The thought of writing a test myself is really scary! I have done one, however, it was done during a time in my life when my family life was turned upside down due to the death of my grandmother, and I don’t think I quite understood the thought process. Coming up with tests questions that correlate with maps I found it to be difficult, because most of the things I was asking them to do was on a map.
However, I do believe that I was successful when writing the test questions to match my objectives. The one type of test format I didn’t use was true or false, because, as the book explain, it may be the easiest to write, but depending on the wording, it can be tricky for the kids to understand. ONE word is all it takes to confuse a student to what the right answer may be. “Actually, true– false items do take less time to write than good objective items of any other format, but good true– false items are not that easy to write (Kubiszyn, Borich 2010, p.132).”
I chose to do two questions with the multiple choice form because I thought it fit well in with the geography unit much better than true or false questions. I wanted the kids to identify what city we lived in, and by giving them choices, if they had correctly followed the assignment, they should have easily pinpointed that we live in Bellevue, Washington (it is where I currently work). The other multiple choice question was to identify what city was not a city in Washington. Many multiple choice questions can end with “all of the above”, none of the above”, “both a and c”, etc., but I believe that the way that my question is worded, students will have to recall and really think of what cities are in the state of Washington, and which one is not.
I have one matching question where I wanted the students to match the correct state to a specific picture that correlates with the number on the states. I felt like if the students learned the states correctly from writing out the states as asked before, then they should be able to match the correct state to the picture on the state. “Each description in the list should be numbered (each is an item), and the list of options should be identified by letter (Kubiszyn, Borich 2010, p. 138).” The textbook makes it clear that the matching items need to be clear when matching, so I would put the numbers in the picture of the states and have the students match the correct one to it. I may even put more picture than there are options of the names of the states so the students can recall the correct state.
My essay question goes with Objective 4, and I know that I will receive different answers because wanting them to describe what their street looks like. I decided to do this objective for my essay question, because I know that most essay questions answers do not match what the other students write (unless they live on the same street). Because there will be a variety of responses it will be difficult to score, however, I am looking beyond the normal, passive response. I am looking for descriptions that will make it clear that I can imagine what it looks like. I am looking for good structure of their writing, spelling, and the words they use to describe their street.
Kubiszyn, Tom, & Borich, Gary D (2010). Educational Testing and Measurement: Classroom Application and Practice, 9th Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Danvers, MA.
staceyhead84 
Leave a comment