Simulations and Serious Games: Higher Order Thinking Skills Assessment

Simulations and Serious Games: Higher Order Thinking Skills Assessment

Authors

  • Victoria Van Voorhis
     CEO, Second Avenue Learning
  • Benjamin Paris
     Director of Learning Design and Assessment, Second Avenue Learning, 280 Broad Street, Suite 310 Rochester, NY 14604

Keywords:

Game Based Assessments, Higher Order Thinking Skills, Maker Spaces, Martha Madison, Serious Games

Abstract

Measuring the higher order thinking skills that are crucial for success in the rapidly evolving workplace remains a prominent challenge. Traditional assessment item types, such as multiple choice are hard-pressed to effectively measure creativity, collaboration, and communication, and their use to measure critical thinking skills is always controversial. Without reliable and valid assessment, these crucial skills are often neglected given that our learning environments focus so heavily on quantifiable results. However, simulations and serious games can provide a way to measure the higher-order thinking skills, which is a necessary step in improving them. Interactive environments that are complex, nuanced, and open for exploration provide the canvas that learners can use to demonstrate and expand their skills, and assessment connected to or embedded within those experiences can provide evidence that those skills are present or developing.

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Published

2019-05-14

How to Cite

Voorhis, V. V., & Paris, B. (2019). Simulations and Serious Games: Higher Order Thinking Skills Assessment. Journal of Applied Testing Technology, 20(S1), 35–42. Retrieved from http://www.jattjournal.net/index.php/atp/article/view/142700

Issue

Volume 20, Special Issue 1[Game Based Assessment], 2019

Section

Articles

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