Using Process Data of Task Performance in Creative Thinking Assessment

Creative thinking is an important skill of the modern world, and its assessment with the help of modern digital tools is becoming an increasingly complex methodological task. The inclusion of process data of task performance in the assessment model of creative thinking is a promising direction that becomes possible in computer testing. The use of such data allows us to consider the processes of creative thinking in dynamics, which makes the assessment of the level of creativity of students more accurate and multifaceted. The purpose of the study was to determine the possibility of using process data of task performance as part of evaluating creative thinking using a tool in a digital environment. The paper presents an analysis of the work of 823 4th grade students who, during the assignment, created images in a closed simulation environment to assess creative and critical thinking. The analysis of process data of completing tasks performance took place using N-grams of various lengths. As a result, the sequences of actions of students with different levels of creative thinking were compared, and various strategies of behavior of the test takers were identified in task for creative thinking compared with a task for critical thinking. Together with information about the level of creativity based on the analysis of the created product, process data of task performance improves the understanding of the functioning of tasks through the prism of the task execution process by the test takers. It also makes a step forward in detailing the feedback that can be obtained as part of testing.