Learners’ Alternative Conceptions - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 97

Activity 45: Assessment of a Pupil's Answer in a Written Exam 2
The target of this activity is to let the prospective computer science teachers
experience one aspect of the assessment process (see also Chap. 10). For this
purpose, the activity combines computer science topics, such as the role of
arrays, and pedagogical ideas such as, how to evaluate an answer given by a
pupil in an exam. Specifically, in the activity, the students analyze and evalu-
ate a genuine answer that was given by a high school pupil in an authentic
written exam.
• › Stage A: Checking a pupil's written answer, work in small teams
The students are presented with a question from a real test, alongside a pupil's
authentic answer to that question. Working in small teams, the students are
asked to read the answer, understand the pupil's intentions, explain the alter-
native conception that may lead the pupil to give this answer, and grade the
answer. They are also asked to describe what they would ask the pupil if they
had a chance to talk to this pupil. This issue is important to address since in
school life teachers have many opportunities to talk to their pupils. The task
is presented in Table 6.2 .
• › Stage B: Class discussion
During the class discussion, it is recommended to follow the six tasks pre-
sented in the worksheet by the same order.
It is important to emphasize that the wrong answer (by itself) is not the
most important issue in this activity and that it only serves as a trigger to dis-
cuss a variety of important pedagogical issues, such as, the understanding of
pupil's intentions (Task 2) and talking to the pupil (Task 3).
With respect to Task 2, it is relevant to highlight the fact that though the
revealing of the source of wrong answers is not an easy pedagogical activity,
it is crucial if a teacher wishes to understand the mental model that lead pupils
to present incorrect answers. It is, therefore, relevant to explore different strat-
egies for recognizing pupils' intentions in writing exams.
Task 3 focuses on the assistance that a teacher may give to pupils. The stu-
dents should realize that statements such as “your answer is wrong” or “you
don't understand what we learned in class” are simply irrelevant since they
do not help the pupil realize his or her wrong cognitive model and further,
can decrease learners' motivation. Therefore, teachers should adopt a more
clinical approach which confronts pupils with their answers and lead them to
understand their mistakes. Activity 46 (see below) presents such a conversa-
tion in which a teacher uses concrete examples in order to lead the pupil to
understand his wrong mental model.
The discussion of Tasks 4, 5, and 6 should lead to a variety of assess-
ment-related conclusions (see Chap. 10). One of them highlights the fact that
there is no single or unique way to evaluate pupils' answers in exams and
that different approaches can be applied in the process of exam assessment.