Problem solving and critical thinking: assessing performance among 15-year olds in India and Vietnam
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Transcript of Problem solving and critical thinking: assessing performance among 15-year olds in India and Vietnam
Problem solving and critical thinking: assessing
performance among 15 year olds in India and Vietnam
Padmini Iyer (Young Lives, University of Oxford)
Caine Rolleston (UCL Institute of Education)
UKFIET 2017
Oxford, 7 September 2017@yloxford
@padmini_iyer
@caine_rolleston #YLEducation
21st Century Skills: an introduction
Assessing problem solving and critical thinking in India
and Vietnam: the Young Lives study
Findings:
• How do students in India and Vietnam perform on
our problem solving and critical thinking tests?
• How can we explain performance in problem
solving and critical thinking?
OUTLINE
Introduction
21ST CENTURY SKILLS
Learning quality at secondary level: going beyond curriculum
knowledge and foundational skills
‘Critically needed skills to enable success in terms of
employment, health and personal wellbeing’ (Rankin et al 2015)
‘Crucial ingredient for disadvantaged youth to get and keep
jobs’ (Moore & Novy-Marx 2016)
21ST CENTURY SKILLS
Transferable Skills
(World Bank 2014)
21st Century Skills
(P21 2015)
Transversal competencies
(UNESCO 2016)
Assessing problem solving and critical
thinking in India and Vietnam
INTRODUCTION TO YOUNG LIVES
Longitudinal survey of 12000 children in 4 countries running for
15 years: Ethiopia, India (AP & Telangana), Peru & Vietnam
Pro-poor sample: 20 sites in each country selected to reflect
national diversity
School surveys introduced in 2010: sub-sample of Young Lives
children and their peers
2016-17 school surveys: Ethiopia (upper primary), India (lower
secondary) & Vietnam (upper secondary)
Learning progress in Maths and English; student performance in
transferable skills (problem solving and critical thinking)
ASSESSING PROBLEM SOLVING & CRITICAL THINKING
Problem solving
‘an individual’s capacity to use cognitive processes to
resolve real, cross-disciplinary situations where the solution
path is not immediately obvious’ (OECD 2004)
Items adapted from PISA 2003
Skills assessed included:
• Decision-making – deciding on the quickest and
cheapest bus journey between two points
• Trouble-shooting – working out why an irrigation system
isn’t working
ASSESSING PROBLEM SOLVING & CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking
‘Skills such as inference and evaluation which are applied to
ill-structured problems, for which there are no definitive
solutions’ (Kuhn 1991; Thomas & Lok 2015)
Items adapted from CWRA+
Skills assessed included:
• Identifying points of agreement between two opposing
perspectives
• Evaluating reliability of information presented (including
potential bias)
ASSESSING PROBLEM SOLVING & CRITICAL THINKING
Can we compare problem solving and critical thinking
performance in India and Vietnam?
Cross-country calibration process:
• IRT analysis of test data from the two countries
together
• Identifying differential item functioning
Results:
• Problem solving tests worked differently in the two
countries – so can’t directly compare problem solving
performance in the two countries
• Critical thinking tests worked similarly in the two
countries – so can directly compare critical thinking
performance in the two countries
Problem solving and critical thinking:
student performance
CRITICAL THINKING LEVELS
%19.6%
%30.6%
%49.8%
%11.3%
%37.5%
%51.2%
INDIAVIETNAM
Level 3: Competent critical thinkers
Level 2: Basic critical thinkers
Level 1: Emergent critical thinkers
Level 1: Basic problem solvers
Level 2: Competent problem solvers
Extra Classes (comprehension)
Energy Needs (comprehension)
Energy Needs (comprehension)
Journey (comprehension)
Extra classes
Journey (partial credit)
IrrigationJourney (full credit)
Energy NeedsExtra Classes (partial credit)
Extra Classes (full credit)
Below Level 1: Weak or emergent problem solvers
Level 1: Basic problem solvers
Level 2: Competent problem solvers
PROBLEM SOLVING LEVELS: VIETNAM
%14.8%
%42.7%
%42.5%
PROBLEM SOLVING LEVELS: INDIA
%20.8%
%41.2%
%38.0%Extra Classes (comprehension)
Energy Needs (comprehension)
Journey (comprehension)
Extra classes
Journey (partial credit)
Journey (full credit)
Energy Needs
Below Level 1: Weak or emergent problem solvers
Level 1: Basic problem solvers
Level 2: Competent problem solvers
Explaining problem solving and
critical thinking skills?
PERFORMANCE ON MATHS & PROBLEM SOLVING: INDIA
PERFORMANCE ON MATHS & PROBLEM SOLVING: VIETNAM
CONCLUSIONS
Student performance:
Performance on problem solving and critical thinking in India and Vietnam is broadly similar
• Half the students in each country are ‘emergent’ critical thinkers
• A slightly higher proportion of students in Vietnam are ‘competent’ critical thinkers
• Majority of students in both countries are ‘basic’ or ‘competent’ problem solvers
Explaining problem solving and critical thinking performance:
Relationship between high performance in school subjects and problem solving?
• Generally positive relationship – but there are schools in both countries where students
score highly in problem solving and not in Maths
• Further questions: school, teacher and student factors associated with high performance in
problem solving & critical thinking?
Thank you!
Any questions or comments?
@caine_rolleston
@padmini_iyer