test. But there are less obvious formative ways to use multiple-choice
questions. If multiple-choice questions
are to serve a formative purpose, you
and your students should both be able
to use the experience of answering
these multiple-choice items, and participating in follow-up activities, to
bring about more learning.
Student-Response Systems
When using student-response systems,
teachers generally ask questions orally,
one question at a time, often followed by activities that probe student
thinking. Students make a choice and
often defend it to clarify, and perhaps
revise or extend, their thinking.
Student-response systems can be electronic (using “clickers” or free or low-cost Internet-based response systems)
or not (holding up ABCD cards or
using hand signals). The system is not
nearly as important as the quality of
the questions and how you use student
answers.
You might pose a multiple-choice
question that requires higher-order
thinking, like the example questions
already discussed. If most of the class
selects the right answer, you might use
follow-up questions: Why is the right
answer correct, and why are the other
answers wrong? If the class is divided,
you might form groups according to
students’ chosen answers and have
each group prepare a statement to
try to convince the rest of the class
of their point of view. Usually, this
method will result in students being
persuaded by the rationale for the
correct answer, with most of them able
to explain it in their own words.
Another option is to use a series
of questions that begin with a few
comprehension questions and then
move to questions that require stu-
dents to solve a problem or make an
inference. Finally, you would move
toward more open-ended problem
solving, writing, or discussion.
Open-Ended Explanations
or Extensions
In contrast to student-response
systems, which usually involve group
activities, multiple-choice questions
with open-ended explanations or
extensions are usually answered indi-
vidually, on paper or electronically.
These hybrid questions are in the
same family as all “solve the problem
and explain your thinking” questions.
The following questions, for example,
assess students’ understanding of the
Declaration of Independence and their
ability to apply that understanding:
Here is an excerpt from the Declaration
of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.—That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed . . .”
1. Which is the best summary of the
main idea about government in this
excerpt?
A. Government should make people
happy.
B. The government should let people
do whatever they want to do.
C. The main purpose of government
is to protect the rights of people.
[correct answer]
D. The government should not kill
people or put them in prison.
2. Explain your thinking. How did you
decide which statement was the best
summary of the main idea?
Asking students to explain their
thinking in this way gives them the
opportunity to analyze content information and practice metacognitive
skills.
Learning, Game-Show Style
A basic point underlying all these
methods is that selecting means
making a decision, and making a
decision means thinking. Writing
and speaking are the conventional
ways we assess student thinking, and
should remain so, but we shouldn’t be
too quick to dismiss multiple-choice
questions.
What we must do is get better at
writing multiple-choice questions that
require students to think deeply. This
is difficult, I admit, but once you learn
to write multiple-choice questions that
tap higher-order thinking, you can use
them in all kinds of fun ways that
seem more like a game show than a
test. And students will enjoy it. EL
Susan M. Brookhart (susanbrookhart@
bresnan.net) is an independent education consultant based in Helena,
Montana. Her most recent books are
How to Design Questions and Tasks to
Assess Student Thinking (ASCD, 2014),
which includes additional strategies for
creating and using multiple-choice questions, and Grading and Group Work: How
Do I Assess Individual Learning When
Students Work Together? (ASCD, 2013).
When 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.
