The effects of classroom testing frequency on student achievement in tenth-grade biology in Saudi Arabia
[Thesis]
A. S. S. Khalaf
G. S. Hanna
Kansas State University
1989
124
Ph.D.
Kansas State University
1989
This study examined the effect of testing frequency on student achievement and retention in a tenth-grade biology course in Saudi Arabia. Random cluster sampling was used to select over two thousand tenth-grade biology students in all-male high schools in the country's four most populous school districts. Whole schools were randomly assigned to treatment groups within each of the four school districts. Each control class was quizzed by its teacher on the monthly basis that is standard throughout the country. Experimental classes were quizzed twice a month by their teachers. Frequency of quizzing was the only way in which differing treatments were fostered for experimental and control classes. These teacher-made quizzes were developed by the respective teachers in total independence from the process by which the criterion measures were developed. Two criterion measures were developed, one to assess end-of-course learning and the other to measure retention three months later. These two instruments were developed by the investigator and reviewed by two Ministry Science Supervisors. Each of these parallel objective tests contained 32 items designed to measure the nationally standardized tenth-grade biology curriculum. Results from the end-of-course criterion measure were obtained from 997 students in the experimental group and 954 in the control group. Scores on the delayed retention criterion were secured from 901 experimental students and 825 control students. Students' previous year's scores on the National Science Test were used (a) as a covariate and (b) as a blocking variable by which students were sorted into three achievement levels. Both ANCOVA and ANOVA revealed significant differences (usdpusd <.001) favoring the experimental group over the control group on both the end-of-course criterion test and the delayed recall criterion test. For each measure, the effect size was.30. Interaction with achievement level was present, but not ordinal; in general, differences between experimental and control groups were greatest for high achieving students. It was concluded that more frequent classroom testing would clearly be beneficial for male Saudi tenth-grade biology students and would likely be beneficial for students in other grades and subjects.