Using Rasch Measurement to Develop Model-Based Reasoning Assessment Tasks

Abstract

This chapter details the role that Rasch measurement played in the development of an assessment instrument that can be used to measure the complex science learning described in the Next Generation Science Standards during a large-scale efficacy study. Four model-based reasoning (MBR) tasks were developed and tested along with content-focused (CF) items with high-school biology students, high-school biology teachers, and crowd-sourced adults. Rasch modeling was used to investigate the relative difficulties of the items within the tasks, explore the relationship between performance on the MBR tasks and the CF items, and compare the performance of students, teachers, and adults.