P. E. CONDON College of the City of New York, New York, N. Y.
Tm question discussed here is not, "Should examina-
plex-ion formation by which one could make the correct choice in answering this question. This type of question stimulates thought and study. Used on an examination, it tests a student's understanding of a useful principle and his ability to use that principle to solve a specific problem; it stimulates him to think in terms of principles rather than to rely on rote memory of facts; and if he has not mastered or understood the principle by the time he meets the question on an examination, it stimulates him to study and learn the principle because it shonrs him that the principle is something useful. I assume that chemistry is a science built up of a limited number of useful principles, each with some degree of generality in its application; and I conclude that the learning of chemistry is primarily a mastery of these principles, mastery meaning an ability to use them with facility and, where necessary, with critical evaluation. There is a great deal of factualinformation And I may say in passing that no educational system is possible chemical of course, but unless every question directly asked of a pupil at m y examination within the is either framed or modified by the actual teacher of that pupil the quality of a person's chemical education is not to in that subject. The external assessor may report on the curricu- be gaged either by the nature or by the number of facts lum or on the performance of the pupils, but never should be al- he has in his head, but rather by the way he holds the lowed to ask the pupil a question which has not been strictly supervised by the actual teacher, or a t least inspired by a long information and by what he is able to do with it, Now the development of useful skills, rather than the conference with him. transmitting of a mass of information, has long and Although this was published in this country as long ago widely been accepted as a valid principle and a worthy as 1929 a recent textbook on education states, "Edu- aim of education, B~~ the itself has been cators are just becoming aware of the potential value of tossed about as a fact and ignored .as guide to action, the examination as a means of guiding the student into just as the principles of democracy and christianity correct study habit^."^ are embraced by millions of persons who continue to I can illustrate the meaning of this from my own act in an autocratic and nn-Christian manner. And experience as a student-teacher. I so questions which require no more of the student than in Appendix I to the sixth edition of Hildebrand's recall of information read in a text or given in a lecture "Principles of Chemistry," the sample examination continue to make their appearance on college examinaquestion, tions in chemistry. An examination is an expression of a philosophy of Given that the elements A, B, C, D, and E have atomic numbers (nuclear charges) of 6,9, 13, 19, and 30, respectively. . . education. Study a formal examination and you will Which of the fallowing complex ions are stable? C(NH3L++, be able to outline its author~seducational objectiveD(NH&+, E(NH&+++, E(NHsX++.8 is it information or nnderstanding?-regardless of what I became aware that my own education in the principles he says his objective is and of what philosophy he of chemistry was incomplete. I became curious to preaches. His behavior in composing the examination learn the principles of electronic structure and com- speaks louder than his words. Therefore, teaching will be done with the examination rather than basing the examination on x W H I T E ~ A D , A. N., M T ~i~~ ~ ~ of ~ d ~and ~other~ E ~t - i in ~ mind, ~ says," The New American Library of World Literature, Ine., what has been "covered" and what the teacher thinks New York, p. 16. he has taught. In outlining the course the teacher 'BOSSING,N. L., "Teaching in Secondary Schools," Houghton e l l firsttabulate the types of problems he expects his Mi& Co., Cambridge, Mass., 1952, p. 247. students to be able to solve with ease after they have qHILDEBRILND, J, H,, uprineiples of chemistry,- 6th ed., ~h~ Maemillan Co., New York, 1952, p. 424. completed the course. These are his objectives. The
tions be abolished?" but the examination question itself: its nature and content and its relationship t o teaching method, especially as applied to the teaching of chemistry. But in considering the nature of the examination question, it is impossible to avoid thequestion, "Should examinations be abolished?" because it seems to me this question has its origin in widespread misunderstanding of what should be the nature of examination questions and the purpose of examinations. The examination is a powerful educational tool, but it is neither a sword of Damocles with which the instructor can induce the student t o cram information nor is it solely a gage of student achievement. It is a means of directing student thinking and study into profitable channels. This is very likely what Alfred North Whitehead had in mind when he wrote in his essay, "The Aims of Education" :I
AUGUST, 1954
actual teaching, then, will comprise a presentation of principles, the fewer the better, illustrations to make them clear and to show that they pertain to reality, and a working out of sample problems before the class. Learning on the student's part will he by doing and seeing, by working out sample problems which make use of the principles and which show him their utility and their relationship to reality. Where the ability to solve problems and answer questions by the application of useful principles is the objective of teaching, the student is always in a position to evaluate his own development and to know where he needs more practice. He knows (the teacher should tell him forthrightly) what he is expected to he able to do to make a score of 100 per cent on the final examination. This is not the case when the student is simply "held responsible for" all the material in so many chapters of a textbook. There is always the chance that something will be asked on the final examination which the student did not think was important enough to memorize. No one should he penalized for not knowing a t the time of an examination an obscure
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fact which those who got credit for knowing will have forgotten a month later. A frank and honest statement by the teacher of what is expected of each student should help to relieve the tension often associated with examinations and places the responsibility for mastery squarely upon the student. The results of the examination then will measure not so much the students' memories of uncorrelated facts as it will the teacher's ability to instill understanding of principles and to inflame his students with enough desire to learn and to understand that they will do their homework regularly. In summary, this article is a plea for more care in the composition of examinations and examination questions, for the use of questions which test mastery of well-defined skills, for making the development of these skills the objectives of teaching, for a forthright statement of these objectives to the students, and for the abolition of the practices of using examinations (quip zes) as inducements t o study and of giving examinations solely to establish a distribution of gradespractices which engender the question, "Should examinations be abolished?" and invite the answer, "Yes."
