ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy can be used to assess student reasoning, problem-solving, and learning. The SOLO taxonomy describes the increasing complexity involved in learning and includes levels that range from (1) pre-structural level of understanding (e.g., student has no knowledge or disconnected bits of information); (2) unistructural level (i.e., student can recall, use terminology, name, and perform simple instructions); (3) multi-structural level (i.e., student can describe, classify, and execute procedures); (4) relational level (i.e., student can compare, analyse, relate, and explain use and effect); and (5) extended abstract level (i.e., student able to transfer and generalise understandings to other topics, critique, hypothesise, and theorise – typical of intellectual maturity). The focus in this chapter is on how the SOLO taxonomy has been used as a way of gauging the complexity involved in students’ reasoning, problem-solving, and learning during inquiry science activities.
