Using AI to Assess Open-ended Scientific Questions

Open-ended scientific questions stimulate students’ creative thinking and scientific reasoning. Unlike traditional formats such as multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions, open-ended tasks do not have fixed answers. They encourage students to analyse problems from multiple perspectives, propose original and diverse ideas, and evaluate and improve existing solutions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can assist teachers in processing student responses more efficiently, enhancing the feasibility of assessing open-ended tasks. Teachers can use AI systems for:

• Designing and fine-tuning open-ended science questions with creative challenges that encourage students to generate diverse ideas
• Developing clear assessment rubrics that evaluate originality of ideas, diversity of ideas, and evaluating and improving existing solutions
• Automatically identifying scientific concepts and reasoning steps in students’ answers
• quickly sorting through large sets of responses and perform analysis
• Providing preliminary marking and personalised feedback based on defined assessment criteria

Note: Teachers should ensure that all AI-assisted assessment results are reviewed by teachers and adopt professional discretion based on classroom context.

Explore the teacher guides and resources below to learn how to design open-ended science tasks, develop effective assessment rubrics, and integrate AI technologies to enhance learning and teaching effectiveness of Junior Secondary Science.

• Teacher's Guide

• Reference materials (Chinese version only)
• Sample lesson worksheet (Chi / Eng)
• Sample questions : Nurturing Scientific Creative Thinking (Eng)

Note: Teachers may refer to the above sample questions and use AI tools to adapt, revise, and produce a translated version.