Development of competence-oriented curricula is still an important theme in informatics education. Unfortunately informatics curricula, which include the domain of logic programming, are still input-orientated or lack detailed competence descriptions. Therefore, the development of competence model and of learning outcomes' descriptions is essential for the learning process in this domain. A prior research developed both. The next research step is to formulate test items to measure the described learning outcomes. This article describes this procedure and exemplifies test items. It also relates a test in school to the items and shows which misconceptions and typical errors are important to discuss in class. The test result can also confirm or disprove the competence model. Therefore, this school test is important for theoretical research as well as for the concrete planning of lessons. Quantitative analysis in school is important for evaluation and improvement of informatics education.

The primary goal of the this thesis is to create standardized tool to determine the level of competency in Chemistry (i.e. knowledge, abilities, and skills) among secondary school students, formulated in the form of "expected outcomes" in the Framework Education Programme for Secondary General Education (RVP G, 2007) and then use this tool to determine the success of students in secondary schools in teaching the tests expected outcomes of chemistry in the academic year 2014/2015. The creation of this research tool and determine the success of students after a few years of starting curricular reform allows for use in future years to monitor the development of education in chemistry by general educational programs. The study first conducted analyses of these expected outcomes from the perspective of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Amer, 2006; Anderson et al., 2001; Hudecová, 2004; Krathwohl, 2002; Krietzer et al., 1994). By examining the School Education Programmes of secondary schools participating in the study, a curriculum was identified that is overlooked or not clearly defined by RVP G (2007), whose inclusion in education falls within the competence of each school. Requirements were also compared for outputs of chemistry education for secondary school students in the Czech Republic...

Der Umgang mit Modellen gehört zu einem durch Naturwissenschaften und Technik geprägten Alltag. Zur Förderung der Modellkompetenz von Schülerinnen und Schülern beschreibt ein theoriegeleitet formuliertes Kompetenzmodell, in welche Inhalte Modellkompetenz strukturiert ist und wie diese Inhalte graduiert sind. Diese Beschreibung von Modellkompetenz wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit empirisch geprüft. Hierzu wird ein Itempool benötigt, der das Kompetenzmodell adäquat repräsentiert und dessen Bearbeitung als Indikator von Modellkompetenz interpretierbar ist. Beide Kriterien wurden neben psychometrischen Qualitätskriterien im Prozess der Testkonstruktion geprüft. 40 Multiple-Choice Items, die diesen Kriterien genügten, wurden von Schülerinnen und Schülern der Jahrgangsstufen 7 bis 10 bearbeitet. Eine Analyse dieser Daten mit mit IRT-Modellen diente der empirischen Überprüfung der Strukturierung und Graduierung von Modellkompetenz. Darüber hinaus wurden die Unterschiede in den Personenfähigkeiten zwischen den Jahrgangsstufen und die diskriminante und konvergente Validität von Modellkompetenz betrachtet. Es zeigte sich, dass die Indizien für eine eindimensionale Struktur von Modellkompetenz überwiegen. Die Niveaus sowie die Personenfähigkeiten in den untersuchten Jahrgangsstufen unterscheiden sich empirisch signifikant voneinander. Während sich Modellkompetenz in einer diskriminanten Validierung von allgemeinen kognitiven Fähigkeiten und Lesefähigkeiten sinnvoll abgrenzen lässt, bleibt das Bild für die konvergente Validierung noch unklar. Diese Befunde werden vor dem Hintergrund der theoretischen Grundlagen sowie mit Blick auf Implikationen für den Unterricht und weitere Forschungsprojekte diskutiert. / Science and technology belong to everyday life. It therefore requires the ability of dealing with models. To foster students’ model competence, a theoretical cognitive model structures and grades different aspects of model competence. The present research project aims at testing this description of model competence empirically. The empirical testing of a theoretical cognitive model requires psychometrically proven items that represent the cognitive model adequately. Furthermore, the results of the test should be interpretable as indication of the competence tested. These critera – among psychometric criteria – were included in the test and item construction which led to 40 multiple-choice items. Students in grades 7 to 10 dealt with this item pool. The data were analyzed with IRT models to check the structure and graduation of model competence empirically. Moreover, the differences in skills among grades as well as the discriminant and convergent validity of model competence were considered. Most of the empirical evidence points to a one-dimensional structure model of competence. The levels as well as the skills in the tested grades differed significantly. While model competence was distinguishable from general cognitive ability and reading skills in terms of discriminant validation, the picture remains unclear for the convergent validation. These findings are discussed with regard to the background of the theoretical basis as well as to implications for teaching and further research.

Undergraduate psychology examinations from 48 schools were analyzed to determine the proportion of items at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy, item format, and test length. Analyses indicated significant relationships between item complexity and test length even when taking format into account. Use of higher items may be related to shorter tests, jeopardizing reliability. (SLD)