Creative Problem Solving
Staffing
P. Griffin, A. Mak, N. Awwal, A. Thomas and M. Pavlovic
Summary
This project was undertaken in collaboration with the North Shore Development and Coaching Centre (NSDC Pty Ltd) and its colleges. Items along the strands of classification, application and reasoning were designed by the Assessment Research Centre to test the problem-solving skills of pupils at Years 3 to 8 across Australia. Testing was held late October and awards were presented to top students in early November. The items assessed the pupils’ performance in different key steps in the problem-solving process, in situations that were both familiar and unfamiliar to the pupils. Reports on the performance, together with constructive feedback, were given to each participant after the test. The project was supported by an ARC Strategic Partnership for Industry Research Training (SPIRT) grant partnered by the NSDC Pty Ltd.
This year saw the development of a calibrated Item Bank system using the previous seven years of test items and results. All items ever used in the testing program have been uniquely coded, categorised and calibrated onto the one continuum using the complete response history. This has allowed for a systematic and strategic approach to test development for 2005 and into the future. Item selection for tests is now a strategic and informed process as the Item Bank system enables a range of selection criteria to be used, including item difficulty, item strand, response patterns, history of usage and skills involved in answering the item.
Another significant change has been the development of a response processing system to automatically process response sheets for the testing program with as little human intervention as possible. Responses are scored using the information contained in the Item Bank about tests and items, and test results and item response patterns are automatically fed into the Item Bank at the end, ensuring that the Item Bank remains current and relevant following each year of testing. As a result of this system, responses were processed and reports produced in a record time this year.
Funding Source
Australian Research Council Special Program for Industry Research Training (SPIRT) North Shore Development and Coaching Centre
Publications
Wu, M. (2003). The application of item response theory to measure problem-solving proficiencies. Unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Melbourne.
Wu, M., & Adams, R. (2003, April 21-25). Modelling mathematics problem-solving item responses using a multi-dimensional IRT model. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago.
Griffin, P. (2002). Assessment: From relative to absolute. Directions in Education, 12(3), 4.
Wu, M., Griffin, P., Dulhunty, M., & Mak, A. (2002, December). Teaching strategies in problem solving. Paper presented at the AARE Conference, Brisbane.
Lai, K. (2001). A multi-component model for test item design. Paper presented at the 2001 annual conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Fremantle, W.A., 3-6 December.
Lai, K., & Griffin P. (2001). Improving student problem-solving performance: A new approach based on mathematically modelled behaviour. ARC SPIRT Project Report. Assessment Research Centre: The University of Melbourne.
Lai, K., Griffin, P., Mak, A., Wu, M., & Dulhunty, M. (2001). Modelling strategies for problem solving. Paper presented at the 2001 annual conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Fremantle, W.A., 3-6 December.