Analysis of students’ performance based on bloom taxonomy

Abstract

In this thesis the results of an analysis of free response questions using a rubric based on Bloom's taxonomy is presented. Free response (FR) is a form of assessment that can be used to evaluate thinking skills. According to Bloom’s taxonomy, there are six levels of thinking skills: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. We coded a set of data from a large-scale assessment at Texas Tech University used to examine FR, multiple choice (MC) and mixed format (MC/FR) questions. We also interviewed a subset of the students on their answers to one problem, allowing us to evaluate the students' thinking skills in two settings. The interviews were coded using the same rubric based on Bloom's taxonomy and the results of the written format and the interviews were then compared. We found: 1) The students rarely utilized higher level thinking skills (analyzing, evaluating, creating) in solving the problem. This was partly because the wording of the problem was such that those skills were not needed in order to Obtain at a correct answer. 2) The written assessment and the interview assessment yielded similar results. This means that the more efficient written assessment alone provides sufficient evidence to identify the thinking skill levels demonstrated by the students in solving the problem, even though the interviews supply deeper insight into students' thinking. 3) A significant percentage of the students, when presented with an FR question, did not even demonstrate the lowest level of Bloom's taxonomy in their answer.