Multiple-Choice Exams: An Obstacle for Higher-Level Thinking in Introductory Science Classes
Open accessAbstract
Learning science requires higher-level (critical) thinking skills that need to be practiced in science classes. This study tested the effect of exam format on critical-thinking skills. Multiple-choice (MC) testing is common in introductory science courses, and students in these classes tend to associate memorization with MC questions and may not see the need to modify their study strategies for critical thinking, because the MC exam format has not changed. To test the effect of exam format, I used two sections of an introductory biology class. One section was assessed with exams in the traditional MC format, the other section was assessed with both MC and constructed-response (CR) questions. The mixed exam format was correlated with significantly more cognitively active study behaviors and a significantly better performance on the cumulative final exam (after accounting for grade point average and gender). There was also less gender-bias in the CR answers. This suggests that the MC-only exam format indeed hinders critical thinking in introductory science classes. Introducing CR questions encouraged students to learn more and to be better critical thinkers and reduced gender bias. However, student resistance increased as students adjusted their perceptions of their own critical-thinking abilities.
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Some have suggested grades may be more of a reflection of a students' ability to understand and play the game of school than anything to do with learning (Towns and Robinson, 1993; Scouller, 1998; Stanger-Hall, 2012).
“and some have suggested grades may be more of a reflection of a students’ ability to understand and play the game of school than anything to do with learning (Towns and Robinson, 1993; Scouller, 1998; Stanger-Hall, 2012).”
From Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently) (2014) · cites this paper as Stanger-Hall, 2012
The Introduction (Exam Format; page unavailable) says students expect different kinds of questions from multiple-choice and essay exams and adjust their study strategies accordingly. That supports the idea that students respond strategically to assessment, but the paper does not establish that grades reflect an ability to ‘play the game of school’ more than they reflect learning. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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Cites
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“Although the term active learning is used in the literature (e.g., Prince, 2004) for both physically active (e.g., rewriting notes, making index cards) and cognitively active (e.g., making new connections, asking and answering new questions) learning behaviors, critical thinking cannot be achieved…”
MethodMultiple‐Choice Tests and Student Understanding: What Is the Connection?
Simkin, M. G., & Kuechler, W. L. (2005) · Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4609.2005.00053.x · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
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Susnjak, T. (2022) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2212.09292 · Cited by 370 · see citing works
“[25](1) note that these types of assessments comprising essays and short-answer responses are generally perceived by educators to be more suitable at measuring critical thinking [22] as well as facilitating deeper learning [24, 26].”
Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently)
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Characterizing College Science Assessments: The Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol
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“Multiple-choice testing (often considered a practical requirement for a large lecture course) shapes students’ study habits in unproductive ways and interferes with critical thinking (Stanger-Hall, 2012).”
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Generative AI and Higher Education Assessments: A Competency-Based Analysis
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- Authors
- Stanger-Hall, K. F.
- Affiliations
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2012-09
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 294-306
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3433302
- OpenAlex
- W2059516765
- Cited by
- 243
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 11
- FWCI
- 49.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education and Critical Thinking Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Education › Student Assessment and Feedback
- Keywords
- multiple-choice tests, test format, critical thinking, constructed-response questions, introductory biology, study habits, gender bias, higher-order thinking skills
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Biology, Choice Behavior, Cognition, Educational Measurement, Female, Georgia, Humans, Learning, Male, Thinking, Universities, Problem-Based Learning, Young Adult, Sexism
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