Prior Rating Of Algebra Word Problem Difficulty Based On Guilford’s Structure Of Intellect

Most researches ignore the cognitive processing of problem solution, and only consider the task features of problems, thus could not tell the real sources of item difficulty. Lee (2010) established a prior rating frame and procedure of item solution difficulty based on Guilford’s structure of intellect. The prior assessment frame consist five Indices:number of elements that should be used in problem-solving, number of principles that should be used in problem-solving, the difficulty of identifying the elements, the difficulty of identifying the principles, and the demand for cognitive operation. Within the five Indices, the difficulty of identifying the elements and principle and the demand for cognitive operation are based on the dimension of the product and operation in Guilford’s structure of intellect, respectively. The difficulty of element or principle identification is rated according to the level of a product (units, classes, relations, systems, transformations, and implications) involved. The demand of cognitive operation is rated according to the level of an operation (cognition, memory, divergent production, convergent production, and evaluation) required.After removing all subjective sub-Indices of old prior rating frame, this study redefined the dimension of the product and operation based on the features of algebra word problems. Rating of the solution difficulty was obtained independently by two raters for the406algebra word problem items from the textbooks in Shanghai (in Chinese). Results showed that the solution difficulty correlated moderately with the solution time (r=0.719, df=60,p<.001), this is because solution difficulty removed all non-problem effects on problem difficulty, such as the difficulty of learning the specific knowledge necessary for problem solving and the amount of experience with regard to the specific problem that an examinee possesses. The results suggest that the reliability and validity of the redefined prior rating frame and procedure of item solution difficulty based on Guilford’s structure of intellect is favorable. The redefined rating frame can reflect the deep difference of item structure very well, thus can tell the source of solution difficulty and analyze it qualitatively.