Short answer questions can assess deep understanding and reasoning skills by requiring students to provide brief responses to questions. They have advantages like targeting specific objectives and avoiding cueing students to answers, but disadvantages like fragmenting content and limiting elaboration. To construct effective short answer questions for deep reasoning, educators should identify the specific thinking skill to assess, make questions precise, and use direct questions over incomplete statements when possible.

1. Short Answer Assesses deep understanding and reasoning skills when students are required to supply a brief response to a question or situation that can only be understood by the use of the targeted thinking skill.

2. A large proportion of assessment items make use of short answer questions of some form (in assignments, quizzes, examinations, laboratory tests).

3. Short Answer Response Formats one word, several lines, or over a page

4. complete the sentence, supply the missing line

5. short descriptive or qualitative answers, diagrams with explanation

6. Short Answer Advantages Question can be addressed towards the testing of a specific objective or thinking skill.

7. Avoids cueing by requiring students to supply an answer, rather than selecting or guessing from options supplied.

8. Short Answer Disadvantages Individual questions for individual objectives fragment the subject and reduce the likelihood that students will look for the relationship between objectives.

9. It is difficult to address reasoning tasks, such as decision making and critical thinking because students don't have the opportunity to elaborate.

10. Short Answer Constructing for Deep Reasoning Think about the specific thinking skill you would like to assess (Bloom's taxonomy, Ennis's critical thinking, Quellmalz and Hoskyn's reasoning skills)

11. Make the questions precise

12. Direct questions are better than incomplete statements

13. If a numerical answer is required, indicate the units and degree of precision required

14. Short Answer Examples of Deep Understanding Skills implications of something

15. student reaction to

16. different points of view

17. making predictions

18. Short Answer Example Deductive Reasoning Coach Greene substitutes his basketball players by height, so that the first substitute is the tallest player on the bench, the next substitute is the next tallest, and so forth. Reginald is taller than Sam, and Juan is taller than Reginald. Which of these three players should Coach Greene play first?