A Comparison Of Education Value Of Test Items

China has a long history of examination, and the exam is still influential nowadays which affects a lot of people’s life, but the examination assessment is behindhand. Examination assessment has been the focus of education all the time. In fact, evaluation system of test items is the basis of the examination assessment, how to evaluate test items effectively and scientifically has become difficulty and key point in education.Currently, people mainly evaluate test items in two aspects of quantitative and qualitative. In terms of quantitative, they usually based on students’ test results, to collect data, to use Classical Test Theory (CTT), Item Response Theory (IRT) et al. theoretical model to analyze a variety of parameters in test items. In terms of qualitative, they usually based on the test items of situation to analyze the knowledge, abilities, and student answers which were inspected in test items.However, both the quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis treat test items as a measuring tool. In the test items, People set up different situations to measure students’ mastery of knowledge and their ability to learn, then to distinguish different levels of students.The measurement function of test items has been considered as the core of educational value in test items. However, while the test items take charge of the measurement function, they are educational materials which exposed to students in the educational life. It means that, situation of test items not only provides corresponding background support to the test items measuring, but also contains a huge amount of information. In addition to the measurement function of test items, it should have other educational value. What kind of educational value do test items have? What means does the educational value of the test items reflected by? And how does the educational value reflect? These issues remain to be further explored.Firstly, we respectively select two test items about "explaining phenomena scientifically" as the analysis object from TIMSS2011, PISA2006, SAAE2009sample test items. Try to specifically analyze test items from the situations, question settings, test structures and reactions to test items when students face them. By analyzing the test items on three items, we found that: about the situation of test items, the three projects all come from daily life or in closely contact with living. The context of TIMSS and SAAE is in relatively close contact to the test items question, and is mainly belonging to the "real situation" of natural setting; The context of PISA is in little contact to the test item questions, and is mainly belonging to "background situation." In the structure of test items, TIMSS and SAAE are similar, but PISA adopts unit as the items organizational forms. In the educational value of test items, these three items all reflect their measuring functions, but every project has its particular emphasis on educational value. It seems that TIMSS focused primarily on measurement function of test items, PISA focused primarily on science communication of test items, SAAE focused primarily on improving scientific inquiry skills.By concrete analysis of the test items, we can conclude as follows:educational value in test items not only contains measuring function of students’knowledge and ability, but also includes science communication of test items and its improvement on students’scientific inquiry ability. The educational value of the test items reflected mainly through situation of test items.Then, this paper takes a comparative analysis on science communication and the ability to scientific inquiry of test items about its educational value. Under different situations, the educational value of test items is different, which is manifested follows:Test items which is organized by units, it more easily reflect the value of education in science communication. Situations of test items select multidisciplinary situation which the students easier encounter in life or the life of future. Situations also contain a large amount of information, in which the integration of scientific information questions. It is easy to received scientific information from the tests when students face them. However, too much information can also affect students’ intervention on the comprehension questions.Test items which designed by the background of inquiry process are better to reflect the value of education in improving the students’ scientific inquiry capabilities. These test items have a higher degree of openness in the choice of situations. It not only can choose single-discipline situations but also can choose multidisciplinary situations. The situation of these test items need appropriate "processing" and use of experiments to collect appropriate data. It is better to help students "experience" the process of inquiry and improve the ability aspects of scientific inquiry, but because the question is not clear, it also can cause pan-dimensional measurements of test items.