An Evaluation procedure for chemical kinetics

Abstract

Both measurement and non-measurement techniques should be used for the evaluation procedure of students in the field of education. But non-measurement techniques such as observational techniques are difficult to use in countries such as Sri Lanka due to the less than ideal conditions that prevail. Therefore, an attempt was made to design and develop an evaluation instrument based on paper and pencil test. For this purpose, the chemical Kinetics Unit of the G.C.E. (A/L) syllabus was selected. The testing instrument (questionnaire) was distributed among sixty students randomly selected from two national schools in the Kandy district. The test instrument, once perfected, was expected to be used to, evaluate the knowledge of the students in the chosen area, as well as to grade them according to their abilities. The facility index and discrimination index of each question was determined by students responses. The questions which needed to be revised and improved were identified and tested again. During this process some misconceptions of the students could be identified. The results show that the evaluation instrument, with certain modifications could be utilized for the intended purpose satisfactorily. It can also be used as a self evaluation instrument in chemical kinetics.