AUTHOR=Gong Tao , Shuai Lan , Jiang Yang , Arslan Burcu 

TITLE=Using process features to investigate scientific problem-solving in large-scale assessments

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1131019

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1131019

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>This study investigates the process data from scientific inquiry tasks of <italic>fair tests</italic> [requiring test-takers to manipulate a target variable while keeping other(s) constant] and <italic>exhaustive tests</italic> (requiring test-takers to construct all combinations of given variables) in the National Assessment of Educational Progress program.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We identify significant associations between item scores and temporal features of preparation time, execution time, and mean execution time.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Reflecting, respectively, durations of action planning and execution, and execution efficiency, these process features quantitatively differentiate the high- and low-performing students: in the fair tests, high-performing students tended to exhibit shorter execution time than low-performing ones, but in the exhaustive tests, they showed longer execution time; and in both types of tests, high-performing students had shorter mean execution time than low-performing ones.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>This study enriches process features reflecting scientific problem-solving process and competence and sheds important light on how to improve performance in large-scale, online delivered scientific inquiry tasks.</p></sec>