Education and demonstration – Question or problem eliciting response – Correctness of response indicated to examine by...
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-04
2001-04-03
Harrison, Jessica J. (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Question or problem eliciting response
Correctness of response indicated to examine by...
C434S358000, C434S348000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210171
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to educational testing systems, and more particularly to a multiple choice testing system and method providing immediate feedback as to the correctness of an answer choice, thereby facilitating learning and improving retention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Research has shown that feedback in the form of knowledge of test results is highly beneficial for learning, with the maximum benefit accruing when the time delay between the production of the results and the feedback is minimal. Still, many examiners administer multiple-choice examinations with answer forms on which examinees typically darken one space (labeled A, B, C or D) in a row of spaces for each of a number of questions to indicate their preferred responses to the questions. This typical answer form is unable to inform the examinee whether or not a response was correct or incorrect at the time the response is made. At a later time, examinees' answer forms may be returned with indices noting the correct responses. However, unless examinees have perfect recall of the test questions, and the order in which they appeared on the examination, the typical answer forms do not provide examinees with knowledge of the particular questions they responded to correctly and those that they did not.
Learning results in a relatively permanent change in behavior or mental associations as a function of experience with feedback. Research has shown that delaying informative feedback about the correctness of one's responses for as little as 12 seconds in a problem-solving task may significantly reduce the ease of learning and also decrease overall retention. It is clear that an answer form that would provide immediate informative feedback for the correctness of an examinees' responses would facilitate learning and improve retention.
An optimal examination procedure would be one that would include an answer form that would assess what the examinee knows as well as immediately provide feedback about incorrect responses while teaching the correct ones. Such an answer form would be a more efficient use of time and a significant improvement over the current methodology. The immediate feedback answer form would teach new knowledge at the same time it assesses current knowledge. Currently used multiple-choice forms do not provide corrective feedback to the examinee at the time of responding. Therefore, an opportunity to teach the correct response to a problem is lost. In addition, if later questions on an examination relate to information from earlier questions, an examinee who incorrectly answers a question on the current answer forms, where there is no corrective feedback, is more likely to miss the later ones. That is, an examinee's responses on a typical multiple-choice answer form may misgauge his level of understanding and his ability to profit from timely instruction.
An advantage of current multiple-choice answer forms is their ability to be scored automatically by a scanning device that is sensitive to the darkened option in a row of options for each question, for example. The “correct” option is the space on the answer form (labeled A, B, C or D, etc.) that corresponds to a similarly labeled answer option on the test form. If an incorrect answer option is darkened on the answer form, or if more than one space in a given row of options is darkened, the scanning machine automatically records the examinee's response as incorrect for that particular question. The total number of correctly marked answer options is typically recorded by the scoring machine and printed on the test form. The ease of assessing test results of large numbers of examinees has made the use of scannable, multiple-choice answer forms extremely popular.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a test-scoring method and apparatus that can be applied to multiple choice tests, that provides immediate feedback as to the correctness of each answer choice to the examinee, and that provides means for calculating and scoring partial credit based on the number of incorrect choices the examinee made before choosing the correct answer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide a test answer form for multiple-choice examinations that can be administered to a large number of examinees to assess their knowledge of examination questions while at the same time teaching them the answers to the questions that they initially answered incorrectly.
Another object of the invention is to provide an immediate feedback multiple-choice examination form designed to confirm to an examinee his/her correct responses and incorrect responses.
Another object of the invention is to enable a test examiner to allocate partial credit for a correct response to a question that was made subsequent to a previous incorrect response or responses to that question on a multiple-choice answer form for one embodiment of the invention.
Another object of the invention is to maximize multiple-choice examination security.
A further object of the invention is to provide a feedback form useful for scoring games and contests, providing entertainment, and providing programmed learning via an immediate feedback scoring system with a partial credit option.
In one embodiment of the invention, with the problems of the prior art in mind, various of the objects of the invention are provided by a unique answer form having a varying number of rows and columns, depending upon the particular application. The numbered rows corresponding to the number of questions on the examination, and the columns corresponding to the answer options (A, B, C, D etc.) to each of the test questions. Each answer option of the test form is covered with an opaque covering capable of being rubbed off by the examinee. The correct response to a question is immediately discernible by an exposed indicator under one of the response options in a row of options, while an incorrect response is indicated by a blank space in that row. Consequently, the form indicates to the examinee immediately whether his response is correct or incorrect. If incorrect, the examinee selects a second preferred alternative and rubs or lifts the coating off of that choice on the answer form. The examinee continues in a like manner until a correct response is indicated. The examiner can determine if the examinee responded correctly on the first, second or later attempts by the number of answer spaces exposed.
In another embodiment of the invention, the security related objects of the invention are met by creating more than one version of the answer form, each with a different predetermined pattern of indicators for marking correct answers in the answer spaces under the opaque covering.
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Epstein Beth B.
Epstein Michael L.
Harrison Jessica J.
Watov Kenneth
Watov & Kipnes P.C.
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