Multiple-choice questioning is a popular form of assessment that has been widely used in educational settings for decades. While multiple-choice questions are easy to grade and score, they also have cons, making them suitable for some types of assessments and not for others.
Pros of Multiple Choice Questioning:
Ease of Grading: One of the biggest advantages of multiple-choice questions is that they are easy to grade and score. Since the options are pre-determined, the answer can be quickly checked against the correct response. This is especially useful in large classrooms where a teacher may not have enough time to grade each answer individually.
Objectivity: Multiple choice questions are considered to be more objective than other types of questions. This is because the answer is pre-determined, reducing the potential for subjective grading.
Versatility: Multiple choice questions can be used to assess a wide range of topics, making them suitable for many different types of assessments. Whether it is a science test or a history exam, multiple-choice questions can be tailored to suit the subject matter.
Time-Saving: Multiple choice questions can be completed relatively quickly, making them ideal for time-sensitive assessments. This is particularly useful for exams where time constraints are a factor.
Cons of Multiple Choice Questioning:
Limited Assessment Capabilities: Multiple-choice questions are limited in their ability to assess a student’s understanding of a subject. Since the answer is pre-determined, students are not able to elaborate on their thoughts or provide a more in-depth explanation of their knowledge.
Potential for Guesswork: Multiple-choice questions can encourage guesswork, especially when students are unsure of the answer. This can result in inaccurate results and a misleading representation of the student’s understanding of the material.
One-Dimensional: Multiple-choice questions are one-dimensional, meaning that they only assess one aspect of a student’s understanding of the material. This can result in a limited understanding of the student’s overall grasp of the subject.
Memorization vs. Understanding: Multiple-choice questions can also encourage memorization rather than true understanding of the material. This is because students may be able to correctly answer a question without truly understanding the concepts behind it.
I have a strong feeling about multiple-choice, more of a hate/love relationship. I feel it can encourage too much guessing and doesn’t give enough valid data on what a student has truly learned. I saw this in my classroom, usually with the students who struggle the most.
Students who were secure in their knowledge of the subject area will do fine, no matter the questioning format. I see this so much with my own son’s struggles in school. When given a multiple-choice test, more often than not, he’ll just make a guess, sometimes not even bothering to read the questions! In creating work for him, I always avoid using multiple choice, except in limited situations. When given a short answer question, he is much more apt to look for the answer using context or work the problem out for himself. If the option to guess is there, he’ll always choose it, and he’ll keep guessing until he’s eliminated the three wrong answers. Yes, he’ll eventually get the correct answer, but does that show he knew the content or was just successful at guessing?
I know multiple choice can be a huge time saver for the teacher. It is much quicker and easier to correct papers with multiple choice rather than written answers, but is it the right choice? What is our ultimate objective? To know the student understood and learned what we were teaching, right? How can we be sure that the objective was met with multiple-choice? Was the answer from retained knowledge or a lucky guess?
There are some cases (when done correctly) where I think M/C is fine. In a math problem for instance:
The problem on the left is wrong because the most common mistake a student will make in this instance is the misuse of PEDMA. The student will work the problem from left to right and end up with 6 for the answer. If this is one of the answer options, they will choose it and move on, not having any idea that they made a mistake. If they worked the problem in this manner, and 6 was not an option, they would know a mistake was made and go back to check their work. Of course, the guesser, who doesn’t even work out the problem, could guess in either case, but usually, a student will stop to take a closer look. I am not an advocate for tricking students. and in this example, that is exactly what is happening. It’s much less discouraging to a child to rework to find a correct answer than to get a test back that they failed due to being tricked!
One of the primary resources I offer is novel studies. In my novel studies, there are only two places where you will find multiple-choice options. First, the vocabulary quiz, where the sentence including the targeted word is given, along with four choices for students to choose the definition. Again, there are the guessers who will guess anything, but most students will be able to decipher the correct definition of the word used in context after the successful completion of the novel study activities.
The other multiple-choice option I offer is parts of a comprehension quiz. I try to balance multiple-choice and short-answer questions to best gauge students’ understanding of the novel and to address higher-order thinking questioning for rigor.
I only use short-answer questions in the daily comprehension portion of the novel study itself. I feel very strongly that while reading the book, the student should be thinking deeply about what they’re reading. Using multiple-choice for comprehension during the reading of the novel encourages the student to skim the text for the answer. It also means most of your questioning will be recall level, the lowest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I use novel studies to get away from the more superficial reading that students encounter with basal series activities. My goal in using novel studies is to get my student engaged in a novel, to think deeply about the character’s motives, make inferences, point of view, plot, foreshadowing, etc. I don’t believe this can be accomplished by using multiple-choice questions. I feel this adds rigor and integrity to my novel studies. I know there are some buyers who are disappointed in this stance, and I know that some buy from my competitors looking for something quick and easy, but it’s a core value that I feel very strongly about.
Multiple-choice questioning can be an effective method of assessment when used correctly and in the proper context. However, this style of questioning should not be relied upon as the sole method of assessment due to its limitations. To achieve a well-rounded understanding of a student’s knowledge and abilities, a combination of different types of questioning should be used, including open-ended questions and essay-style assessments.
Another reason I stay away from multiple-choice testing is it is far too similar to standardized testing, which I am not a fan! Mainly for all the reasons stated above. I want my students to be deep thinkers, not guessers. Of course, the whole topic of standardized testing is a post for another day! 😉
Beverly Cleary is a legend in children’s literature. Two of my favorite books are Dear Mr. Henshaw and the sequel, Strider, which take you on the journey of young Leigh Botts in his acceptance of his parent’s divorce and the road to acceptance of himself. They are great books to use in your classroom or homeschool for a whole class novel study, small book groups, or individual book studies.
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Beverly Cleary has always strived to write books “about kids like us”. Her books are beloved because they are so relatable to her readers. Leigh struggles with his parent’s separation and his father’s absence due to his job as a truck driver. In Dear Mr. Henshaw Leigh connects with a favorite author and develops a pen pal relationship that helps him work through his feelings and anxieties.
From the Book Jacket for Dear Mr. Henshaw:
Beverly Cleary’s timeless Newbery Medal-winning book explores difficult topics like divorce, insecurity, and bullying through the thoughts and emotions of a sixth-grade boy as he writes to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw.
After his parents separate, Leigh Botts moves to a new town with his mother. Struggling to make friends and deal with his anger toward his absent father, Leigh loses himself in a class assignment in which he must write to his favorite author. When Mr. Henshaw responds, the two form an unexpected friendship that will change Leigh’s life forever.
From the beloved author of the Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse series comes an epistolary novel about how to navigate and heal from life’s growing pains.
Leigh’s story of growth and acceptance continues in Strider when he takes in a stray dog (Strider) that helps him accept his place in the world, introduces him to a love for running, and gives him hope for the future.
From the Book Jacket for Strider:
Strider has a new habit. Whenever we stop, he places his paw on my foot. It isn’t an accident because he always does it. I like to think he doesn’t want to leave me.
Can a stray dog change the life of a teenage boy? It looks as if Strider can. He’s a dog that loves to run; because of Strider, Leigh Botts finds himself running — well enough to join the school track team. Strider changes Leigh on the inside, too, as he finally begins to accept his parents’ divorce and gets to know a redheaded girl he’s been admiring. With Strider’s help, Leigh finds that the future he once hated to be asked about now holds something he never expected: hope.
Try a free sample of the novel study for Dear Mr. Henshaw
Beverly Cleary does a masterful job of showing Leigh’s growth through her portrayal of his letter writing and narration which makes a wonderful example for point of view instruction. Many kids can relate to Leigh’s feelings of loneliness, insecurity, sadness over a divorce, missing a parent, trying to find their way and/or talent, and having a beloved pet that gives them unconditional love. The universal relatability is what makes Dear Mr. Henshaw and Strider such wonderful novels to use in your classroom.
I offer complete novel studies to accompany Dear Mr. Henshaw and Strider for use in the classroom or homeschool. Each unit includes both a printable format and a Google Drive™ format for use in a paperless classroom or with Google Classroom.
You can purchase these novel studies at the following locations:
Or buy them bundled together at a 20% discount!
Are you interested in reading about and sharing ideas with other educators on using children’s literature in your classroom? My goal is to bring together teachers and homeschoolers who teach grades 3-8 and use novels with their students. I’d love for you to join me to learn, share, and grow together!
This site is amazing to expand the background knowledge of a novel and to add a whole new dimension to the book. From the Google Lit Trip site:
What is a Google Lit Trip?
Lit Trips are downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. Along the way, placemarks with pop-up windows contain “just in time” resources including relevant media, thought-provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references in that portion of the story. The focus is on creating engaging and relevant literary experiences for students.
It is free to use for individual educators and classroom teachers. There is an option to sign up for a multi-user registration to use within a classroom. All you’ll need on your computer is to download Google Earth. The Google Lit Trip “Getting Started” page explains all you need to do.
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This Google Lit Trip maps Esperanza’s trip from her home in Mexico to California.
Along the way, you can make a stop and read about the location. This information can tie into the story and/or add background information to the reader to enhance the story using photos, videos, Google Earth visuals, and descriptive information.
If you are using my Esperanza Rising Novel Study, I highly recommend you check out this accompanying Lit Trip to enhance the learning and enjoyment of the novel for your students.
I can’t sing the praises of this Lit Trip highly enough. It is such a fantastic addition to using this novel in the classroom.
Are you interested in reading about and sharing ideas with other educators on using children’s literature in your classroom? My goal is to bring together teachers and homeschoolers who teach grades 3-8 and use novels with their students. I’d love for you to join me to learn, share, and grow together!
I stumbled upon a fascinating article that I believe is worth a read for everyone, not solely educators, but perhaps even more so for those outside the education field!
It would be interesting to mandate that all school board members, administrators, and especially politicians achieve a passing score on any test they intend to impose on students. Such a requirement might lead to a significant decrease in standardized testing and foster a genuine comprehension of what “teaching to the test” truly entails!
I came across this article that discusses how children’s brains go through different transitions as they age in the ways that they interpret and figure out math. Some excerpts that I found interesting from the article are below: “Students start off at the foundation of counting fingers or objects to figure early problems. “Healthy children start making that switch between counting to what’s called fact retrieval when they’re 8 years old to 9 years old when they’re still working on fundamental addition and subtraction. How well kids make that shift to memory-based problem-solving is known to predict their ultimate math achievement.”
“Stanford University researchers first peeked into the brains of 28 children as they solved a series of simple addition problems inside a brain-scanning MRI machine. The children were tested twice, roughly a year apart. As the kids got older, their answers relied more on memory and became faster and more accurate, and it showed in the brain. There was less activity in the prefrontal and parietal regions associated with counting and more in the brain’s memory center, the hippocampus. The stronger the connections, the greater each individual’s ability to retrieve facts from memory,” said Dr. Vinod Menon, a psychiatry professor at Stanford and the study’s senior author.”
“Next, Menon’s team put 20 adolescents and 20 adults into the MRI machines and gave them the same simple addition problems. It turns out that adults don’t use their memory-crunching hippocampus in the same way. Instead of using a lot of effort, retrieving six plus four equals 10 from long-term storage was almost automatic, Menon said.”
“If your brain doesn’t have to work as hard on simple math, it has more working memory free to process the teacher’s brand-new lesson on more complex math. ” The study provides new evidence that this experience with math actually changes the hippocampal patterns or the connections. They become more stable with skill development,” she said. “So learning your addition and multiplication tables and having them in rote memory helps.”
“Stanford’s Menon said the next step is to study what goes wrong with this system in children with math learning disabilities so that scientists might try new strategies to help them learn.”
The quote: “If your brain doesn’t have to work as hard on simple math, it has more working memory free to process the teacher’s brand-new lesson on more complex math.” really stuck out to me. I have always felt that math instruction needed to combine both the rote memory of basic facts and give students a good foundation in number sense and higher-order math skills. Unfortunately many of the different math curriculums out there today don’t emphasize both. It always seems like it is basic facts vs. high order thinking. Problem is good math students have BOTH of these skills in their repertoire and good math curriculum should contain both as well!
What are your thoughts regarding helping students become fluent in the basic facts? What are your tricks and tips?
