Design tests to reduce over- and underchallenge and increase perceived intrinsic value¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Based on the finding that test boredom stems from non-optimal challenge and low perceived value, the authors recommend adapting test design: "Test boredom could be mitigated by designing tests such that over- or underchallenge are reduced, and by increasing the perceived intrinsic value of tests." This means matching task difficulty to student ability and making test content subjectively interesting, since low intrinsic and extrinsic value provide a route to boredom especially in low-stakes testing.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Test tasks spanning difficulty levels appropriate to students' ability; attention to the perceived importance of the test for individual students

Constraints¶

• The article notes whether a test is experienced as low- or high-stakes depends on individual students' judgments, so perceived value varies across students even for the same test

Target Learners¶

• school students taking classroom, standardized, low-stakes, or high-stakes tests

Target Learning Goals¶

• reducing test boredom and its negative relations with achievement

Affordances¶

• Control Value Theory Test Boredom

Claims¶

• Test boredom relates positively to over- and underchallenge and negatively to intrinsic and extrinsic value [+M]
• Abundance hypothesis: state test boredom relates negatively to performance on the difficult test part but not the easy part [+M]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Goetz, T., Bieleke, M., Yanagida, T., Krannich, M., Roos, A.-L., Frenzel, A. C., Lipnevich, A. A., & Pekrun, R. (2023). Test boredom: Exploring a neglected emotion. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://osf.io/ftr4g/?view_only=beac4ca87987492294aeac4a1bb96c86