A Study On Theory And Technology Of Development For Open-Ended Test Items

Standardized Test (ST) has gone through a long period more than one century, with traditional closed learning activities and test items in a dominant status. On the other hand, Open-Ended Activity (OEA), which appeared as a makeup for ST, came from Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in medicine. OEA aims at creative thinking and open-ended thinking, cooperation ability and communication skill, problem-solving ability in authentic context and otherwise. It is a kind of task-oriented practical learning activity. And Open-Ended Problem (OEP), or Open-Ended Item (OEI), is the transforming format of OEA in Academic Achievement Test (AAT). Both two are essentially same.This article includes six parts, aiming at theory basis, item writing technology, and scoring standard of OEP.Arising in the de-standardization context, OEP came to be more vigorous. Based on clarifying the basic concepts of OEP, the first part, Overview of OEP, discusses problems in OEP research, and brings forward a research blueprint.Part two, Basis of Learning Theory for OEP. Cognitivist and constructivist have different ideas on how learning happens depending on different understanding of KNOWLEDGE. This part focuses on the learning theory in pedagogy and psychology, especially on ill-structured problem solving, which refers to OEP. We want to discover the foundational theory of OEP.Part three, Basis of Measurement and Evaluation Theory for OEP. Educational measurement and evaluation has covered four different eras, from Measurement to Description, then from Judgement to Construction. The Fourth Evaluation, characteristic of response, construction, consultation, is an open-ended evaluation in essential. It focuses on complex cognitive skill and scientific literacy, and pays more attention to fair, equity, multiple culture and values in education assessment. All of these are included in OEP.Part four, Common Affair in OEP Writing. At first, we analysis current station of test item generation technology, and try to find some efficient methods to realize Specialization in the Development of Test Items. Then, we discuss essential factors, principles and procedure in the development of OEP. At last, we touch the most important factor, test item quality, and try to provide several methods for item quality control.After discussing the common affairs in test item generation, in Part Five, we...