Deconstructing math questions

Please watch this presentation given by Dan Meyer at TEDxNYED in March 2010. When I first watched this video a few months ago I immediately became fascinated by Dan’s deconstruction of the math textbook question. His approach of deconstructing the question and placing elements into layers struck a chord with me. Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about how deconstructing and layering a question could be applied to large-scale assessment. A few years ago I would’ve had to give up on such an exploration. Until very recently, large-scale assessments were paper-delivered. Paper-based tests mean static presentation of item stimulus material, making it difficult to apply Dan’s techniques. However, thanks to the two assessment consortia, computer-based assessment has arrived. Now I can explore ways to apply Dan’s techniques to test questions by making the stimulus (the question) interactive. I have been visualizing items where new information is presented under certain circumstances, perhaps when asked for by the student or after the student answers part of the question. If you have seen an example of this, please share it. If not, I’d like to know whether you share my enthusiasm for creating test items that allow students to interact with the stimulus while answering the question.