Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments (TRE): A Report From the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project describes results from the third and last field investigation in the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project.

This exploratory study examined how NAEP can use technology to measure skills that cannot be easily measured by conventional paper-and-pencil means. The project explores the use of new technology in administering NAEP. (The first two reports focused on assessments of math and writing online.)

In this newest study, investigators used Evidence-Centered Design (ECD) (Mislevy, Almond, and Lukas 2003) to develop the interpretive framework for translating the multiplicity of actions captured from each student into inferences about what populations of students know and can do.extended scenarios within the domain of physical science were created for measuring students’ ability to solve problems using technology.

The scenario required students to locate and synthesize information about scientific helium balloons from a simulated World Wide Web environment.

I wonder how 8th graders in non-technology enriched classes would perform on paper-pencil versions of these simulations?

Then, students conducted experiments of increasing complexity about relationships among buoyancy, mass and volume.

These scenarios were delivered via school computers or on laptop computers taken into the schools.

The nationally represented study sample consisted of over 2,000 public school 8th grade students tested in 2003. Students were randomly assigned to the assessment scenarios.

TRE Search produced a total score and two subscores, scientific inquiry and computer skills. The TRE Simulation scenario produced a total score and three subscores: scientific exploration, scientific synthesis, and computer skills.

Results indicate that the TRE scenarios functioned well as assessment devices.

Tablet PC Education Blog