kohdeongelman

Kohdeongelman, literally meaning “target problem” in Finnish, is a concept in educational design describing a learning task crafted to elicit evidence about a learner’s mastery of a specific target concept or skill. The term emphasizes that the task is aimed at diagnosing a particular cognitive competency rather than measuring broad performance.

Design and features: A kohdeongelma typically states a precise learning objective, limits extraneous variables, and includes explicit success criteria. The task is designed to reveal whether students can apply the targeted concept in a recognizable context, often accompanied by prompts that surface common misconceptions. Scoring rubrics focus on the learner’s ability to demonstrate the targeted competence rather than on general problem-solving performance.

Applications: It is used in curriculum planning, formative assessment, and diagnostic assessment, especially in mathematics, science, and language learning. For instance, in mathematics a kohdeongelma might require students to justify whether a given relation is a function, thereby isolating the concept of function from mere graph interpretation. In science, such tasks can probe understanding of causality or experimental reasoning.

Reception and limitations: The approach is most developed in Finnish educational research and has been discussed as a tool for diagnostic insight and instructional guidance. Critics caution that kohdeongelmas can be sensitive to classroom culture and teacher interpretation, and that their reliability and validity depend on careful task design, clear criteria, and consistent scoring practices.

See also: diagnostic assessment, formative assessment, targeted assessment, curriculum design.