The aim of this study was to compare the effects of two types of study assignment on the achievements of high school students on three types of biology examination. One examination consisted of objective questions, a second of subjective questions of the short essay type, while the third was a combination of objective and subjective questions. One type of assignment consisted of questions of the objective type, the other of questions of the short essay type. Of related interest were the possible effects of a high percentage of objective examination questions, on the use by teachers of essay assignments. An experiment of the matched parallel groups type was carried out. The experimental variable was the type of study assignment given, consisting of either objective or short essay questions. The duration of the experiment was six weeks, the academic subject field was biology, the groups received similar teaching, and comparisons were made on the results of specially constructed tests administered before and after the teaching period. Each test consisted of an objective examination and an essay examination. The mean gains of the two groups on each type of examination were compared. Results on what could be considered a mixed examination were obtained by combining the results of the objective and essay examinations. The objective and essay parts were weighted in such a way that the mixed examination could be considered to resemble the type of examination in biology set by the British Columbia Department of Education. A final comparison was made between students’ results on the experimental tests and on the actual departmental examination. Attempts were made to establish the validity and reliability of the objective test but it was not possible to establish any particular degree of validity or reliability for the essay test. After statistical treatment, it was found that there was no significant difference at the five percent level between the results of the groups on any of the three experimental tests. Some difficulty was experienced in comparing the results of the experimental tests with those of the departmental examination. This was due to the system of recommendation which does not require the top-sixty percent to write the departmental examination, making it impossible to obtain a representative sample for comparison in this study. Certain conclusions were drawn subject to the limitations of the tests and of the general, experimental conditions. Comparing the use of objective and essay study assignments: (1) there seemed to be no difference in the effect on the results on an objective test. Teachers and their students might feel free to use either type of study assignment in biology, (2) nothing in the study indicated any difference in the effect on an essay test, (3) nothing in the study indicated any difference in the effect on a combined objective-essay test of the type used by the Department of Education, nothing in the study indicated that the use of one type of study assignment rather than the other would hamper a student's chances of success on a biology examination of the type set by the Department of Education. In summary it may be said that the type of examination in biology set by the British Columbia Department of Education did not appear to place any restriction on the type of study assignment used in high schools, provided that the assignments were comprehensive in their cover of the material under study. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

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This dissertation describes the development of an instrument to assess students' attitudes toward science. The rationale for developing a new instrument is presented in the context of a review of existing instruments. As discussed in the literature review, many existing instruments are based on ill-defined theoretical constructs, and include statements that do not appear to be assessing the single construct of attitude toward science. In addition, existing instruments do not distinguish between biological and physical science. Thus, the purpose of this study was to carefully define the construct, attitude toward science, and develop an attitude instrument to reflect that construct and to distinguish between biological and physical science. For this study, biological science was defined as any of the branches of science dealing with living things, such as genetics, entomology, or anatomy. Physical science was defined as any of the branches of science dealing with non-living things, such as physics, geology, chemistry, or earth science. Once the Likert-scale instrument was developed, it was piloted on a sample population of students in science classes at a suburban, southwestern high school. Their responses were used to do item analyses and to calculate validity and reliability. Principal-component analysis was also performed to try to identify sub-scales. The results of the data analysis were used to select items for a final scale. The final instrument consists of two parallel forms of 20 items each. For each form, 12 items refer to science in general, four to biological science, and four to physical science. The test-retest reliability coefficients of the final instruments are 0.768 for Form A and 0.788 for Form B. The parallel-forms reliability coefficient of the instrument is 0.93. The construct validity coefficients of the final instruments, compared to Germann's Attitude Toward Science in School Assessment, is 0.82 for Form A and 0.85 for Form B. Inter-item consistency, measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, is 0.91 for Form A and 0.89 for Form B.

Hoër onderwys in SA ondergaan tans ingrypende veranderinge. Groter toeganklikheid, veranderinge in die demografiese profiel van leerders en diversiteit asook die samesmeltings tussen verskeie hoër onderwysinstellings het die landskap van hoër onderwys beïnvloed. Die proses van transformasie en die gepaardgaande paradigmaskuif na uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys hou verskeie implikasies vir die assessering van leer in. Die doel van die studie is om ‘n assesseringsraamwerk vir die vakgebied Menslike Hulpbronbestuur aan universiteite van tegnologie (voorheen technikons) wat kontakonderrig verskaf, te ontwikkel. Met hierdie doel voor oë, is ‘n omvattende literatuurstudie oor assessering gedoen. Dit het gedien as ‘n teoretiese grondslag vir die assesseringsraamwerk. ‘n Kwalitatiewe benadering tot die studie is gevolg. Fokusgroeponderhoude met die leerders en dosente aan verskillende universiteite van tegnologie is gevoer. Dit is opgevolg met individuele onderhoude met die departementshoofde en beleidsmakers (dekane en vise-rektore). Deelnemers in die industrie wat direk werk met die leerders gedurende hulle tydperk van ervaringsleer as deel van koöperatiewe onderwys in die werkomgewing, is ook genader. Temas oor die verskillende datastelle is ontwikkel waaruit verskeie implikasies en bevindinge na vore getree het en geïnterpreteer is. Van die vernaamste bevindinge dui op die strategiese en oppervlakkige leerbenadering van die leerders; oorbeklemtoning van praktiese bevoegdheid ten koste van toegepaste bevoegdheid asook die onderbeklemtoning van kontinue assessering en die onderbeklemtoning van formatiewe assesseringsmetodes. Groot klasse lei daartoe dat die dosente en departementshoofde assesseringsmetodes kies wat maklik toegepas kan word en wat in die verlede sukses getoon het. Wanneer groepassessering toegepas word, verkies die dosente dit dat die leerders die punte toeken. ‘n Gebrek aan assesseringskriteria lei tot onsekerheid oor wat gedoen moet word in take en in die industrie tydens ervaringsleer. Volgens die data is die industrie ten gunste van betrokkenheid by die assessering van ervaringsleer. Hulle benodig uitkomsgebaseerde riglyne vir die assessering daarvan. Na die eksplisitering en integrasie van al die datastelle, is die assesseringsraamwerk vir Menslike Hulpbronbestuur ontwikkel. Dit sluit ‘n doel en omvang, rasionaal, begripsverklaring, rigtinggewende beginsels en die praktiese implementering daarvan en aanbevelings of voorvereistes waaronder die raamwerk geïmplementeer kan word, in. Die raamwerk gee erkenning aan toegepaste bevoegdheid, assessering wat ‘n integrale deel van leer vorm en praktiese metodes soos oopboekassessering, gevalstudies en aanbiedings. Metodes van assessering wat tot dusver nagelaat is soos joernale, portefeuljes, uitstallings en plakkaataanbiedings is ingesluit in die raamwerk. Variasie in die toepassing van spesifieke assesseringsmetodes word aanbeveel. Die industrie dien as ‘n vennoot in die assessering van die leerders. Die studie eindig met voorstelle rakende verdere navorsing. / Prof. H.C. Geyser

This thesis investigates the equivalence of direct (live) and semi-direct (tape-mediated) versions of a test of oral proficiency which forms part of the access: test, a four-skill English language test for prospective skilled migrants to Australia sponsored by the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. This is essentially an equity issue since the two versions are used interchangeably in overseas test centres and candidates normally have no choice about the version to which they are assigned. It is important therefore that candidates’ final results should not be adversely affected by the particular method used to test their oral proficiency.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of participation in the district's early childhood program on later academic achievement as measured by the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) mathematics and reading assessments in Grades 3, 4, and 5. The studied district opened a centralized early childhood school in 2009 and implemented the Texas Pre-K Guidelines. The STAAR test results were available for five cohorts of students who attended the early childhood school and took the STAAR mathematics and reading assessments in the years 2014-2018. A quasi-experimental design was used to analyze differences in STAAR mathematics and reading scores for students who attended the district's early childhood program and students who did not attend. A two-way factorial ANOVA was used to examine the effect on test scores of attending the district's early childhood school and other demographic categories, Latinx, African American, socio-economic status, and English language learners (ELL). The results show that attending the early childhood program did not have a statistically significant effect for Latinx or African American students. However, the mean mathematics scores for economically-disadvantaged students who attended the early childhood program were higher than their peers who did not attend. ELL students who attended the program also had higher mathematics scores but the differences were usually not statistically significant. The same impact on economically-disadvantaged students and ELLs was not found on reading tests.