Implementation of text-based assessment instead of cognition-based assessment in social studies course

Assessment of student performance has always been one of the teachers' concerns. Assessment should not be targeted solely on cognitive issues and retention.Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of trans-cognitive assessment on eighth grade students' social studies course in the academic year 2016.The assessment involved comprehension of the course’s instructional subjects. To obtain data on assessment results, two second-grade classes of the junior high school were asked to participate in the study. Independent samples t-test and SPSS software were used to analyze the obtained data. The results showed that in the cognitive test, (a) and (b) obtained mean scores of 12.77 and 11.57, respectively.But in the next test which was non-cognitive for class (a) and cognitive for class (b), a mean difference of 4 points was observed. To confirm this result, a completely non-cognitive test was administered in class (a) and a test with a semi-cognitive and a non-cognitive part was administered in class (b).The mean score of class(b) in non-cognitive section was equal to that of class (a).However, in cognitive section mean score of class(b) differed from that of class (a). Also, in the comparison of class (b) with itself, in cognitive questions the mean score was 10.44 but in non-cognitive questions the mean score was 16.44.From this experiment, it can be concluded that the same students who obtained low mean scores on the cognitive test obtained better mean scores on the non-cognitive test with an improvement of about 4-5 points.