An Exploration of Three-Dimensional Integrated Assessment for Computational Thinking

Computational thinking (CT) is a fundamental skill for students, and assessment is a critical factor in education. However, there is a lack of effective approaches to CT assessment. Therefore, we designed the Three-Dimensional Integrated Assessment (TDIA) framework in this article. The TDIA has two aims: one was to integrate three dimensions (directionality, openness, and process) into the design of effective assessment tasks; and the other was to assess comprehensively the three dimensions of CT including computational concepts, practices, and perspectives. Guided by the TDIA framework, we designed three pairs of tasks: closed forward tasks and closed reverse tasks, semiopen forward tasks and semiopen reverse tasks, and open tasks with a creative design report and open tasks without a creative design report. To further confirm each task’s applicability and its advantages and disadvantages, we conducted a test experiment at the end of the autumn semester in 2014 in a primary school for 3 weeks. The results indicated that (a) the reverse tasks were not more superior than the forward tasks; (b) the semiopen tasks and the open tasks were more effective than the closed tasks, and the semiopen tasks had higher difficulty and discrimination than the others; (c) the self-reports provided a helpful function for learning diagnosis and guidance; (d) the scores had no significant difference between the schoolboys and the schoolgirls in all six tasks; and (e) the six tasks’ difficulty and discrimination were all acceptable, and the semiopen tasks had higher difficulty and discrimination than the others. To effectively apply them, the following suggestions for teachers to design computational tasks are proposed: motivating students’ interest and enthusiasm, incorporating semifinished artifacts, involving learning diagnosis and guidance, and including multiple types of tasks in an assessment.