Bury the verb!
Recently I recognized a rather simple way to write multiple-choice questions for higher-level thinking. This method is totally contrary to what my English teacher taught me. Since I live in Texas,
I’ll call this the Texas two-step of higher-level assessment. As the name implies, it consists of two steps:
1.
Identify the unconstrained verb you would like to use,e.g.,
a.
Describe
b.
Infer
c.
Evaluate
2.
Then bury that verb by changing it to a noun and putting a convergent verb in front of it.
Often this will mean changing the verb to a “-tion” derivative. Here are three examples using this technique:
Depending on whether the verb you bury is convergent or divergent, this technique may be a pseudo measure, but if you must use multiple-choice questions, or if you want to increase the span
of their capability, this is a practical way to do it.
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