Implications of Cognitive Psychology for Authentic Assessment….pdf

Technical Report No. 69 Implications of Cognitive Psychology for Authentic Assessment and Instruction Robert Calfee May, 1994 Implications of Cognitive Psychology for Authentic Assessment and Instruction Robert Calfee Stanford University A Tale of Tensions This contribution reflects personal experiences and limitations. On the one hand, the topic is children and youth, and yet I am clearly a grown up. The audience is international, and yet I bring an admittedly U. S. perspective to the topic. The audience comprises policy makers, scholars, and practitioners, and it is unclear where a cognitive psychologist fits into this group, if anywhere. Finally, the International Commission is concerned with testing, yet my interests lean toward learning and teaching-the latter mainly as it has to do with the former. The title, slightly altered from the original assignment (will points will be taken off?), covers a lot of territory. For guidance through this treacherous terrain, I will rely on three overarching tensions: • The tension between cognitive and behavioral views of learning and thinking; • The tension betweenfactory-model and information-age models of schooling; • The tension between externally-mandated testing and internally-guided assessment. My text has a historical-narrative flow, partly because a story is easier to remember than an exposition, partly because that is the way my thinking has evolved. This summary highlights trends, and so neglects significant details. In the late 1950s when I began graduate work in psychology, behaviorism was at its peak, affecting theory and research in the behavioral sciences, and influencing practice in education, personnel selection, and other fields of human endeavor. By the time I completed my degree in 1963, t