Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments: A Report From the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project (NCES 2007-466)

This report describes results from the third and last field investigation in the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project, which explores the use of new technology in administering NAEP. (The first two focused on assessments of math and writing online.) In the TRE study, two extended scenarios within the domain of physical science were created for measuring students' ability to solve problems using technology. The TRE Search scenario required students to locate and synthesize information about scientific helium balloons from a simulated World Wide Web environment. The TRE Simulation scenario required students to conduct experiments of increasing complexity about relationships among buoyancy, mass and volume. These scenarios were delivered via school computers or on laptop computers taken into the schools. The sample was nationally representative, consisting of over 2,000 public school 8th grade students tested in 2003. Students were randomly assigned to the assessment scenarios. The TRE project was intended as an exploratory study of how NAEP can use technology to measure skills that cannot be easily measured by conventional paper-and-pencil means.