Methodology and Procedures Evaluation of Chemistry Questions in the General Secondary Examination in Jordan for Years 2010 – 2015
International Journal of Education
ISSN 1948-5476 2016, Vol. 8, No. 4
http:ije.macrothink.org
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showed the domination of objective questions over essay questions. In terms of cognitive levels, the application questions came in first place, followed by knowledge questions and
finally comprehension questions. Concerning chemical processes, the chemical calculations came at the top of the list, followed by chemical expression, recognition, assumption, control,
differentiation, comparison, and finally prediction. In another study, the chemistry questions for the general secondary certificate were analyzed for the years of 1998, 1999, and 2000
Al-Banna, 2001. The study showed that the questions that actually measured the level of knowledge during those three years were 89, 78, and 83, respectively. However, the
percentages of questions that measured the higher cognitive levels were 2, 0.9, and only 0.8, respectively. In addition, the percentages of the questions that measured the drawing
skills were very low. Al-Rashed 2001 aimed to analyze the questions provided by chemistry textbooks at the secondary level in Saudi Arabia. The results of his analysis showed that
knowledge, comprehension, and application levels received the highest degrees of representation, with the proportion of objective questions being 84, and essay questions
being 16. Moreover, a different study found that 96 of chemistry questions did not exceed the minimum cognitive skill levels in several different schools in Turkey Karamustafao
ǧlu, Sevim, Karamustafao
ǧlu, Cepni, 2003. Based on these facts, this study aims to evaluate the chemistry questions in the GSE
Altawjihi in Jordan from 2010 to 2015 according to the types of questions objective vs. essay, their distribution within Blooms levels of cognitive domain, and their measurement
of chemical processes. This study tests the hypothesis that “the distribution of chemistry questions in the General Secondary Examination Altawjihi in Jordan is not consistent with
the experts’ proposed allocations to Blooms taxonomy levels in the cognitive domain.” The findings of this study could assist in future planning for chemistry questions on the
governmental exam and also could help chemistry teachers acquire better knowledge of quality question standards and apply them to developing their own school tests.