Examining the validity and reliability of concept map-based tests scoring methods

Concept maps usage expanding as an academic achievement measurement tools great a challenge in scoring them. This study introduces three scoring methods of the concept maps tests: (1) relational method that in which a relationship between concepts separately was scored. (2) structural method that based on scores was given to hierarchical organization of the concepts. (3) similarity method that in which a student’s concept map compares with a teacher’s concept map and assign score for each section of the map. The objective of the present research was to examining the validity and reliability of concept map-based tests scoring methods. critical validity, interpreter reliability and discriminative reliability were used to identify the most appropriate method of scoring. the subjects of the research comprised 105 high school students in Tabriz city who were present in four classes. Results showed that the relational method of scoring has higher quantities of the indicators than other methods. Similarity scoring method has the lowest indices in comparison with two other methods. These findings may have some implications in evaluating student's academic achievement which will be discussed in this paper.