Comparing Practical Items in High-Stake Exams in Different Science Subjects: in View of the Diversity of Scientific Methods

This paper aimed to investigate how the diversity of scientific methods is represented in practical items of college entrance examinations from three science subjects in China. The study was conducted based on the theoretical framework derived from Brandon's Matrix consisting of four types of scientific methods. National Papers for comprehensive science examination in 2022 were selected as the analysis targets. The results revealed that the imbalanced representation of scientific methods existed in college entrance science examinations. The percentage of non-manipulative parameter measurement (NPM) was relatively high, while manipulative hypothesis testing (MHT) was presented in a limited capacity, indicating the practical items in China are less experimental. Furthermore, the distribution of the four types of scientific methods in practical items varied across the three science subjects. At the end of this paper, the implications of the findings and the suggestions for the further studies were discussed.