The Effect of Collaborative Testing on Students’ Conceptual Understanding in Physics

This study explored the use of formative collaborative testing and its effect on students’ conceptual understanding and concept retention, and determined which among the six features of collaborative testing is/are most evident in the collaboration process. A quasi-experimental study was conducted where two intact classes enrolled in the Grade 12 STEM strand were selected to serve as the experimental group (N=22), herein referred to as CG, and the control group (N=20), herein referred to as IG. Both IG and CG were taught using the same content and mode of instruction. However, the IG was tested individually whereas the CG was tested collaboratively. A pretest was given to both groups before the treatment and a posttest after treatment. Subsequently, a retention test was administered to both groups exactly one week later. Independent samples t-tests were used for both the posttest and retention test scores to determine the effects of formative collaborative testing on students’ conceptual understanding and retention, respectively. Statistical analysis of the t-test for posttest revealed no significant difference between the two groups, which asserts that collaborative testing does not improve students’ conceptual understanding any better than individual testing. However, the t-test results for the retention test revealed a significant difference between the CG and IG, which suggests that conceptual understanding is more stable for the CG students over time. Therefore, the CG students are more likely to recall previously learned concepts than the IG students. Based on the survey, students regarded Interpersonal Reward Structure as the feature of collaborative testing that is most evident in their experience.