According to educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, giving multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank tests are the lowest form of assessing a student’s understanding of a subject. Additionally, a student who prepares for such superficial learning assessments are less likely to have a truly thorough learning experience with the material.
When students are only required to regurgitate simple facts about the covered material, they are missing out on much deeper learning experiences, ones that create lasting memories of the topic.
Take a look at my version of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. In comparing assessment strategies to an iceberg, you can see how simple knowledge and comprehension assessments are only the tip of the iceberg of potential learning experiences. [Continue reading]
