Unlocking Instructors’ Assessment Insights: General Chemistry Instructors’ Perspectives on Types of Questions and their Classroom Application

Abstract

Assessment communicates to students the takeaways from a course. Unfortunately, studies have demonstrated that assessment in general chemistry courses typically includes lower-cognitive demand questioning, such as recalling information and calculation-based questions. To support chemistry instructors' inclusion of higher-cognitive demand questions, chemistry education researchers have developed research-based assessment tools (e.g., Three-Dimensional Learning -3DL - and concept inventory). However, previous reports have highlighted a low uptake of these tools. To explore the reasons behind this slow adoption, instructors' thinking about these types of assessment tools should be probed. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 general chemistry instructors to explore whether and how instructors would use four different types of multiple-choice questions, including a standard conceptual question, a calculation-based question, a 3DL question, and a concept inventory-type question in their courses' exam/midterm, homework, and/or in-class activity. Instructors in this study were interested in using the research-based assessment tools in at least one assessment context (i.e., home, in-class, or exam). The most common modification described by the instructors across the four types of questions was shifting the format from close to open-ended as it allows instructors to better understand student thinking and can promote better conversations among students in class settings. Finally, the analysis of interviews shows variations in instructors' expectations for the cognitive demand of questions on exams. Taken together, these findings suggest a need to further probe instructors' assessment literacy to inform the development of professional development programs and policies that would support higher-quality assessment in general chemistry courses.