REPORT OF THE PANEL ON EVALUATION AND TESTING NOVEMBER 1967/CUEBS Publication 20 TESTING AND EVALUATION IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES COMMISSION ON UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES This book is a wonderful resource but had only a limited distribution back around 1967. Thanks to GWU for permission to put it in digital form so that it can be shared widely. It is still under copyright, so please read the permission letter. Biology has changed quite a bit since 1967, so many of the example questions are dated and this book doesn’t serve as a simple question bank. Yet the questions can be very useful as exemplars of questions pointed at different topics and at different cognitive levels. Since you have the digital version, it is fairly easy to copy/paste them and then update/modify as you find appropriate and useful. While I did a lot of proofreading, I’m sure I’ve missed many details, so the scanned pages in jpg format are also available. Feel free to check them if anything puzzling is found. To me, the question bank emphasizes the value of the earlier discussion in the book about assessment and evaluation methods. While most of the items given are multiple choice questions, there is also presentation and discussion about essay and matching questions. Each question, of all types, has an associated cognitive level (using Bloom’s Taxonomy). This significantly assists the instructor in assessing the progress of the students, and there is also discussion of evaluating the validity of the questions. For courses in other areas than Biology, this book can also be valuable. The discussion about question construction is broadly applicable, and the questions can still serve as examplars for question construction in other fields. I hope everyone finds this book as valuable as I have. --henry schaffer Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Biomathematics Member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers N. C. State University P.S. To get the book into digital form, I scanned each page and then submitted each page to a very nice, free OCR site http://www.onlineocr.net/ which produced a Word document (.doc). I was amazed at how accurately the OCR worked, but sometimes it was too accurate as it tried to get every aspect of character and word spacing exact, usually over-complicating what was supposed to be a simple page in two columns. Additionally, while it tried to handle diagrams and formulas, that part worked poorly and so I cut/pasted most of the diagrams from the scanned material into the .doc using Insert Picture. Testing and Evaluation in the Biological Sciences November, 1967 Publication No. 20 COMMISSION ON UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Copyright 1967 The George Washington University Copies of this publication are available free from the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20036 The work herein reported was supported by a grant from The National Science Foundation to The George Washington University Copyright 1967 by The George Washington University Library of Congress No. 67-31130 COMMISSION ON UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Commission Members (as of November, 1967) Henry Koffler Adolph Hecht Ariel G. Loewy Purdue University Washington State University Haverford College CUE BS Chairman James H. M. Henderson Henry L. Lucas, Jr. Garland E. Allen Tuskegee Institute North Carolina State University Washington University Charles E. Holt James H. Meyer Richard G. Beidleman Massachusetts Institute of University of California, Davis Colorado College Technology David L. Nanney C. Ritchie Bell Johns W. Hopkins III University of Illinois University of North Carolina Washington University David M. Prescott Howard A. Bern Paul DeHart Hurd University of Colorado University of California, Berkeley Stanford University Alfred S. Sussman Martin D. Brown Fullerton Donald S. Farner University University of Michigan Junior College of Washington C UE BS Vice-Chairman Charles S. Thornton James F. Danielli Michigan State University SUNY , Buffalo Donald Kennedy Stanford University ArnoldT.Towe Vincent G. Dethier University of Washington Princeton University Jerry Kollros University of Iowa Earlham Co Ex Officio Members Executive Office Staff Ted F. Andrews Clarence H. Nelson Martin W. Schein, Director Educational Research Council Michigan State University of Greater Cleveland Dana L. Abell, Staff Biologist J. Roger Porter David G. Barry University of Iowa E. G. Stanley Baker, Staff Biologist San Jose State College President, AIBS Jeffrey J. W. Baker, Staff Biologist David F. Carroll, Staff Associate Donald H. Bucklin Martin W. Schein Thomas G. Overmire , Staff Biologist University of Wisconsin CUEBS Thomas S. Hall William K. Stephenson Donald L Wise, Staff Biologist Washington University Earlham College CUEBS PANEL ON EVALUATION AND TESTING Panel Members Clarence H. Nelson, Panel Chairman Michigan State University Wendell H. Bragonier James L. Koevenig Colorado State University University of Kansas Relis B. Brown William V. Mayer Florida State University University of Colorado CUEBS Staff Thomas G. Overmire, Staff Biologist Page 0-3 FOREWORD The CUEBS Panel on Evaluation and Testing, established in 1965, created this document to serve as a resource for the instructor preparing course exam- inations. The test items included represent a broad spectrum of both subject matter and behavioral objectives. While some of the items may be suitable for use verbatim, others may require modification to adapt them to particular sit- uations. The ultimate aim is to encourage the development and use of better evaluation and testing instruments in biology. This volume is not intended to represent any "official" prescription of course content or to set any national patterns. The number of items in the various categories do not in any way reflect their relative weights or values in a biology course or curriculum. The fact that more items are included in some areas merely reflects the rapid increase in new content in these areas in recent years. Since a supply of items in some of the more traditional areas already exists, fewer of these items are included. CUEBS would welcome any comments, criticisms, or contributions of new test items. A large pool of good items, together with feedback information con- cerning the present items, will form the basis for possible revision of this volume in the future. If item analysis data on tests are obtained, CUEBS would appreciate receiving copies. A compendium of this sort represents the combined efforts of a number of people. Certainly the leadership and industry of the Panel itself must be rec- ognized. In addition, valuable ideas and guidance were offered at various stages by Garland E. Allen, Ted F. Andrews, Jeffrey J. W. Baker, Richard V. Bovbjerg, Frank M. Child, Earl D. Hanson, J. Thomas Hastings, Charles E. Holt III, Johns Hopkins III, Willis H. Johnson, Ray Koppelm.an, Ariel G. Loewy, Gairdner B. Moment, Thomas G. Overmire, and Alfred S. Sussman. The test items themselves were created by the individual Panel members and by Paul H. Barrett, Mary Alice Burmester, Kenneth F. Jerkins, Auley A. McAuley, Frederick C. Neidhardt, C. Francis Shutts, Roy E. Snyder, Bruce Stewart, and Joseph W. Vanable, Jr. To all these people, and to others who contributed so markedly to the formulation of this volume, CUEBS is indeed grateful; without the contributions of their various talents, this task could not have been completed. Martin W. Schein Director, CUEBS November, 1967 CONTENTS PAGE SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1 SECTION 2. ACHIEVEMENT TESTING PROCEDURES 2-1 Essay Examinations 2-1 Multiple-Choice Examinations 2-2 Interpretive Items 2-3 Reading Passages 2-3 Matching Examinations 2-4 Open-Book Examinations 2-5 SECTION 3. OTHER EVALUATION PROCEDURES 3-1 Laboratory Practical Examinations 3-1 Behavioral Rating Scales 3-1 SECTION 4. PREPARING AN ACHIEVEMENT EXAMINATION 4-1 SECTION 5. CATEGORIZATION AND CODING OF TEST ITEMS 5-1 Behavioral Objectives: z-1. Knowledge 5-1 Behavioral Objectives: z-2. Comprehension 5-2 Behavioral Objectives: z-3. Application 5-2 Behavioral Objectives: z-4. Analysis 5-2 Behavioral Objectives: z-5. Synthesis 5-3 Behavioral Objectives: z-6. Evaluation 5-3 SECTION 6. EXAMPLES: ENERGETICS AND METABOLISM 6-1 SECTION 7. EXAMPLES: FORM - FUNCTION 7-1 SECTION 8. EXAMPLES: BEHAVIOR 8-1 SECTION 9. EXAMPLES: GENETICS 9-1 SECTION 10. EXAMPLES: REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 10-1 SECTION 11. EXAMPLES: SYSTEMATICS 11-1 SECTION 12. EXAMPLES: EVOLUTION 12-1 SECTION 13. EXAMPLES: ORGANISM - ENVIRONMENT 13-1 SECTION 14. EXAMPLES: HISTORY - PHILOSOPHY - METHODOLOGY 14-1 SECTION 15. SELECTED REFERENCES 15-1 FIGURES 15-2 1/ Specifications Chart for a Biology Examination 4-1 2/ Test Item Reference Card 4-1 3/ Three-Dimensional Grid for Test Item Categorization 5-1 Page 0-5 SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION student behavior. Since these changes vary greatly in level of importance, it is essential to determine which changes Problems of evaluation are always with us. The person will be most significant and then plan to structure the course who first discovered fire probably critically clucked his offerings to induce these desirable changes. Concurrently, it tongue over the technique used by his pupils as they is also essential to consider how the extent of change will rubbed sticks together. In this case, the evaluation was be evaluated. The wider the range anticipated, the greater may personal and subjective. It is more difficult today, be the variety of evaluative procedures and techniques required. however. With the ever-burgeoning enrollments in our The most important goal of evaluation in the minds of institutions, where classes of 500 or more are becoming many students and instructors is that of grade determin- common, evaluation is a very different matter. Techniques ation. Examinations are the most common means of eval- possible in small classes become impractical in large uation.