Chapter 7 Formats for Problems; Multiple Choice

Problems for written tests can be posed in many different formats. The choice that is made depends on the purpose of the test e.g. a simple quiz to be given at the start of a new subject, or an end-of-the-unit test. Moreover, the choice depends on the level of the question. question assessing basic s!ills in general will have a different format than a question that requires mathematical reasoning or choosing your own mathematical tools. "hy do you need different formats for problems in a balanced assessment program# $ome reasons are% a. &t is simply not possible to operationalize all the goals of mathematics education if we would restrain ourselves by using for e'ample only multiple choice or single answer questions( b. $ome formats for problems will favor one group of students whereas another format appeals to another group( c. teacher wants to ensure that in the course of one school year students have e'perienced a variety of formats for problems so they can show their competencies in different ways. )or e'ample, at one time they might need to demonstrate that they are able to reproduce the properties of a rhombus( whereas, at another time you may want them to investigate the least possible number of popular votes required to become president of the *nited $tates+ )irst we will give an overview of the different formats for questions. These will then be elaborated upon in this and the ne't chapters. ,ote% The words -problem. and -question. and -tas!. are often mi'ed up. problem can consist of more than one question. tas! is referred to as something you are doing for homewor! or as a group wor! assignment. tas! may also consist of more than one problem.

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1. Multiple choice questions /ften multiple choice questions are called -closed questions. since students can only choose one answer and cannot give reasons or calculations to show their answer is correct. There cannot be a partly correct answer. 2. Single answer or short answer questions. $ingle answer questions have only one correct answer. They are sometimes called -closed open.. )or short answer questions students have to show their calculations. Their answer may be partly correct, for e'ample, because they did not round off properly or forgot to mention appropriate units.

3. ther open questions The correct answer could still be just a number or a formula, but the activities necessary to find the answer are more complicated or involve higher-order strategies compared to single answer questions. 0owever, the distinction between different types of open questions is an arbitrary one. !. "#ten$e$%response open problems $tudents will have to give mathematical reasons to support their answer in a more elaborated way. /ften the process is more important than the product. Many times it will be necessary to ma!e a mathematical model of the situation first, and afterwards interpret and justify the results according to the original realistic situation. &. Multiple question items 'super items( These are tas!s that enable the students to get involved with a conte't by as!ing a series of questions of increasing comple'ity and level of competence. The first question is often referred to as an 1entry-question2, a simple level & question to e'plore the situation. The ne't questions are more difficult, preferably as well, on 3evels 4, 5 and 6. ). *n+estigations, essa-s This type of question is mainly used to assess higher order levels of competency. $tudents are as!ed to investigate, to draw conclusions or give proof, to reason mathematically about their findings or to use and criticize mathematical models. 7. .wo%stage tas/ two-stage tas! may appear in different forms. The previous type of doing your own investigation, may be divided in two parts. The first part consists of questions 7open or closed8 about the problem, on different levels of competency. The results are assessed by the teacher and the student gets feed bac!. This way the teacher ma!es sure all students !now what is e'pected from them and have showed whether they master the basic s!ills needed to perform the investigation. Moreover, it is possible to prevent students from ta!ing wrong 7side8 paths that do not lead to a correct answer or that do not assess what was meant to be assessed. Then the ne't part is done without a time limit and this part should complement the mathematical competencies that were missed in the first stage. 0. wn pro$uctions $tudents produce and solve their own problems. 9y doing this, it is possible for them to demonstrate a much higher level of thin!ing than the teacher e'pected. Moreover, by using this type of tas!, the teacher sometimes finds misconceptions that do not show when students answer the teacher2s question instead of their own. The different formats will now be discussed in further detail. The order in which the different formats for questions, problems and tas!s are shown does not mean this is an order from -bad. formats to -good. formats. &t largely depends on the purpose of the test in which they appear and the mathematical s!ills a teacher wants to assess by using them. nd, of course, sometimes there is not even a choice to be made. The test is compulsory.

Multiple choice questions ,ot !nowing how a student found the answer is characteristic for multiple choice problems. The only advantage of using multiple choice questions is the speed with which you can score them. The only reason to provide students with practice answering multiple choice questions may be that you find them in compulsory tests li!e standardized tests. $tudents do need practice in answering multiple choice questions. :ven reading them properly and finding out what e'actly is as!ed can cause difficulties. &f you really want to !now what !ind of information you are missing about your students abilities, while using the multiple choice format, you might do a small e'periment. s! the students not only to write down the correct answer to the problem but also show all their calculations and their reasoning. ;ou almost certainly will find, as we did% - students who did all the calculations right but in the end too! the wrong letter( - students who got the right letter, but with a totally wrong e'planation as the following e'ample shows. 4 The radius of a cylinder is 1 centimeter. The height is 2 centimeters. A rectangle can be formed into this cylinder. Find the length of the rectangle. The length of the rectangle is: A 2 cm nswer% ge% 46, 4< 3evel% 4 =ontent% space and shapes, 6> ,o conte't ,athan% nswer % diameter of the cylinder is 5 ' radius and because a cylinder is round you need to add , so the answer is 5. ?ohn% nswer . & did this% area is radius ' radius x 4 ' 4 @ 5, so the answer is 5. 9abette% nswer % ;ou find area by calculating radius ' radius x which ma!es 4, and then ' 5 for the height, 5. =omplete nonsense, indeed. 9ut they got the right answer+ This e'ample also shows that over-reliance on multiple choice questions creates the illusion that students !now more than they really do. *se of simple probability predicts that just by guessing a lot of students will demonstrate they -!now. the correct answer. Moreover, the e'posure of possible answers guides students towards possible solution strategies whereas if the problem was presented without solutions students may not seem so clever+ B 4 cm C 2 cm D 22 cm

;ou will also find students who just guessed, because they really thin! that is the proper way you solve a multiple choice problem, or students who solved the problem right but in quite a different way than was e'pected, for e'ample by filling in all the answers in the equation instead of solving the equation. Multiple choice questions create the illusion that students2 incorrect answers mean they understand little or nothing about the content addressed. "hen, in fact, students may !now quite a bit but have been distracted or just made a small computational error. =alculating 6 ' 6 @ A instead of B is a popular one. 9ut all incorrect answers are counted the same, a teacher gets no information whatsoever about the thought processes involved. $ome students solve the problem in a different way than was e'pected because they use their daily life e'perience. $ometimes the designers of the problem obviously do not share this e'perience. &n solving the ne't problem, some students used their shopping e'perience. 5 !hich bottle of cleanser should a "erson buy to get the best #uality for the least amount of money$

A B C D

regular si%e 1 #t 2&' family si%e ( gal. )*' giant economy si%e 1 gal. +,' all cost the same "er #uart nswer% =

ge% 46, 4< 3evel% 4 =ontent% ,umber =onte't is relevant, situation% daily life 0edy% The answer is =, because the largest size is always the best buy. That is a perfect reason. ny house!eeper will confirm that. 9ut this is the reasoning the designers of the problem e'pected the student to do%

There are < quarts in a gallon or 5 quarts in a half-gallon, so the family size bottle at 6C' costs 6C' % 5 @ 4B' per quart. The giant economy size bottle costs AD' % < @ 4E' per quart. Therefore the giant economy size bottle is the buy that gets a person the greatest amount for the least money. lot of wor! for the same result+ *sing common sense instead of difficult calculations is an attitude we li!e to see in students. &t often proves to be an effective method as the ne't e'ample shows. 6 The difference bet-een one.half of a number and one.fifth of it is &+1. The number is: A B C D 0 1+* 2*,& 1*/, &+1, 1*/ nswer% = ge% 46, 4< 3evel% 4 =ontent% ,umber ,o conte't 9arry wrote% The answers and : are far too small and > is too big. 0alf of the number 5CDE 798 is not a whole number so the correct answer is =. $ometimes the easiest way to find the correct letter, is to loo! at the answers instead of the problem. That is not the way the problem should be solved but as stated before, by using this format for a question, students are encourage to find all !ind of ways to answer it in a simple way that the designers did not really mean to. &n that case it is not certain whether you assessed students2 -test-wiseness. or their understanding of mathematics. teacher gave us the ne't problem and he told us% -Teaching how to tac!le multiple choice problems ta!es a lot of my time because & want my students to do really well on the test and it ta!es a specific way of thin!ing to do those problems well. $o & tell them to loo! at the answers and try to wor! 1bac!wards2. &f you do so, always start with >, because they want you to try all of them. $o be smart, most of the time it is = or >+ ;es, of course this is 1teaching to the test2, but it wasn2t me who chose these tests+.

< !hat "ercent of )+ is 2/$ A )+1 nswer% > Merel% 5F is over one-half of 6A, so and 9 are not the right answers. $o it is = or >. = is a difficult one, so & choose >. FEG equals H. /ne fourth of 6A is B and 6 ' B is 5F. Iot it+ $ometimes the question itself is not correct. The ne't problem is mathematically wrong+ 9ut even so, students are e'pected to find the right answer. & 3f a 4 1 5 ) and a 6 1 5 / then a2 4 1,a 5 A . 24 B ) C / D 21 0 24 nswer% ## Iood multiple choice problems are difficult to design. There are occasions where multiple choice problems are a good format to use, as the ne't question shows. Posing this one as an 1open2 question, may result in many halfway correct answers, or answers that are difficult to understand. )or this problem, we used the, sometimes cryptic student answers for the 1wrong2 alternatives. A The t7 chart for the -eather forecast sho-s: B &,1 C ++21 D /&1

!hat does a "robability of ),1 that it -ill be raining tomorro- mean$

A B C D

),1 of 12 hours is about )( hours so -e -ill ha7e )( hours of rain tomorro-. ),1 is less than ( so -e -ill ha7e rain tomorro- for less than half the day. ),1 is less than &,1 so more li8ely than not -e -ill ha7e a dry day tomorro-. 9ou cannot tell because the -eather forecast is often -rong. nswer% =

ge% 46, 4< 3evel% 4 =ontent% statistics, information processing and chance =onte't is relevant, situation% daily life Summing up our fin$ings in this chapter1 1. Multiple choice problems $o not gi+e -ou insight in the wa- stu$ents fin$ their answers 2. Multiple choice questions are foun$ in stan$ar$i2e$ tests, so we cannot a+oi$ them. 3. *n answering multiple choice questions it pro+es useful to use 3common sense4. !. Multiple choice questions can be answere$ correctl- b- using wrong reasons without it being notice$. &. 5oo$ multiple choice questions are har$ to $esign. ). Multiple choice questions ma- be answere$ incorrectl- $ue to minor computational errors.