ERIC Number: EJ1140794
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1305-905X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Analysis of Senior School Certificate Examination Chemistry Questions for Higher-Order Cognitive Skills
Upahi, Johnson Enero; Issa, Ganiyat Bukola; Oyelekan, Oloyede Solomon
Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, v10 n3 p218-227 2015
Assessment as classroom activities is a fundamental process required to determine the extent to which intended learning outcomes has been achieved. Whatever form of assessment is employed to measure students' learning, they should include tasks that are authentic, relevant and approximate skills students will need in real-life situations. These skills are well accentuated in the advocacy of the current reforms in science education to develop students' higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) through question-asking, critical thinking and problem solving. Therefore, this research analyzes chemistry questions of senior school certificate examination conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO) within the framework of Bloom's revised taxonomy of cognitive objectives. The source of data consisted of 257 questions drawn from 5 years examination, from 2010-2014. The results from this research indicated that about 80% and 44% of the questions require lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS) and factual knowledge respectively. The results further revealed that there was no question in the evaluate category of the HOCS, and none of the questions required students to apply metacognitive knowledge. The research concludes that the chemistry questions were not as cognitively demanding as they should be, and it is recommended that, examination should ensure that examination questions reflect the dual perspective of the Bloom's revised taxonomy of cognitive process skills and the knowledge dimensions.
Descriptors: Chemistry, Science Tests, Thinking Skills, Taxonomy, Foreign Countries, Exit Examinations, Secondary School Science, Difficulty Level, Test Items, Mixed Methods Research, Content Analysis
SciencePark Research, Organization & Counseling. P.O. Box 22912, Nicosa 1525, Cyprus. e-mail: editor.cjes@gmail.com; Web site: www.cjes.eu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Nigeria
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A