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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
Published on: September 11, 2021
Using process features to investigate scientific problem-solving in large-scale assessments
Tao Gong1,2,3, Lan Shuai2, Yang Jiang2
1School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Introduction:
This study investigates the process data from scientific inquiry tasks of fair tests [requiring test-takers to manipulate a target variable while keeping other(s) constant] and exhaustive tests (requiring test-takers to construct all combinations of given variables) in the National Assessment of Educational Progress program.
Methods:
We identify significant associations between item scores and temporal features of preparation time, execution time, and mean execution time.
Results:
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.
Discussion:
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.
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