Final Exams RCEF Style: Part 1
July 22nd, 2009 |
| Diane Geng | No comments.
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This post was written by RCEF Monitoring and Evaluation Summer Intern Shang Xinyuan, a master’s student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Education.
At the end of June before the government’s final exams, RCEF administered special tests aimed at evaluating students’ skills in critical thinking, communications, and creativity. To prepare for traditional tests, the best method is to memorize the textbook as fluently as possible. By contrast, RCEF wants to free students’ natural intelligence and exercise their independent thinking abilities. Each grade took two tests—one for “humanities” (language arts and social sciences) and another for math and science. They were designed by Executive Director of Programs Sara Lam, Math Teaching Coach Steven Liu, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist Zhao Junfang, and University of Pennsylvania master’s student Shang Xinyuan.
The test design group focused on evaluating three main things: problem solving abilities, communication skills, and creativity. The first part of the third grade humanities test asked students to describe what foreign country they knew the most about since they had learned about different countries in social studies class. The second part of the test asked students: “Recently, Puzhou Township (where Guan Ai is located) wants to attract more tourists to develop the economy. They want to put on a big performance. If you were the mayor of Puzhou, would you choose the Russian Ballet or the local opera? Please give two reasons for your choice.” We also asked students to describe how they would go about organizing the event. We wanted to investigate students’ attitudes towards their own rich local culture compared to the foreign things they see on television or in their textbooks.
There were many outstanding responses. For example, third grade girl Ren Chenru wrote: “I know the most about Holland. Dutch people are very tall. Their county is small. Even stranger is that their winters and our winters are different. Here it snows flurries but there it rains. Their people really like to play football. If the team is from their country they’ll paint their country’s flag on their faces so that everyone knows what country they are from.”
In answer to the second question, student Zhang Di wrote, “I’d choose the Russian ballet to put on a dance because to us, ballet is very new and fresh. Why? Our township has never seen ballet before so I choose ballet. Also, this can attract a lot of tourists. They’ve never seen this kind of dance before nor have they seen the beautiful ballet clothes. They can also meet a lot of new people.”
Student Yang Qidi was able to compare the two choices in justifying his answer: “I would choose the ballet because there are many different kinds of dances. Puzhou opera singers paint their faces and I can’t understand what they’re saying. Ballet music sounds good.”
The first test question for the fifth grade humanities test was related to the Three Gorges Dam. Their Social Studies textbook had only introduced the benefits of the dam and did not mention its negative consequences. We wanted students to know that every issue has different sides. Thus, we asked them to take the perspective of an ordinary villager living near the dam and give an opinion about whether or not the dam should have been constructed. The students’ answers showed that they were able to take information and apply it to a specific problem while also adding their own opinion. For example, one boy named Yang Qi wrote, “I agree with building the Dam because without it, people would suffer from floods, shortage of electricity, and inconvenient shipping routes. It doesn’t contribute to air pollution and moving to a new place brings people good things. The Dam has helped a lot.” He received a full two points for being able to analyze the question from the point of view of a villager and four out of a possible eight points for being able to back up his position with facts. Another student, Wu Lize, wrote, “I don’t agree with building the Three Gorges Dam. Although the dam can reduce flooding, produce electricity, and help with transportation, it will also drown many villages and cause some tiny animals to go extinct. Every year, the dam will also wash off 10-15 tons of soil.” He received the full two points for choosing a side and received six points (two more than Yang Qi) for backing up his position while also acknowledging the arguments of the other side.
Admittedly, there were many students who were not used to these kinds of tests. Third and fourth grade students had great difficulty with the critical thinking and justification problems. In fifth and sixth grades, students faced the most difficulty in the writing and oral communication problems. Another common problem was a lack of creativity. We still have a long way and will continue to improve this process next semester.
Creative Tests for Creative Students
