• also "yes/no" or "agree/disagree"
  
  
• measures facts --> cannot be used where there is an interpretation
  
  
• good for vocabulary (definitions), formula, dates, names, etc.

Advantages and Disadvantages

• (apparent) ease of construction
  
  
• can test a lot of different subject areas
  
  
• generally easy to read, so good for younger kids or poor readers
  
  
  one way of modifying evaluation for weaker students....
  
  
  
• easy to score --> both fast and objective
  
  
  (but set it up so they are circling true or false, not writing T or F because some students Ts can look like another student's Fs)
  
  
  
• can cover a lot of ground in given time because fast to answer (Sax)
  
  
• good for testing popular misconceptions (Sax?)
  
  

• Really NOT that easy to construct
  
  
  • often take statements out of text -- but should be avoided
    
    DO NOT LIFT STATEMENTS DIRECTLY FROM TEXT
    
    for three reasons:
    
    
  1. Encourages memorization rather than understanding.
     
     

     (Paraphrasing tests understanding).
     
     

     
     "TEST ROTE MEMORIZATION"

     • clearly worded statement are often so obvious everyone gets them right;
       
       

     • alternatively, ambiguous items reduce evaluation to a test of reading skills; personality factors like pickiness
     
     
     

  2. Statements out of context of rest of paragraph become ambiguous
     
     • becomes a reading test
       
     • promotes guessing
     
     
  3. copyright problems
     
     
  

• students have a 50-50% chance of getting them right
  
  
  • "coin toss certification"
    
    
  • 50% right without even reading the items
    
    
  • actually much higher because wording usually includes clues
    
    
  • would you want to be operated on by doctor who got 60% on t/f test?
  
  
  
• guessing is encouraged
  
  
  • "right minus wrong" is worse because it's a measure of timidity and self-assurance, not knowledge --> nothing to do with what you think you're measuring
    
    
  • effects of guessing can be reduced by making tests much longer --> need four times as many T-F as multiple-choice questions to get same degree of accuracy
    
    --which means might as well write m-c and be done with it
  
  
  

  great for cheating peer over shoulder and get a whole row of answers

• offers little diagnostic value
  
  
  • because nothing to indicate why child got it wrong (e.g. no math work)
    
    
  • may get it right on the basis of misinformation
    
    
  • may get it wrong as a result of misreading or misinterpreting statement
    
    
  • or just "lucky guesser"?
  
  
  
• Nearly impossible to get meaningful absolute statements
  
  
  in all subjects, there are large areas which cannot be phrased in absolutely true or false statements.
  
  In most cases, only the most trivial statements can be reduced to absolute terms.
  
  "Mozart composed his 43rd Symphony in 1920" is clearly false - also trivial
  
  
  • even if not trivial, still pretty much limited to simple knowledge recall
    
    
  • susceptible to ambiguity and misinterpretation --> almost no such thing as black and white true or false
    
    
  • so penalizes better students who see that the statement should be qualified and therefore suspect a trap
    
    OVERHEAD: "Water freezes at 0 C" True or False? (from Sax p.95)

Most important for me as an educator, there may be no opportunity to correct misinformation

--> student says "true" to a false statement, even if you go over it later, there is the chance that they will remember act of choosing "true" which required thought and for which student developed a rationale, rather than your droning on about correct answer....