Questioning the validity of inquiry assessment in a high stakes Physical Sciences examination

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dc.contributor.authorRamnarain, Umesh
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-21T09:19:12Z
dc.date.available2016-07-21T09:19:12Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractThe South African science curriculum advocates an inquiry-based approach to practical work. Inquiry is a complex and multifaceted activity involving both cognitive and physical activity; thus, paper-and-pencil items do not provide the authentic context for this assessment. This study investigates the construct validity of inquiryrelated questions in three national Grade 12 Physical Sciences examinations. Clarity about what is being assessed and how well a test samples a construct are critical to validity. The analysis that was guided by Stobart’s conceptualisation of construct validity revealed that, to a large extent, inquiry-related questions exhibited threats to validity. The identified threats were categorised as contested validity, unclear validity and construct irrelevance. The findings of this study suggest that greater attention needs to be paid to the formulation of inquiry-related questions in written tests and examinations.en_ZA
dc.description.versionPublisher's versionen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationRamnarain, U. (2014). Questioning the validity of inquiry assessment in a high stakes Physical Sciences examination. Perspectives in Education: Standards in education and training: the challenge, 32(1), 179-191.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0258-2236 (print)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11660/3690
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherFaculty of Education, University of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.rights.holderFaculty of Education, University of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.subjectScience inquiryen_ZA
dc.subjectAssessmenten_ZA
dc.subjectValidityen_ZA
dc.subjectExaminationsen_ZA
dc.subjectGrade 12 examinationsen_ZA
dc.subjectStobart's conceptualisationen_ZA
dc.titleQuestioning the validity of inquiry assessment in a high stakes Physical Sciences examinationen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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PiE 2014 Volume 32 Issue 1