PROPOSITION GENERATING TASK (PGT) - A MEASURE OF MEANINGFUL LEARNING AND OF CONCEPTUAL CHANGE

Diagnostic assessment is essential for ascertaining meaningful learnin g and requires the use of innovative strategies. In this study, we int roduce the proposition generating task (PGT), demonstrate its use, and describe results which show that it is an effective, reliable, and va lid measure. In the PGT, students are required to consider just two co ncepts at a time, and construct a full sentence to explain the nature of the link between these concepts. The purpose of the study is to dem onstrate the use of the PGT as a tool that can uncover students' under standing of the relationship between the concepts of photosynthesis an d respiration, before and after the study of photosynthesis.The propos itions generated in the pre-test and post-test were analysed and divid ed into six categories, and each proposition was also assigned a score on a scale of 0 to 4. Some of the unique advantages of the PGT over o ther strategies are as follows: (a) it requires neither special traini ng nor practice; (b) it is not time consuming; and (c) it is relativel y simple to assess.