A Comparative Analysis of Cognitive Complexity of Nigerian Senior School Certificate Chemistry Examination Questions Constructed by Two Examination Bodies

Abstract

Using revised Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy Scale as a major categorization tool this paper presents a comparative analysis of cognitive complexity of West African Senior School Certificate Chemistry Examination questions constructed by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) between the periods of 2008-2012.  This research was guided by the four questions. (1)At what level of the revised Bloom’s cognitive Taxonomy of learning objectives does the chemistry examination questions constructed by the two examination bodies (between the periods of 2008 - 2012) require the learners to operate? (2) What discrepancies, if my, exist in the characteristics features of LOCS-type chemistry examination questions constructed by the two examination bodies between the periods of 2008-2012?  (3) What discrepancies, if any, exist in the characteristics features of HOCS-type chemistry examination questions constructed by the two examination bodies between the periods of 2008- 2012? (4) Are all categories of LOCS- and HOCS – type of chemistry examination questions featured in the test items constructed by the two examination bodies? The research data consisted of 475 questions from 10(5 per each examination body) Senior School Certificate Chemistry Examinations conducted by the WAEC and NECO between 2008 and 2012. Qualitative approach and content analysis method were employed in the research. The knowledge components (factual, conceptual, procedural, meta-cognitive), the categories of the cognitive skills (HOCS and LOCS) and the Expanded Framework for Analyzing General Chemistry Exams (EFAGCE) form the basis of the coding scheme used to analyzed data collected (examination questions). The examination questions were coded by two independent raters. The inter-rater reliability was high. The findings of this study indicate that the majority of the questions constructed by the two examination bodies required LOCS. In addition, there were slight discrepancies in the characteristics features of HOCS-type chemistry examination questions constructed by the two examinations bodies between the period of 2008-2012 in the sense that out of the four categories of HOCS-type chemistry examination questions that appeared in both examinations only one categories differs. The study also revealed that both the HOCS-type questions and LOCS-type questions were not evenly distributed for the periods of examination considered in this study. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the instructional objectives formulated on chemistry topics must incorporate HOCS so that examination questions can be based on these objectives and that all different categories of examination questions should be more evenly presented as test items in West African Senior School Certificate Chemistry Examinations.

Keywords: Chemistry examination questions, cognitive skills, examination bodies, Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy scale