Search results for "Test design"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
The Semiotics of Test Design: Conceptual Framework on Optimal Item Features in Educational Assessment Across Cultural Groups, Countries, and Languages
2021
This paper offers a conceptual framework on test design from the perspective of social semiotics. Items are defined as arrangements of features intended to represent information, convey meaning, and capture information on the examinees’ knowledge or skills on a given content. The conceptual framework offers a typology of semiotic resources used to create items and discusses item representational complexity—the multiple ways in which the semiotic resources of an item are related to each other—and item semiotic alignment—the extent to which examinees share cultural experience encoded by items. Since the ability to make sense of items is shaped by the examinees’ level of familiarity with the s…
Hands-on or Video-based Learning with ANTicipation? A Comparative Approach to Identifying Student Motivation and Learning Enjoyment During a Lesson a…
2015
The observation of living animals in school laboratories provides authentic views of biological research. Various studies stress the importance of primary experiences in biology classes. However, educational films may serve as an alternative in some cases. The aim of this study was to investigate student motivation before and after treatments, including (1) an educational film, (2) a hands-on activity with living animals accompanied by an educational film and (3) a hands-on activity with living animals. We investigated the influence of teaching method, gender and class level on student motivation and learning enjoyment. In all treatments, Temnothorax ants were addressed, which can be easily…
Recommendations for ecotoxicity testing with stygobiotic species in the framework of groundwater environmental risk assessment.
2019
As a consequence of the growing global dependence on groundwater resources, environmental risk assessments (ERA) for groundwater are increasingly required and, with that, ecotoxicological studies with groundwater fauna (stygofauna). However, the literature on the ecotoxicological studies with stygobiotic species (i.e. species that complete their life cycle exclusively in groundwater) has not expanded significantly since the first paper published in this field. The limitations regarding the use of stygobiotic species for ecotoxicological testing are clear and consistent across the globe; stygobiotic species are often 1) naturally present in low numbers, 2) difficult to collect, and 3) diffic…
Can't simply roll it out: Evaluating a real-world virtual reality intervention to reduce driving under the influence.
2020
Driving under the influence (DUI) increases the risk of crashes. Emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), represent potentially powerful and attractive tools for the prevention of risky behaviours, such as DUI. Therefore, they are embraced in prevention efforts with VR interventions primed to grow in popularity in near future. However, little is known about the actual effectiveness of such DUI-targeting VR interventions. To help fill the knowledge gap, this study explored the effects of one VR intervention as delivered in the real world. Using pre and post test design, including an intervention group (n = 98) and a control group (n = 39), the intervention evaluation examined you…
Processes of Reflection in the Teaching and Learning Research Lab: Effects of Reflecting on Classroom Actions
2021
The ability to reflect on teaching is crucially important for the professionalization of trainee teachers. The fostering of reflection processes – by means of the systematic analysis of one’s own and others’ teaching from subject-specific, methodological, and educational science perspectives – plays a central role in a continuing and consecutive two-semester teacher training seminar concept at the University of Mainz. This paper explores the different effects of reflection on teaching on the basis of a quasi-experimental pre-post test design. Additionally, it shows how systematic reflection on teaching affects the students’ subjective experience of competence as well as the extent the semin…
Standardized testing and the promise of progress
2017
Abstract In light of the constantly expanding use of standardized tests (STs) not only in industrialized countries but also in developing nations, this article seeks to offer some reflections on the assessment path that educational systems across the world are taking. In unpacking the STs we must not take for granted a number of aspects of standardized tests—from their construction and application to their unintended consequences. The article proceeds in four distinct but interrelated parts: (1) understanding the assumptions and process in the development of STs, (2) probing the assumptions underlying the use of STs, (3) recognizing that STs are limited in what they can tell teachers abou…