1.
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information below into your school-based assessment instrument template.
2.
Delete the information that is not relevant to your assessment, e.g. if the task is for Year 11, delete the Year 12
conditions. Information is provided in tables, so to delete, highlight the row you wish to remove, right click, and
select Delete Rows.
3.
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QCAA# 141010
Insert school-specific information, e.g. school name, logo
Philosophy and Reason
Assessment instrument: Examination — Short response test
 Typically consist of a number of items, which involve students responding to questions, diagrams, tables,
statements, quotes, passages, articles.
 Occur under supervised conditions; students produce work individually and in a set time to ensure authenticity.
 Items will be in response to questions or statements which are typically unseen. If seen, teachers must ensure the
purpose of this technique is not compromised.
 Stimulus materials may also be used and may be seen or unseen.
 Unseen questions, statements or stimulus materials should not be copied from information or texts that students
have previously been exposed to or have directly used in class.
 Items may include activities that require:
- explanations longer than one sentence
- ideas maintained, developed and justified
- full sentence responses, constructing a piece of prose that may have one or several paragraphs.
 Items may require students to construct, use, interpret or analyse primary or secondary data, graphs, tables or
diagrams, exerts from text or philosophical statements, media messages, scholarly articles or hypotheses.
 Items may include multiple-choice and sentence answers. These types of questions, while useful for assessing
content knowledge, are difficult to construct if trying to elicit meaningful higher order cognitive responses.
Assessment instrument: Examination — Extended response test
 Require students to demonstrate sustained analysis, synthesis and evaluation in their responses.
 Occur under supervised conditions; students produce work individually in a set time to ensure authenticity.
 Students respond to stimulus (materials/sources/concepts) that may be seen or unseen, and a seen or unseen
question or statement. In Year 12 the question will be unseen.
 When an extended response is chosen for an exam, it is best if it is the only item, as this will better allow students
to demonstrate the full range of standards.
Dimensions to be assessed
This assessment technique is best used to determine student achievement in objectives from the dimensions:
 Knowledge and understanding
 Application and analysis
 Evaluation and synthesis.
Assessment conditions: Short response test — Year 11
Recommended duration:
Response length:
Stimulus material:
Questions/statements:
1.0–1.5 hours
50–250 words per response
seen or unseen
seen or unseen
Assessment conditions: Short response test — Year 12
Recommended duration:
Response length:
Stimulus material:
Questions/statements:
1.5–2.0 hours
50–250 words per response
seen or unseen
seen or unseen
Assessment conditions: Extended response test — Year 11
Recommended duration:
Response length:
Stimulus material:
Question/statement:
1
1.0–1.5 hours
400–600 words per response
seen or unseen
seen or unseen
Assessment conditions: Extended response test — Year 12
Recommended duration:
Response length:
Stimulus material:
Question/statement:
2
1.5–2.0 hours
600–800 words per response
seen or unseen
unseen
1.
Replace the red text with your school- and task-specific information.
2.
Make the standards instrument-specific. (Words may not be added to the standards except to specify the terminology, concepts, methods, principles and theories, procedures
and techniques, ideas and information, arguments, ideas, arguments and theories, views and issues, conclusions, and audiences and purposes.)
3.
The following words may be used in the singular: concepts, methods, principles and theories, procedures and techniques, ideas and information, arguments, ideas, arguments
and theories, views and issues, conclusions, and audiences and purposes.
4.
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5.
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Insert school-specific information (if required)
3
Instrument-specific standards matrix
Knowledge and understanding
Standard A
Application and analysis
Standard C
Standard D
Standard E
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
 detailed and accurate
 accurate definitions and
 definitions and appropriate
 vague definitions or
 inaccurate definitions or
definitions and effective use of
terminology
 coherent and comprehensive
explanation of relevant
concepts, methods, principles
and theories
 accurate execution of complex
procedures and techniques of
logic and reasoning
 use of well-chosen language
conventions suited to purpose
and audience.
effective use of terminology
 comprehensive explanation of
relevant concepts, methods,
principles and theories
 accurate execution of
procedures and techniques of
logic and reasoning
 use of appropriate language
conventions suited to purpose
and audience.
use of terminology
 explanation of relevant
concepts, methods, principles
and theories
 execution of basic procedures
and techniques of logic and
reasoning
 use of language conventions
suited to purpose and
audience.
inappropriate use of
terminology
 incomplete explanation of
concepts, methods, principles
and theories
 variable execution of basic
procedures and techniques of
logic and reasoning
 use of language conventions
inappropriate use of
terminology
 unclear explanation of
concepts, methods, principles
and theories
 inconsistent execution of
basic procedures and
techniques of logic and
reasoning
 unclear or inconsistent use of
suited to aspects of the
purpose and audience.
language conventions.
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
 detailed and informed
 informed interpretation of
 interpretation of relevant ideas
 interpretation of basic ideas
 simplistic interpretation of
interpretation of relevant ideas
and information
 detailed and accurate
deconstruction of relevant
arguments into constituent
parts
 insightful determination of
significant relationships within
and between ideas,
arguments and theories
 coherent selection and logical
sequencing of subject matter.
4
Standard B
relevant ideas and information
 accurate deconstruction of
and information
 deconstruction of relevant
relevant arguments into
constituent parts
arguments into constituent
parts
 informed determination of
 determination of relationships
significant relationships within
and between ideas,
arguments and theories
 effective selection and
sequencing of subject matter.
within and between ideas,
arguments and theories
 selection and sequencing of
subject matter.
and information
 deconstruction of arguments
into some constituent parts
 determination of basic
relationships within and
between ideas, arguments
and theories
 varied selection and
sequencing of subject matter.
basic ideas or information
 simplistic deconstruction of
arguments
 simplistic determination of
basic relationships within and
between ideas, arguments or
theories
 illogical or inappropriate
selection and sequencing of
subject matter.
Evaluation and synthesis
Standard A
Standard C
Standard D
Standard E
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
The student work has the
following characteristics:
 coherent and thorough
 coherent synthesis of ideas
 synthesis of ideas and
 superficial synthesis of ideas
 simplistic synthesis of some
synthesis of ideas and
information
 insightful evaluation of
philosophical theories, views
and issues
 sophisticated and thoroughly
justified conclusions
 sophisticated arguments that
thoroughly communicate
meaning and points of view.
5
Standard B
and information
 considered evaluation of
philosophical theories, views
and issues
 informed and well justified
information
 evaluation of philosophical
theories, views and issues
 conclusions with justification
conclusions
 informed arguments that
effectively communicate
meaning and points of view.
and information
 superficial evaluation of
philosophical theories, views
and issues
 plausible conclusions with
some basic justification
 arguments that communicate
meaning and points of view.
 superficial arguments that
communicate meaning and
points of view.
ideas or information
 simplistic evaluation of
philosophical theories, views
and issues
 improbable or some simplistic
conclusions
 simplistic arguments that
communicate some meaning
or points of view.