Conceptests

Conceptests are conceptual multiple-choice questions that focus on a single concept, can’t be solved using equations, have good multiple choice answers, are clearly worded and are of intermediate difficulty. The questions are designed to force students to think through their arguments being developed and provide them, as well as the educator, a way to assess their understanding of the concept.

Conceptests can allow students to engage cognitive and meta-cognitive activity in their learning, asking them to consider what they don’t know as much as what they know. Concept questions usually describe a problem, event or situation and ask students to reason about it and select the best option out of a small set of alternatives. The incorrect responses should be constructed to represent common errors or misconceptions.

The student responses direct the educator’s next actions. Depending on the number of students answering correctly, educators may cover a concept again, prompt peer discussion or move onto another topic.

Conceptests are

effective for:

best to pair with:

  • Collaboration and cooperation
  • Identifying misconceptions
  • Critical thinking
  • Decision-making
  • Peer learning
  • Immediate feedback
  • In-class polling
  • Misconception check
  • Student generated Q&A
  • Think-pair-share
  • Top twenty

Example

A blood platelet drifts along with the flow of blood through an artery that is partially blocked by deposits.
As the platelet moves from the narrow region to the wider region, its speed:

  1. increases
  2. remains the same
  3. decreases

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