The evaluation process is a complex phenomenon that addresses not only the way students learn but the way teachers teach, in which aspects such as what to evaluate and how to evaluate where the types of questions are must be taken into consideration. fundamental so that the teacher can obtain the desired answers and the students know what to do to respond in this sense with this work it is intended to expose some types of fundamental questions and the way they should be elaborated.
Development
The questions, within the evaluation of teaching, constitute a valuable instrument that must be handled with skill in order to achieve the best results. Asking is not an easy task, sometimes we ask ourselves what is not necessary and in others what hardly someone can answer according to our intentions.
The first requirement in the elaboration of a question is that it adjusts to the objectives set out in the subject program and that it must contain a previously established skill, a knowledge system and attitudinal content as well as the level of assimilation; On this basis it is possible to use any type of question.
According to Labarrere Reyes and Valdivia Pairol (2001: 129-130) the fundamental types of questions according to the achievements and with the different levels of assimilation of the content are:
- Fixation questions: their purpose is to check whether the student is able to remember and reproduce data, previously elaborated process facts. They are those that only require the student to remember certain knowledge. Example: What is called ___________ ?. Say they are _________________. Interpretation or understanding questions: This type of question is aimed at knowing to what extent the students have penetrated into the essence of the object of study, a question that is usually manifested through a logical explanation of knowledge. Example: Why _________? Interpret the following passage: «_______________». Application questions: Questions in which it is intended to determine if the student is able to put what is understood into function to solve a really new situation, that is, their objective is not only to know if they have interpreted certain knowledge, but also if they are capable of applying it. Example: Two twin boys (with a similar genetic endowment) and raised under the same system of educational influences show different performance curves and behaviors in school life, what could be the causes? In the socio-affective behavior of a child X, a mismatch was observed without apparent causes in the relationships with their peers, according to the parents, what procedures would you recommend for handling the minor? Generalization questions: Aimed at specifying whether the student is capable of establishing general relationships between the various knowledge elaborated in a more or less extensive period of time, whether the students can establish the links between the knowledge of the same subject and between these and those of other subjects with which it relates. This type of question, due to its characteristics, is typical of the partial and final tests. Example: Establish the elements that typify psychogenetic theory and information processing and that cause them to be identified as cognitive theories.
As can be seen in this classification, we can distinguish two types of questions: those in which the students remember and reproduce data, facts, situations, more or less isolated knowledge using memory mainly and those in which it shows that it is capable of recognizing interrelations by having the need to activate other mental processes.
According to the length of the answers we can distinguish two types of questions:
- Questions to develop long answers, also called developmental, free answer, traditional or essay tests. The student contributes her own answer. Short or short answer questions, also called structured, objective answer tests. The subject chooses her answer among several alternatives, true or false, multiple selection, pairing, among others.
When determining the indicators that allow us to define the mastery levels that characterize the student's performance, these must correspond to the type of implementation instrumentation selected. The indicators can be expressed according to the degree of independence shown in the execution, the speed with which it is executed, the number of errors made during the operation, the number of repetitions it performs before obtaining the result, among others.
Examples of what to evaluate for certain skills.
- Observation: determine properties or features of objects, the more properties or features listed and more precision, the better development of the observation Description: list the elements of the object of the description, use qualities in the description, proper use of technical vocabulary, express adequate relationships between the elements of the object. Definition: adequately express the relationships between the elements of the object of description.
Compare: determine similarities and differences, determine similar and different essential characteristics.
Classification: place in classes, according to common and general characteristics of the objects, derive the subclasses that comprise it from a class.
How to proceed with control questions
In the subject group, they discuss, analyze and reach conclusions about which aspects should be subject to control, because they meet the requirement of constituting an essential element to establish the link between new and old knowledge, that is, they fulfill the logical function cognitive.
The control questions link and systematize the knowledge already obtained with the new knowledge and with them the results of the independent activity of the students and the level of primary deepening that they have reached in their individual study are checked.
These questions allow to control how the appropriation of knowledge or the development of skills in the students takes place, they must be carefully selected to guarantee the link with the final verification questions of the class, in addition to being refined or structured so that they are clear and precise.
The questions should never be a simple rote consolidation of what was discussed in the conference or what appears in the text; deep reflection must be encouraged through them. In the case of control questions, care must be taken that they do not become a mere repetition of those of the previous class verification, but the level of each one of them must be properly assessed. Teachers' criteria are then reflected in individual preparation and improvement of lesson plans.
The control questions in the class should be aimed at checking the study of the fundamental aspects indicated to the students in their self-preparation, and may be oral, in which case the teacher will try to address essential aspects of the study material and thereby contribute to clarify important contents of the subject.
In the case of large groups, the use of written control questions is pertinent, so that the study carried out by all students can be checked at the same time, the variant of applying a single question to all students or applying different ones can be used. questions dividing the group into subgroups. In all cases, the student must be given feedback about their situation in the evaluation carried out, if it is oral, they receive the evaluation immediately, as well as correct the deficiencies and if it is written once the students' work is finished, analyze the correct answers that they should have given and then the question asked and scored by the teacher will be given.
The control questions address the content previously explained or indicated to the student and correspond to the volume of information related to the elements of knowledge: concepts, laws, procedures, skills, habits, attitudes, in the case of classes, encounters must be be careful that they do not become a mere repetition of the questions formulated as a verification of the previous class, so the level of complexity of each of them must be ensured.
"The main form of daily checking in the class is that of frontal or individual questions to the students." Baranov S. P (1980: 84). In this case, the questions are asked to all the students, giving them some time to incubate the ideas and where it is not necessary to stimulate them immediately after asking the questions, the students think about how to answer the questions asked and then the teacher mentions the name of the student to evaluate, which must have been foreseen from the class planning process in correspondence with the needs of the teacher to check the progress of their students. In this process, when a student responds, the others have to be attentive to the responses of their classmates, who will complete or correct them if necessary.It is not pertinent that while a student answers the others do not attend to the answer of their partner.
The exams
In the diversity of techniques that exist to evaluate students, without a doubt the exam has been the most used technique, but its use and abuse has caused negative effects in the educational process, the question is not to eliminate them, but to use it as one more within the set of techniques available to the teacher that allows to assume this process with a personological character.
Improving the quality of the questions that make up the exam questionnaires is a task of the group of subjects. Traditionally, teachers submit the questions they develop to control the performance of their students for the consideration of their classmates, after the main teacher has given the guidelines about the type of question applicable in each control.
Through collective analysis, it is assessed whether the questions conform to the objectives that are intended to be evaluated at the required level of assimilation and whether they present the correct structure.
The development of a good test must begin with a design that reflects all the complexity of what is supposedly learned: explain, relate, generalize, assess, among others. It is always pertinent to clarify that any evaluation is qualitative. There is no quantitative evaluation. The quantitative, as we specify in (5) is the measurement. Evaluation is the process that leads to a value judgment and although it is based on a measurement, it is always qualitative.
Requirements for the elaboration of the questions
The development of the ability to elaborate questions requires a long work in this regard, however, the way can be paved when certain requirements are taken into account that, when applied in a critical sense, give security and reinforce the professional experience of the teacher. Let's consider some of them:
- Avoid imprecision and ambiguity. Questions where the student is asked to state what they know about a topic should be avoided, because in such a case every answer is valid. Write questions that put the student in situations as similar as possible to the situations of her future professional practice and those formulated in class. Avoid surprising the student with types of questions with which they are not familiar. Different types of questions should be clearly distinguished by their objectives to ensure that you know where your intentions are going when asking. Use problem questions, where the student is given all the necessary information. Begin questions with words such as: explain how, critique, exemplify, value. Don't start questions with words like: what, when, list,they only lead to reproduction. The question should not imply part of the answer. Don't ask through denial. The order must correspond to the skill to be evaluated. Avoid chain questions, especially those of an oral type that disconcert and disturb the student and that occur when the teacher modifies what has been asked, presents some variants, or finds it necessary to ask other questions so that the student is silent. The student expresses the desired answer, since the students are not in a position to retain so many questions at the same time. The questions should not be too long or too broad. The good question is distinguished by its brevity and precision,for the correct arrangement of its structural elements and because it responds to the performance capacity and level of development of the students to whom it is addressed. The question should be formulated in a way that shows the student the direction of the reasoning and does not confuse him. The greater weight of the questions should fall proportionally between the comprehension and application questions both in the partial and final tests, but in the latter, some weight should be given to the generalization questions, since with them it is a question of assessing whether the student is able to relate, compare, generalize the knowledge acquired during the semester.The greater weight of the questions should fall proportionally between the comprehension and application questions both in the partial and final tests, but in the latter, some weight should be given to the generalization questions, since with them it is a question of assessing whether the student is able to relate, compare, generalize the knowledge acquired during the semester.The greater weight of the questions should fall proportionally between the comprehension and application questions both in the partial and final tests, but in the latter, some weight should be given to the generalization questions, since with them it is a question of assessing whether the student is able to relate, compare, generalize the knowledge acquired during the semester.
Conclusions
The questions can be classified according to the levels of assimilation and according to the extension of the answers in relation to the levels of assimilation, four fundamental types are known: fixation questions, interpretation or understanding questions, application questions and generalization questions and in relation to the extension of the answers, two fundamental types are presented: Questions to develop long answers Questions with short or short answers.
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