Elena V. Mirenkova

Test technologies are extremely widespread in the education system. Their large-scale application is primarily associated with the function of evaluating educational outcomes. In the current educational process, tests are actively used to accumulate grades and prepare for high-stakes exams. Other didactic potentials of test tasks are practically not considered. At the same time, domestic and foreign scientists, especially in recent decades, talk about the great pedagogical potential of test methods and recommend their widespread use for formative assessment, which allows you to receive quick feedback. Cognitive psychology has long proven the effect of testing, which is mainly associated with the work of memory: taking tests contributes to the long-term retention of information and knowledge. We proceed from the understanding that the areas of application of test methods with their numerous advantages, thanks to which tests have become so widely spread in educational practice, can be expanded up to the formation of creative abilities of students. The aim of the study was to clarify the didactic potential of the tasks in the test form and to determine the characteristics of the corresponding tasks. The methodological basis of the research was formed by the ideas of personality-oriented and activity-based approaches. As a result of the work carried out, a multidimensional comparative characteristic of tasks in the test form as learning tools and control means was given. We see an increase in the educational potential of tasks in the test form primarily in the direction of developing students' thinking (formation of systemic knowledge, skills to build speech utterances, give a detailed description of the studied object, apply logical techniques, work with different forms of information display) in parallel with the stimulation of their cognitive activity. In order to achieve the set didactic goals, promising models of tasks in a test form were identified. These are related tasks for additions, related tasks with the choice of an answer, related tasks for finding correlation, tasks for sequencing, tasks for eliminating unnecessary, related tasks with a matrix form of presenting a condition, tasks with choosing several correct answers, the number of which is not clearly defined, tasks with graphic elements in the content. The article provides examples of tasks based on the material of school and university chemistry courses. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the formulation of key questions about the application of the test method with learning objectives and in the detailed characterization of tasks in the test form in this context. The possibilities of various task models in stimulating the cognitive resources of students are proposed and characterized. The practical application of the proposed forms of test tasks in the current educational process will make it possible to diversify the profile of cognitive activity of students and increase the effectiveness of learning.

In the modern educational process, tasks in the test form are used extremely widely and mainly with a controlling purpose. The range of training tasks is much wider. A logical question is posed: are the tasks in the test form able to fully identify the educational achievements of the subjects? On the other hand, test tasks have a certain learning potential, which has not yet been sufficiently studied. Foreign researchers have accumulated much more experience in this area due to the different levels of the test method introduction into the educational practice of the domestic school at earlier historical stages and the period of prohibition of the theoretical development of this direction. Both Russian and foreign scientists emphasize not only the advantages of the test method, but also the danger of using it as the dominant form of control. The training functionality of test tasks, according to literary sources, is mainly due to better memorization of information, as well as the active use of the capabilities of modern digital technologies to provide prompt feedback, including complex one, with the presence of hints and the display of reference solutions during testing. Since the popularity of the test method is due to its numerous advantages, the purpose of this study was to try to draw these advantages to the current educational process. We assumed that not all forms of test tasks can be successfully reoriented to perform educational functions. The results of the study show that related tasks and tasks in matrix form have the greatest didactic potential. The article gives their detailed characteristics. It is emphasized that the basis of the design and application of any task is a didactic goal. The paper defines and specifies the dominant educational goals of using tasks in a test form. The characteristics of training test tasks that we previously identified are emphasized. It is shown what pedagogical effect the use of simple related, chain related tasks and tasks in matrix form has. Numerous examples of tasks are given. The theoretical significance of the article lies in the formulation of key questions about the application of the test method, in determining the forms of test tasks that have the greatest didactic potential, in identifying it, in the methodological characteristics of related tasks and tasks in matrix form. The practical application of the selected forms of test tasks in the current educational process will increase its effectiveness in such areas as: increasing the activity and independence of schoolchildren, diversifying the range of their cognitive activity, achieving subject and meta-subject results.