Assessing Science Learning

Assessing Science Learning

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  • Author: Janet Coffey
  • Publisher: NSTA Press
  • ISBN: 1933531401
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 505


Assessing Science Understanding

Assessing Science Understanding

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  • Author: Joel J. Mintzes
  • Publisher: Academic Press
  • ISBN: 0080575331
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 407

Recent government publications like "Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy" and "Science for all Americans" have given teachers a mandate for improving science education in America. What we know about how learners construct meaning--particularly in the natural sciences--has undergone a virtual revolution in the past 25 years. Teachers, as well as researchers, are now grappling with how to better teach science, as well as how to assess whether students are learning. Assessing Science Understanding is a companion volume to Teaching Science for Understanding, and explores how to assess whether learning has taken place. The book discusses a range of promising new and practical tools for assessment including concept maps, vee diagrams, clinical interviews, problem sets, performance-based assessments, computer-based methods, visual and observational testing, portfolios, explanatory models, and national examinations.


Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards

Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards

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  • Author: National Research Council
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 0309289548
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 288

Assessments, understood as tools for tracking what and how well students have learned, play a critical role in the classroom. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards develops an approach to science assessment to meet the vision of science education for the future as it has been elaborated in A Framework for K-12 Science Education (Framework) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These documents are brand new and the changes they call for are barely under way, but the new assessments will be needed as soon as states and districts begin the process of implementing the NGSS and changing their approach to science education. The new Framework and the NGSS are designed to guide educators in significantly altering the way K-12 science is taught. The Framework is aimed at making science education more closely resemble the way scientists actually work and think, and making instruction reflect research on learning that demonstrates the importance of building coherent understandings over time. It structures science education around three dimensions - the practices through which scientists and engineers do their work, the key crosscutting concepts that cut across disciplines, and the core ideas of the disciplines - and argues that they should be interwoven in every aspect of science education, building in sophistication as students progress through grades K-12. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards recommends strategies for developing assessments that yield valid measures of student proficiency in science as described in the new Framework. This report reviews recent and current work in science assessment to determine which aspects of the Framework's vision can be assessed with available techniques and what additional research and development will be needed to support an assessment system that fully meets that vision. The report offers a systems approach to science assessment, in which a range of assessment strategies are designed to answer different kinds of questions with appropriate degrees of specificity and provide results that complement one another. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards makes the case that a science assessment system that meets the Framework's vision should consist of assessments designed to support classroom instruction, assessments designed to monitor science learning on a broader scale, and indicators designed to track opportunity to learn. New standards for science education make clear that new modes of assessment designed to measure the integrated learning they promote are essential. The recommendations of this report will be key to making sure that the dramatic changes in curriculum and instruction signaled by Framework and the NGSS reduce inequities in science education and raise the level of science education for all students.


Classroom Assessment and the National Science Education Standards

Classroom Assessment and the National Science Education Standards

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  • Author: National Research Council
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 030906998X
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 129

The National Science Education Standards address not only what students should learn about science but also how their learning should be assessed. How do we know what they know? This accompanying volume to the Standards focuses on a key kind of assessment: the evaluation that occurs regularly in the classroom, by the teacher and his or her students as interacting participants. As students conduct experiments, for example, the teacher circulates around the room and asks individuals about their findings, using the feedback to adjust lessons plans and take other actions to boost learning. Focusing on the teacher as the primary player in assessment, the book offers assessment guidelines and explores how they can be adapted to the individual classroom. It features examples, definitions, illustrative vignettes, and practical suggestions to help teachers obtain the greatest benefit from this daily evaluation and tailoring process. The volume discusses how classroom assessment differs from conventional testing and grading-and how it fits into the larger, comprehensive assessment system.


Seeing Students Learn Science

Seeing Students Learn Science

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  • Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 0309444357
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 137

Science educators in the United States are adapting to a new vision of how students learn science. Children are natural explorers and their observations and intuitions about the world around them are the foundation for science learning. Unfortunately, the way science has been taught in the United States has not always taken advantage of those attributes. Some students who successfully complete their Kâ€"12 science classes have not really had the chance to "do" science for themselves in ways that harness their natural curiosity and understanding of the world around them. The introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards led many states, schools, and districts to change curricula, instruction, and professional development to align with the standards. Therefore existing assessmentsâ€"whatever their purposeâ€"cannot be used to measure the full range of activities and interactions happening in science classrooms that have adapted to these ideas because they were not designed to do so. Seeing Students Learn Science is meant to help educators improve their understanding of how students learn science and guide the adaptation of their instruction and approach to assessment. It includes examples of innovative assessment formats, ways to embed assessments in engaging classroom activities, and ideas for interpreting and using novel kinds of assessment information. It provides ideas and questions educators can use to reflect on what they can adapt right away and what they can work toward more gradually.


Teaching, Learning and Assessing Science 5 - 12

Teaching, Learning and Assessing Science 5 - 12

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  • Author: Wynne Harlen
  • Publisher: SAGE
  • ISBN: 1446203905
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 264

`Professor Harlen has, once again, provided the leading text on primary science. This eminently readable book sets out a clear account of our understanding of learning, teaching and assessment and, through the skilful use of examples, explores the implications of this for science teachers of pupils aged five to 12. By emphasizing the importance of research evidence and the way in which it should underpin practice, this new edition challenges everyone involved in science education to reflect again on whether we are providing the most appropriate learning opportunities for our pupils. It is certainly a book which will be highly recommended, referred to on many occasions and used extensively' - Dr Derek Bell, Chief Executive, The Association for Science Education This thoroughly revised and completely up-to-date new edition provides an excellent theoretical framework for teaching science that is firmly grounded in classroom practice and covers all stages of education for students aged five to 12 years. The author details a constructivist view of learning, which recognizes that children already have ideas about the world in which they live, and gives advice on how teachers can help children to develop their understanding and change their perception to a more scientific view. A particular feature is the focus on formative assessment as a framework for discussion on how to help students develop their understanding, enquiry skills and positive attitudes to scientific investigation. The wide range of topics covered include: The nature of students' learning in science The goals of science education Gathering and interpreting information about students' 's ideas Helping development of scientific ideas Gathering and interpreting evidence of students' enquiry skills and attitudes Strategies for helping development of students' qnquiry skills and attitudes The learner's role in learning Summarising and reporting learning Motivating learning Teachers and children's questions Resources for learning science Managing science in the school Each chapter features useful summaries, points for reflection and further reading, making this acclaimed book indispensable reading for all primary and practitioners and students who want a book that will authoritatively inform, inspire and instruct their science teaching.


Science Formative Assessment, Volume 1

Science Formative Assessment, Volume 1

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  • Author: Page Keeley
  • Publisher: Corwin Press
  • ISBN: 1483352196
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 307

Formative assessment informs the design of learning opportunities that take students from their existing ideas of science to the scientific ideas and practices that support conceptual understanding. Science Formative Assessment shows K-12 educators how to weave formative assessment into daily instruction. Discover 75 assessment techniques linked to the Next Generation Science Standards and give classroom practices a boost with: Descriptions of how each technique promotes learning Charts linking core concepts at each grade level to scientific practices Implementation guidance, such as required materials and student grouping Modifications for different learning styles Ideas for adapting techniques to other content areas


Formative Assessment and Science Education

Formative Assessment and Science Education

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  • Author: Nigel Bell
  • Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
  • ISBN: 0306472279
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 153

This work documents the findings of a research project which investigated the ways in which teachers and students used formative assessment to improve the teaching and learning of science in some New Zealand classrooms. It will be of interest to graduate students and researchers, as well as teacher educators, curriculum developers, and assessment specialists.


Systems for State Science Assessment

Systems for State Science Assessment

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  • Author: National Research Council
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 0309165091
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 248

In response to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), Systems for State Science Assessment explores the ideas and tools that are needed to assess science learning at the state level. This book provides a detailed examination of K-12 science assessment: looking specifically at what should be measured and how to measure it. Along with reading and mathematics, the testing of science is a key component of NCLBâ€"it is part of the national effort to establish challenging academic content standards and develop the tools to measure student progress toward higher achievement. The book will be a critical resource for states that are designing and implementing science assessments to meet the 2007-2008 requirements of NCLB. In addition to offering important information for states, Systems for State Science Assessment provides policy makers, local schools, teachers, scientists, and parents with a broad view of the role of testing and assessment in science education.


The Assessment of Science Meets the Science of Assessment

The Assessment of Science Meets the Science of Assessment

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  • Author: National Research Council
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 0309184665
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 48

To explore the connections between new approaches to science education and new developments in assessment, the Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA) of the National Research Council (NRC) sponsored a two-day conference on February 22 and 23, 1997. Participants included BOTA members, other measurement experts, and educators and policymakers concerned with science education reform. The conference encouraged the exchange of ideas between those with measurement expertise and those with creative approaches to instruction and assessment.