraduate students
Abstract This article compares the test results of two different performance-based assessments of critical thinking: a constructed-response task from the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) and a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ). These tests ostensibly measure the same critical thinking skills, such as analysing, interpreting and evaluating information and problem solving. The study utilised a mixed-method approach to explore the differences in students’ ( n = 330) test scores. The results showed that the correspondence between the CLA and the MCQ was fully comparable in 45.5% of the students’ test performances. Ten percent of the students had completely opposite test results. Explanat…
Designing Classroom Practices for Teaching Online Inquiry : Experiences from the Field
Students face several challenges when asked to locate relevant and credible information from the internet. This article introduces three principles for designing online inquiry lessons and documents what we learned from five language arts teachers from Finland who implemented and provided feedback on a learning unit framed in those design principles. Teachers implemented a researcher-designed online inquiry unit in nine upper secondary school classrooms. The unit included four 75-minute lessons sequenced to support the location, evaluation, and synthesis of information students encountered in an online inquiry task. Teachers’ diaries revealed their impressions of the unit, problems encounte…
Linguistic, Contextual, and Experiential Equivalence Issues in the Adaptation of a Performance-Based Assessment of Generic Skills in Higher Education
This qualitative study investigated the various linguistic, contextual, and experiential equivalence issues embedded in a performance-based instrument aimed at assessing generic skills in higher education. A rigorous translation and adaptation process (American English to Finnish) was conducted on one instrument, namely Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) International. The data were obtained from cognitive laboratories (n = 13), with think-alouds and follow-up interviews conducted among Finnish undergraduate students. Content logs were created, and the data were analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that linguistic and contextual equivalence issues were more prominent than experie…
Pre- and In-Service Teachers’ Teamwork Behaviour in Integrated Teacher Training
Teamwork and collaboration skills are regarded as essential proficiencies in the current worlds of work, study and everyday life. A relevant question is whether and how pre-service teachers have opportunities to begin acquiring professional collaboration skills during their studies. In the current study, Finnish pre- and in-service teachers participating in a joint training programme were engaged in reflection tasks to evaluate their teamwork behaviour during a challenging pedagogical design task in mixed teams. The aim of this study was to examine how pre- and in-service teachers perceived their teamwork practices while performing authentic training activities together. The participants re…
Teaching sourcing during online inquiry – adolescents with the weakest skills benefited the most
AbstractSourcing - identifying, evaluating, and using information about the sources of information - assists readers in determining what to trust when seeking information on the Internet. To survive in the post-truth era, students should be equipped with sufficient sourcing skills. This study investigated the efficacy of a teacher-led intervention aimed at fostering upper secondary school students’ (N = 365) sourcing during online inquiry. The intervention (4 × 75 min) was structured in accordance with the phases of online inquiry: locating, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating information. During the intervention, teachers demonstrated why and how to source, and students practiced s…
The Dynamic Relationship between Response Processes and Self-Regulation in Critical Thinking Assessments
Our aim was to explore higher education students’ response and self-regulatory processes plus the relationship between these, as evidenced in two types of performance-based critical thinking tasks included in the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) International instrument. The data collection consisted of 20 cognitive laboratories. The data were analyzed using a qualitative approach. The tasks were found to trigger different response and self-regulatory processes. Overall, the performance task evoked more holistic processes than the selected-response questions, in which students’ processes were more question-oriented. The results also indicated the entanglement of students’ response and …
How do self-regulation and effort in test-taking contribute to undergraduate students’ critical thinking performance?
Critical thinking is a multifaceted construct involving a set of skills and affective dispositions together with self-regulation. The aim of this study was to explore how self-regulation and effort in test-taking contribute to undergraduate students’ performance in critical thinking assessment. The data were collected in 18 higher education institutions in Finland. A total of 2402 undergraduate students at the initial and final stages of their bachelor degree programmes participated in the study. An open-ended performance task, namely the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) International, was assigned to assess students’ critical thinking, and a self-report questionnaire was used to measu…
Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden geneeristen taitojen arviointi : Kappas!-hankkeen tuloksia
Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, millä tasolla korkeakoulututkintoa suorittavien opiskelijoiden geneeriset taidot ovat, mitkä tekijät ovat yhteydessä geneeristen taitojen tasoon ja missä määrin geneeriset taidot kehittyvät korkeakouluopintojen aikana. Tutkimuksessa arvioitavia geneerisiä taitoja olivat analyyttinen päättely ja arviointi, ongelmanratkaisu, argumentatiivinen kirjoittaminen sekä kielen hallinta. Tutkimukseen osallistui yliopistojen alemman korkeakoulututkinnon ja ammattikorkeakoulututkinnon alku- ja loppuvaiheen opiskelijoita (n = 2402) ammattikorkeakouluista (n = 7) ja yliopistoista (n = 11). Tulosten mukaan lähes 60 prosentilla korkeakouluopiskelijoista geneeriset ta…