Applying blooms taxonomy in teacher made tests in secondary schools in Kenya

Abstract

The research was aimed at establishing quality of tests that teachers developed and administered in schools by examining the extent to which they reflected high level learning, critical thinking in meeting the 21 st century skills as outlined in blooms taxonomy. A good and reasonable examination paper must consist of various difficulty levels in line with blooms taxonomy to accommodate the different capabilities of students.

The study was done by examining the difficulty level of each question in the examination paper and the criteria of keywords/verbs found in the question. Further, the paper presents the crossanalysis of the extent to which the test items reflect different levels of cognitive processes across knowledge dimension. The paper provides inferences on teacher's knowledge on blooms taxonomy and its application in testing.

The results were such that teachers tended to ask questions in the 'knowledge 'category most of the time, teachers designed examination questions that do not match the required mental process and knowledge dimension; thus more work need to be done to improve test quality. It also brings out clearly that teachers do not have sufficient knowledge and skills in test construction with majority of the questions set by teachers being at knowledge cognitive process and factual knowledge dimensions resulting in poorly constructed tests.

The recommendations of the study were such that Teachers required in-service training programmes to sharpen item writing skills to improve the quality of teacher made tests, mobilization of teachers and reminding them on the need to measure skills beyond recall of facts in test construction is therefore necessary. Instructors in teacher training colleges and university needed to emphasize on the unit on testing in order to equip the teacher trainees with necessary skills in testing.

The importance of blooms taxonomy in test construction needed to be emphasized during training to promote transformation of knowledge rather than transmission of knowledge in order to enhance critical thinking to enable learners of today to acquire 21 st century skills. Schools need to emphasize on examination panels well established who are in charge of setting and moderation of exams and to oversee the whole process of testing in different disciplines to address required cognitive skills. Secondary school syllabus needs to be revised in order to accommodate and emphasize objectives at higher level of cognitive process and dimension. This would form part of the insight into developing quality tests.