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SECTION 1: ASSESSING ACTIVE LEARNING This chapter presents assessment from three vantage points: the classroom level, the national level, and the international level. This approach will provide your students with specific strategies to use to assess classroom instruction, as well as inform them about recent emphases on national and international comparisons of science progress. To augment the constructivist approach advocated in previous chapters, this chapter presents assessment tools for an active learning environment. Initial Case Study: Mrs. Cronin's Whirlybird Project: Assessment in Action? How should student learning be assessed by classroom teachers? This case study helps raise this question by having your students assess an evaluation procedure used by a classroom teacher--namely performance assessement. In the case, a group of preservice science teachers observe a teacher in action doing the "Whirlybird project" with her students. It's a hands-on activity, and the teacher explains that she is using it as a "test" or assessment procedure. Use this case study to begin the chapter, because it will help you preview the prior experiences your students have with assessment, and their attitude toward performance assessement. A Model for Assessment The NSES and the Benchmarks presents a vision of a scientifically literate populace as the goal of science education. You might use the questions posed on page 302 to discuss with your students their views on a model for assessment. The questions guiding a model would include:
Assessing Classroom Learning I've presented three types of assessment methods (informal, semiformal, and formal) and you might use them to organize a brief overview of assessment in the classroom. They include:
There are two Inquiry Activities in this section that you can use to organize the content of this section, and they are: Inquiry Activity 8.1: Designing an Assessment Plan This inquiry activity is designed to be used in conjunction with a miniunit or unit of teaching that your students have developed. The students will have to make use of the content presented in pages 300-311 on multiple methods of classroom assessment. You can tailor the activity by altering the procedures---having the students do a few of the 5 procedures on page 301. Inquiry Activity 8.2: Designing Performance Assessment Tasks and Rubrics In this inquiry you are going to lead the students in the development of a performance assessment. You might have the students read the section on pp. 308-309 on performance assessment, and note the examples. I recommend that you have students work in teams to develop the performance assessment, and then present to their peers. In the inquiry, students should select a Big Idea from Table 8.5 which was developed by identifying one idea from the 8 content areas from the National Science Education Standards. |
Assessing Science Learning at the National Level  I recommend that you preview the Nation's Report Card website which will provide information and graphics that you can use with your students to explore the Federal Government's program of long- and short-term assessment of educational progress. At the website you will find this statement: "The NAEP 2005 assessment in science will be administered in schools throughout the country from January 24 to March 4, 2005. National assessments will be conducted at grades 4, 8, and 12. State assessments will be conducted at grades 4 and 8 only. Results will be released in the spring of 2006." You can examine the year 2000 results online, as well as read abouit them in The Art of Teaching, pp,. 311-321. Long-term Trend Assessment Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has conducted a series of assessments involving students at various grade levels every 3 - 5 years (in science). The assessments looked at achievement, attitudes, and experiences in science. Proficiency Levels and Test Items To examine trends and make comparisons, the NAEP established five levels of proficiency, and designed test items for each level, and used these levels to design tests at various age levels, e.g. 9, 13 & 17. You might want to present the levels to your class, and use a few of the sample items with them (see pp. 314-315).
Figure 8.1: Trends in Average Scale Scores for the Nation in Science To give your students an idea of the kinds of achievement and attitudinal questions used in the studies, you might want to have do Inquiry 8.3. Inquiry Activity 8.3: Surveying Students' Knowledge and Attitudes About Science In this Inquiry, your students will use a science survey instrument comprised of five achievement questions, and 6 attitudinal questions. The achievement questions are the five questions you will find on pages 314-315, one from each of the Proficiency Levels. The test instrument can be used with one or more groups:
After administration of the instrument, students can analyze the data, and then participatde in a class discussion that focues on results, differences among the groups studied, attitudes toward science, and the NAEP process. Assessing Science at the International Level Although controversial, The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has conducted international assessments of mathematics and science since the 1960s. In 1995, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) collected data in forty-one countries. In 1999, the results for the TIMSS-R data were released. In December, 2004, the results of the TIMSS 2003 comparative study of student achievement in mathematics and science in 49 countries was released. You might find it interesting to use the sites to show how your country has compared to others in 1995, 1999, and 2003. Here are some quick links to show you how you might use the tables of results.
SECTION 2: SCIENCE TEACHER GAZETTE Think Pieces The think pieces for this chapter provide questions that focus on a range of issues regarding assessment, from the classroom level, to the national and international level. Case Study: The False Crisis in Science Education In this case (p. 323), a reporter challenges the status quo that there is a crisis in science education. Her comments are used to engage your students in a debate about the status of science education. An excellent article published in Scientific American (October, 1999) related to this case is "The False Crisis in Science Education," by W. Wayt Gibbs and Douglas Fox. Research Matters: Science Literacy: Lessons from the First Generation by Marlene M. Hurley This paper provides a brief overview of the concept of science literacy through its conceptual lineage and current research. A few websites mentioned in the article include: Problems and Extensions You might want to use Problem and Extension #4 to link with the countries featured in Chapter 4 (Australia, Chile, China, Ghana, Russia) in terms of international assessment results. Readings You will find several key books on the recent trends in assessment listed here. On the Web The Web contains a multitude of resources on assessement. I've included a few for quick links.
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Table
8.1. Observing student informally in small groups can
be accomplished by using a chart such as the one shown
here.
