Abstract

Assessments are common in undergraduate classrooms, with formats including multiple-choice and open-ended (in which the students must generate their own answers) questions. While much is known about the strategies that students use when taking multiple-choice questions, there has yet to be a study evaluating the strategies that students employ during open-ended test questions. The current study used phenomenography and an open-ended online survey to solicit strategies from 416 students in an upper division reproductive physiology class across two quarters. Fifteen different categories of student strategy were categorized across four broad themes: formulating an answer, writing a response, time management, and question details. A detailed account of each of the 15 categories is presented along with an assessment of how each category is both unique and similar to other categories. The results of the current study could have important implications for teaching, as several of the strategies reported by students are likely not in line with those desired by course instructors.

摘要

评估在大学课堂上很普遍，其形式包括多项选择题和不限成员名额（学生必须在其中选择答案）。尽管人们对选择多项选择题时使用的策略知之甚少，但尚无一项评估学生在开放式测试题中采用的策略的研究。当前的研究使用现象学和不限成员名额的在线调查，从两个季度的上层生殖生理学班的416名学生中寻求策略。五个不同类别的学生策略分为四个主题：制定答案，撰写答案，时间安排和问题详细信息。介绍了15个类别中每个类别的详细说明，并评估了每个类别的独特性以及与其他类别的相似性。当前研究的结果可能会对教学产生重要影响，因为学生报告的几种策略可能与课程讲师所期望的策略不一致。