Teaching to the Test, No: Using the Test as a Teaching Strategy

By J. David JamesAssociate Professor Health Science

Prince George’s Community College

Quotes

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny — E. Haeckel

We should make exercises so compelling, and so powerful as exemplars of a domain, that honing one's ability to solve them represents generalizable learning and achievement. — L. Bond

Instant gratification is not soon enough -M. Streep

Objectives

Identify a few immediate simple ideas to add to our current Andragogy

Identify ways of modifying our approach both to instruction and assessment using the test as a starting point

Identify practical ways of using tests as a teaching/learning strategy

Identify technology resources to facilitate testing as a teaching and learning strategy

Our Foci vs. Their Focus

Students are too often focused not on mastery of the subject but on passing the test.

This is evidenced by the age-old student question, “Is this going to be on the test?”

Some educators respond by teaching to the test.

We Shouldn’t Teach To The Test

Giving practice exercises featuring "clone items"—items so similar to the test's actual items that it's tough to tell which is which.

The scores provide invalid interpretations about the students' actual mastery of the content. (Popham,2001)

Providing classroom instruction that incorporates, as practice activities, the actual items on tests.

Instead Use the Test as a Teaching Strategy

Lauren Resnick of the University of Pittsburgh noted that rather than bemoan the inclination to teach to the test, we should take advantage of it. (Bond, 2004)

Identify a few immediate simple ideas to add to their current pedagogy

Are Our Questions the Problem?

What if our student’s performance was not based solely on their command of the subject but on their understanding of our questioning/testing?

Dr. K Penn State Microeconomics Nursing School

The Fatal Switch-Teach Like You Test

The Fatal Switch- Teaching via knowledge

based methods Testing via application

and analysis

Test Like You Teach

FATALSWITCH

If I spend all my time teaching application and analysis where do they get the knowledge?

How Can They Get The Knowledge?

Lecture Videos

The Flipped Classroom You (The Expert Learner)

JIT- Internet, Smart Phones Cite your source

Textbook

Give homework that they know will be preparation for the in-class graded group assessments (Make it the ticket to the show)

Instructor Aided Group Tests Does Not replace normal individual exams (They still must take

these)

To them it’s a group test to you it’s a time to teach

Small Groups Preferably 2 No more than 3 per group

Real Life Compelling Assessments Upper Level Assessments NO KNOWLEDGE LEVEL QUESTIONS Application Analysis Synthesis

Must be graded and count as part of their class grade

Take Advantage

Viewed in this light, we are no longer teaching to the test but we are using the test as a teaching strategy because the skills and knowledge are themselves relevant and are the very things we wish students to acquire. (Bond, 2004)

USE SMALL GROUP TEST ASSESSMENTS We should make exercises so compelling, and so

powerful as exemplars of a domain, that honing one's ability to solve them represents generalizable learning and achievement.

Designing Real Life Compelling Assessments

Where do we find them?

Identify technology resources to facilitate testing as a teaching/learning strategy

Publisher Test Banks & Test Generators Questions can be modified and tailored Have page references

On-Line Test Banks Collaborate with Colleagues Scantron

The True False +/- Question

If this is True or False WHY is it True or False?

How would I change the question to make it True or False?

The True False +/- Question

TRUE or FALSE Cirrhosis of the liver leads to decreased hepatic

portal pressure. This statement is True This statement is False because liver cirrhosis leads

to increased hepatic portal pressure This statement is False because liver cirrhosis

decreases cystic pressure

The True False +/- Question

TRUE or FALSEThe principal of respondeat superior holds the

employer responsible for the actions of their employees

A. The statement is True in all circumstances where the employee is conducting business for employer

B. The statement is False if the employee commits a negligent act or acts outside their scope of duty

C. Both A & B are correct

D. Neither A or B is correct

Multiple Choice Analysis Questions

Engages students in higher-order intellectual activities (Bain, 102)

Encourages them to: Compare Apply Evaluate Analyze Synthesize

Select All That Apply

A series of true false questions put into one question

A. Administer Tylenol (acetaminophen) 1 gm

B. Stop the blood transfusion

C. Flush the line with saline

D. Submit the tubing and bag to the Blood Bank

E. Establish a saline lock or patent IV

F. Obtain first voided urine (within one hour of reaction)

A client is receiving a blood transfusion and complains of headache and low back pain. What are the nurse’s actions? (Choose all that apply)

Other Group Activities

Students working in small groups on specially designed guided inquiry materials.

These materials supply students with data or information followed by leading questions designed to guide them toward formulation of their own valid conclusions

Case Studies A Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL)

The instructor is more than a facilitator, observing and periodically addressing individual and classroom-wide needs.

Instructor is the Expert Learner (Bain, 18)

POGIL

The Role of the Instructor

Roam the class and Listen to discussions Correct wrong assumptions

Give a page number from the text Direct them to an online resource Ask a question

Do a mini lecture if the entire class is having the same problem Look over their answer sheet before they hand it in and

tell them which answers are wrong

“No one is exempt from the rule that learning occurs through recognition of error.” ― Alexander Lowen, Bioenergetics

Immediate Feedback

“By seeking and blundering we learn.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Design items that can be quickly corrected, graded, and returned

Consider designing questions that can be answered on a Scantron sheet

With creativity many solutions can be expressed in 5 choices

Return the items if possible before the end of class

Is it wrong to cater to their desire for immediate gratification?

Is immediate feedback a motivator?

Are there sound andragogical reasons for immediate feedback?

The Follow-up and Close

Answer questions “People Learn Most Effectively when they are trying to

answer their own questions” (Bain, 101)

Clarify Common Misconceptions Time for Insights and Discussions Ask the Big Questions

If this is true then WHY, HOW, WHAT , WHERE ? What major conclusions did you draw? What questions remain in your mind? (Bain, 103)

Identify resources

“We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.” ― John Dewey

Identify practical ways of using tests as a teaching/learning strategy

Set The Foundation

Create a Natural Critical Learning Environment Start with learning objectives Decide when and how much Prepare the syllabus Prepare the student

Create a Natural Critical Learning Environment

People learn by confronting intriguing, beautiful, or important problems, authentic tasks that challenge them to grapple with ideas, rethink assumptions, and examine their mental models of reality (Bain, 18)

Can a group test be used to do this?

Start With Learning Objectives

Four Fundamental Inquiries

What should my students be able to do intellectually, physically, or emotionally as a result of their learning

How can I best help and encourage them to develop and use those abilities

How can my students and I understand the nature, quality, and progress of their learning

How can I evaluate my efforts to foster that learning (Bain, 49)

In order to focus instruction on the curricular content that a test represents, that content must be spelled out sufficiently for instructional planning (Popham,2001) -

Decide When And How Much

Will you start with a lecture? Will you require them to do

out of class preparatory work?

Will this be used as your main andragogical approach?

Will this be used to teach a particular difficult concept or unit?

Prepare The Syllabus

Build the points from the group tests into their grade

Give yourself flexibility to drop or add an assignment as you assess student understanding

Allow them to drop their lowest grade

Keep the exams We practice and prepare

together but we test alone

Prepare The Student

Skip Downing

Introduce to Resources On Campus Online

Explains the Benefits and Consequences

Explain what will be required of them

Identify ways of modifying our approach both to instruction and assessment using the test as a starting point

Anticipate The Difficulties

Teachers are encouraged to anticipate the difficulties students will have with various concepts and how to structure and sequence instruction to minimize these difficulties.

A Lesson Here For Teachers

“The tension between the instructional and assessment communities, as well the pejorative

connotations that "teaching to the test" entails, will continue unabated so long as testing and

assessment are seen as something quite apart from instruction and learning, rather than an integrated

reflection of what was intentionally taught.

To paraphrase A. G. Rud of Purdue University, what is needed is a deliberate attempt on the part of all

parties to link curriculum, instruction, assessment, and standards in a more generative and even

transparent way”. (Bond, 2004)

Sources

Bain, Ken. What the Best College Teachers Do. Harvard University Press, 2004

Bond, Lloyd. "Teaching to the Test". Carnegie Perspectives (via the University of Victoria). Retrieved 27 May 2014.

Popham, W. J. (2001). Teaching to the test. Educational Leadership, 58(6), 16-20.

http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/pogil//index.html