Assessing Chinese Students' Understandings in Mathematics and Science: Ensuring Valid and Reliable Data within International Contexts

Assessment practices in China are based largely upon the quantification of students' understandings, which are measured using multiple-choice tests based upon rote-learning and memorisation. These methods differ from global trends in education where there is a move towards assessment approaches that attempt to identify what students 'know' and 'can do'. To explore alternative modes of assessing the conceptual understanding of Chinese students, a study was designed based upon the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) model as the theoretical framework. While the model has been used extensively in many Western countries including Australia, United States and the United Kingdom, this was the first study to be undertaken with Year 5 students in China. This paper describes the research issues that emerged from the pilot study including problems in ensuring the accuracy of translations from Chinese to English, the need to provide Chinese students with the opportunity to provide their 'best possible' explanations, and the importance of the researcher being present for the collection of data. Once identified, each of these issues was considered carefully in the design and implementation of the main study to ensure improved validity. With this achieved, emerging patterns demonstrate the applicability of the SOLO model not only for assessing student understanding but in helping to identify a learning trajectory for mathematics and science conceptions for these Chinese students.