Educational Leadership - September 2015

Three particularly useful strategies for designing multiple-choice questions involve a “context-dependent item,” that is, a question that is accompanied by a visual or written “context” that gives students something to think about. Because students have the material in front of them, their mental energy can be devoted to thinking about that material, not striving to retrieve it from memory.

Interpreting a Visual

When we give students a map, chart, photo, or other visual and ask a question that requires them to interpret it, we enable students to demonstrate that they can apply content knowledge and interpretive skills. Most students are familiar with this type of question, which has been in use for a long time.

It is sometimes possible to extend the level of thinking and design an item that requires analysis or evaluation. For example, this series of questions requires students to interpret a bar graph showing growth trends for fertilized and unfertilized plants (fig. 1, p. 38) at different cognitive levels:

1. What is the independent variable in this experiment?

A. Height of plants in cm B. Time of measurement in weeks C. Use of fertilizer [correct answer] D. Amount of grass seed

2. The results in the graph support all of the fol-
lowing conclusions EXCEPT
A. Rye grass grows taller with fertilizer than
without fertilizer.

B. Rye grass has to have fertilizer to grow.
[correct answer]
C. Rye grass grows at a steady rate whether it
is fertilized or not.

D. Rye grass grows faster with fertilizer than without.

3. What would be the most appropriate experiment for Maria and Jorge to do next to find out more about the effects of fertilizer on rye grass?

A. Vary the amounts of fertilizer (high,
medium, low) to see whether there is an optimal
amount. [correct answer]
B. Vary the amount of water to see if water
makes fertilizer work better.

C. Vary the amount of sunlight to see whether sunlight makes fertilizer work better.

D. Vary the kind of plant to see whether other plants besides rye grass do better with fertilizer.

Question 1 is about interpreting the graphs: Do students understand what the graph is saying? Question 2 is about drawing a conclusion from the data in the graph: Can students practice inductive scientific reasoning? Question 3 is about using the results of one experiment to plan a follow-up experiment.

Whether these questions are the right questions to ask depends on what you want your students to know and what you want to assess. The effectiveness of multiple-choice questions—or any kind of questions—depends on their relationship to what students are trying to learn.

Interpreting a Text, Story, or Scenario Reading tests have used passage-dependent multiple-choice questions for a long time. You can use the same format to assess application, analysis, or evaluation skills in any content area by creating a story or scenario related to the content, akin to “word problems” in mathematics. You can use an actual text or write a scenario of your own.

For example, if your class is studying the
Bill of Rights, you might write a little story
illustrating the use of free speech and then
ask a question that requires an inference. The
following question asks students to make an
inference about a speaker’s rhetorical intent:
Jefferson Davis made a speech to the Confed-
erate Congress in April 29, 1861. This excerpt
comes after Davis has reviewed several different
ways in which the North had promoted its own
economic, social, and political interests at the
expense of the South and has reviewed the prin-
ciple of state sovereignty regarding anything not
explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution: