1. A computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform, either alone or in conjunction with one or more users, a method for administering a constructed response assessment item to a respondent, wherein the computer performs steps comprising: presenting a stimulus response stem requiring the respondent to demonstrate knowledge of a relationship between two or more concepts; providing the respondent at least one device uniquely associated with each of the two or more concepts, at least one device having at least one attribute that can be selectively manipulated by the respondent to change a relationship of that device with respect to at least one other device to construct an arrangement of devices representing a relationship between the concepts with which the devices in the arrangement are associated; storing a final value of the attributes of each of the devices in the arrangement constructed by the respondent; converting the stored attributes into a conceptual pattern associated with the arrangement constructed by the respondent by comparing the final values of the attributes of the devices of the arrangement so that the conceptual pattern represents at least one relationship between the devices in the arrangement as determined by a comparison of the final values of the attributes of the devices and not by the final values of the attributes of the devices; and comparing the conceptual pattern of the arrangement constructed by the respondent with a conceptual pattern of a pre-defined scoring rubric representing a pre-defined relationship between devices to determine whether or not the conceptual pattern associated with the arrangement constructed by the respondent matches the conceptual pattern of the scoring rubri; wherein the scoring rubric is a set of relationships between the two or more concepts and is independent of the devices associated with each concept.
4. The media of claim 1 , wherein the attribute of each device that can be manipulated includes one or more of size, length, height, spatial, orientation, color, direction of movement, speed of movement, sound, sound volume, pattern, shape, and time.