(Not)Children’s Exam: How Tests Change Children’s Thinking

Everyone loves to take tests, guessing the correct answer, both adults and children. True, this does not apply to school testing. Where the price of each point is too high, there is no time for games. Meanwhile, tests have become an integral part of schoolchildren’s lives. Since this year, the final exam for 4th graders, introduced by the Ministry of Education, has been added to the Unified State Examination and the OGE, which are already more than ten years old, and it will also be held in a testing format.

The result was not long in coming: in many schools, teachers work out test tasks with children from the second grade. And for the next 10 years, schoolchildren practically do not part with printouts of tests and forms, where in strictly designated places from month to month they train to put ticks or crosses.

How does the test system of teaching and assessing knowledge affect the child’s thinking, his way of perceiving information? We asked the experts about it.

The answer is found!

Just in case, this question is for second graders and there is only one correct answer, number three. No options. It does not involve reasoning on the topic: and if sweets, for example, with liquor or artificial colors, is it reasonable to offer them to children? Is it necessary to remove some of the sweets if the birthday person does not like them or does not eat them at all? Why can’t you share all the candies at once?

Test tasks like this one, taken from the textbook on «The World Around», do not allow you to consider the situation in volume, establish cause-and-effect relationships, and learn to think critically. And such tests are increasingly appearing in the school curriculum.

“A child who deals with such tasks most of the time ceases to relate them to himself, to his life,” says existential psychologist Svetlana Krivtsova. He gets used to the fact that someone has already given the correct answer for him. All that is required of him is to remember and reproduce correctly.

“Constant work with tests teaches a child to live in a stimulus-response, question-answer mode,” cognitive psychologist Maria Falikman agrees with her colleague. – In many ways, our daily life is so arranged. But choosing this mode, we thus close the possibilities for further development, for creative thinking. For success in those professions where you need to be able to go beyond the given, standard. But how does a child, who has been accustomed to existing in a system of ready-made questions and answers since elementary school, get this skill — to ask questions and look for atypical answers?

Parts without a whole?

Unlike exams of previous years, tests do not have a logical connection between tasks. They require the ability to handle large amounts of data and quickly switch from one topic to another. In this sense, the test system is being introduced on time: exactly the same is required of the younger generation by modern means of communication.

“Children who grew up in the era of high technology look at the world differently,” notes Rada Granovskaya, Doctor of Psychology. “Their perception is neither sequential nor textual. They perceive information on the principle of a clip. Clip thinking is typical for today’s youth.” So the tests, in turn, teach the child to concentrate on the details. His attention becomes short, fractional, it is increasingly difficult for him to read long texts, to cover large, complex tasks.

“Any exam is an answer to specific questions,” says Maria Falikman. — But the test is a lot of small specific questions that make the picture much more fragmented. It’s great if a child is taught physics, biology or Russian, and then with the help of a test they measure how well he has mastered the subject. But when a child is trained for a whole year to pass a test in physics, there is no guarantee that he will understand physics. In other words, I see nothing wrong with tests as a measuring tool. The main thing is that they do not replace studies. The thermometer is good when they measure the temperature, but it is bad as a medicine.

see the difference

However, it would be a mistake to say that all test tasks equally narrow the horizon and teach the child to think in a simplistic way, to solve the same type of isolated tasks, without interconnection with the context of their life.

“Tests that come down to tasks with a choice of ready-made answers and are used in the learning process have a negative impact on our thinking,” confirms Alexander Shmelev, a psychologist, professor at Moscow State University, scientific director of the Center for Humanitarian Technologies. “It becomes reproductive. That is, we rather recall a ready-made solution (we turn to memory) than we try to figure out, “invent” some new solution. Simple tests do not involve searching, logical conclusions, imagination, finally.

However, exam KIMs change for the better from year to year. Today, the OGE and USE tests mainly include questions that require a free answer, the ability to work with sources, interpret facts, express and argue one’s point of view.

“There is nothing wrong with such complex test tasks,” says Alexander Shmelev, “on the contrary: the more the student solves them, the more his knowledge and thinking (in this subject area) turns from “declarative” (abstract and theoretical) into “operational” (concrete and practical), that is, knowledge turns into competencies — into the ability to solve problems.

Fear factor

But the test system for assessing knowledge caused another negative effect associated with ratings and sanctions. “In our country, a dangerous tradition has developed to evaluate the work of schools and teachers based on the results of the Unified State Exam and the OGE,” says Vladimir Zagvozkin, researcher at the Center for Practical Psychology of Education at the Academy of Social Management. “In such a situation, when the price of each mistake is too high, the teacher and students are seized by the fear of failure, it is already difficult to get joy and pleasure from the learning process.”

But this is precisely one of the main conditions for a quality school education. In order for a child to love to read, reason, learn to talk and argue, solve mathematical problems, feel interest in science and culture, a trusting, safe atmosphere and a positive attitude towards error are necessary.

This is not an unfounded statement: the well-known New Zealand scientist John Hattie came to such an unambiguous conclusion, summarizing the results of more than 50 studies on the factors that affect children’s academic success, with tens of millions of students.

Parents cannot change the school system, but at least they can create such a safe atmosphere at home. “Show your child that a big and interesting scientific life opens up outside the tests,” advises Maria Falikman. – Take him to popular lectures, offer books and educational video courses that are available today in any academic subject and at various levels of complexity. And be sure to let your child know that the result of the test is not as important to you as his general understanding of the subject. If for the parent there is nothing but the result, it is likely that this will become the main thing for the child.

How to prepare for tests?

Recommendations from our experts

1. You need to get used to passing the tests, which means that you just need to train. Trainings give an idea of ​​your level of knowledge and give an understanding that you will show the result “at your level” (plus or minus 5-7% ). This means that there will always be tasks that you will solve, even if you meet a lot of tasks that you cannot solve.

2. First, complete those tasks that are solved «on the go.» If you think, hesitate, skip, move on. When you reach the end of the test, return to the unsolved tasks. Divide the remaining time by their number to get the maximum number of minutes you can afford to think about each question. If there is no answer, leave this question and move on. This tactic will allow you to lose points only for what you really don’t know, and not for what you just haven’t had time to get to.

3. Make the most of the answers that many tests offer to choose from. Often you can just guess which one is correct. If you have a guess, but you’re not sure, check this option anyway, it’s better than nothing. Even if you don’t know anything at all, mark something at random, there is always a chance to hit.

4. Leave time to check the work: are the forms filled out correctly, transfers are drawn up, are crosses placed against those answers?

5. Do not use ready-made texts of essays or essays from collections. First, examiners are usually familiar with them. Secondly, the texts there are often bad and outdated. Do not try to impress the examiners with your bright and unusual vision of the topic. Write a good, calm text. Consider in advance the options for its beginning and end, collect more «blanks» on various topics. It can be an effective quote, a vivid image, or a calm introduction to the problem. If you have a good start and a good end, the rest is a matter of technique.

6. Find sites with quality tests that allow you to train attention, memory, visual imagination, logic — and decide whenever possible. For example, dozens of different tests can be found on the free«Club of testers of test technologies» (KITT).