The teacher refines the skills used in evaluating student progress by reflecting upon the elements of the entire process. Was there sufficient probing of student knowledge, abilities, and processes? Were the assessment techniques appropriate to the type and quantity of student information needed? Did the students complete the assessment under conditions promoting the best possible performance? Was the range of student information collected sufficient in order to make interpretations of progress? Could the results of the evaluation be meaningfully communicated to both students and parents?
The answers which a teacher would give to such reflective questions would be an important part of the "search to improve existing strategies for student evaluation ... Through self-assessment both the individual and the system learn where and how they can improve."
Specific assessment techniques are selected in order to collect information about how well students are achieving objectives. The assessment technique used at any particular time will depend on what facility with the knowledge, skills or processes the teacher wants the students to demonstrate. The appropriateness of the techniques therefore rests on the content, the instructional strategies used, the level of development of the students, and what exactly is to be measured.
Various assessment techniques are listed in alphabetical order in Table 2 and are also numbered. Selected techniques are referenced by number after each suggested activity in this Curriculum Guide. The techniques listed are meant to serve only as suggestions, since the teacher exercises professional judgement in determining which techniques suit the particular purposes of the assessment. A teacher may choose one or more of the suggested techniques accompanying the suggested activities or may decide to use others listed in Table 2. The Table is intended to serve as a reference list.
Table 2
| 1. | Anecdotal Records | notions of valuative impressions |
| 2. | Contracts | an individual assignment constructed and agreed upon by both teacher and student regarding any or all of the details concerning content, process, product, and evaluation. |
| 3. | Observation Checklist | a listing of specific criteria which a teacher looks for, and indicates the presence of, in observing a student's work. |
| 4. | Projects | includes such things as independent student investigations, Science Fair projects, or other Science Challenge activities. |
| 5. | Rating Scales | a listing of specific outcomes which are observed by the teacher and evaluated using a scale. |
| 6. | Student Portfolios | a collection of student work samples which is used as a basis for interpretation of progress. |
| 7. | Tests |
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| 8. | Test Stations | a location where a student can complete a task in order to demonstrate a competence (e.g., finding the mass of a rock). |
| 9. | Written Reports | includes regular journal writing, illustrations, art projects, or laboratory reports at the Elementary Level. |
Research workers in education around the world are currently focusing on assessment and evaluation. It has become clear, as more and more research findings accumulate, that different skills need to be assessed and evaluated. A wide variety of ways of doing this are suggested. Assessment and evaluation are best addressed from the viewpoint of selecting what appears most valid in meeting prescribed needs.
Student evaluation focuses on the collection and interpretation of data which would indicate student progress. This, in combination with teacher self-evaluation and program evaluation, provides a full evaluation. When a teacher has information on each of these three aspects, there is a basis for categorizing the needs of assessment and evaluation as prescribed by Saskatchewan Education.
Information in the Student Evaluation: A Teacher Handbook (1992) can be used to help in developing an overall evaluation plan.
To aid data collection in order for the factors of Scientific Literacy to be addressed in student assessment, a checklist is available for each grade in this Curriculum Guide.
Teachers often differ in the way they like to collect data. Some prefer to have a single checklist, naming all the students in the class (or in one work group) across the top and listing the criteria to be assessed down the side. The students' columns are then marked if a skill is displayed. In this case some information would have to be transferred later to a student's individual profile. Other teachers prefer to have one assessment sheet per child, which is kept in the profile. That sheet would list the factors for assessment down the side, but along the top might be a series of dates indicating when assessment took place. Each date column could be subdivided to indicate the extent of the display. Such an individual file would illustrate development over the year. In this case, information might have to be transferred from the profile to the official class mark book, as required.
At the start of any grade, a teacher has a group of new students, even if they know each other or the teacher. They are new because they will be dealing with different materials from a different point of view within an evolving system of interactions. The skills and concepts for the grade become the criteria by which the child will be assessed, and these may be attainable by the majority of students. For some students, however, the targets will be outside their range, thus requiring adaptations in materials, the learning environment, and the curriculum.
A teacher must be aware that "graded" teaching resources, and certainly standardized tests, are built on what is accepted as normal or average for a child of that age group. In using standardized tests a teacher is assessing how a child matches these cultural standards over a very narrow range of skills. The results must be considered in that context. This measure may be unattainable by some students. Alternately, gifted children may not reach full potential because they are allowed to remain at the acceptable "average." The Adaptive Dimension recognizes that the needs of all students must be considered for effective teaching and learning to occur.
In using teaching resources aimed at a grade level, a teacher should expect to refer to those of at least a grade higher and lower in order to suit the development levels of the children in the class. The factors of scientific literacy can be developed to varying degrees according to the ability of the child.
In assessing the factors of scientific literacy, methods can be established for addressing knowledge (Dimensions A, B, D), values (Dimensions F and G) and abilities (Dimensions C and E) in ways that suit the nature of the factor. Definitions and examples of the factors are given, elsewhere in this guide.
The factors of scientific literacy in Dimensions A through E can be assessed through manipulation of factual knowledge. However, it is quite possible to assess only factual knowledge; this is a fault of much of the current student assessment. When examined, this is often little more than the testing of simple recall or limited application of facts. Even when assessment does go further and appears to include abilities, often too much emphasis is still devoted to straight recall. Students deserve to be assessed on their range of demonstrated abilities. The format of the assessment should reflect both the students' different learning styles and therefore different ways of displaying their learning, and the nature of the abilities being assessed.
Assessment can be oral, written, performance based, or some combination of these. Practical exercises are the best way to assess scientific and technical skills (Dimension E). For example, reading a thermometer diagram is not the same as knowing how best to use and place the thermometer in order to measure temperature as desired. The best way to assess whether students can perform an activity is to observe them while they are in the process of doing so. Ask probing questions. Once these observations have taken place, the use of anecdotal records, observation checklists, and rating scales can assist in data collection.
The types of tasks and questions which students are expected to address influence their responses. When the tasks and questions are limited, so are the responses. Tasks and questions which elicit only one word or simple sentence answers test only basic recall of factual knowledge. When students have applied their knowledge, or classified, or formulated a model in a particular context during a science activity, it is important to consider that if the same contexts are given in the assessment, the response could only be recall and not a test of any process ability. Assessment must require slightly different conditions so the ability is tested through a new set of events.
Good questioning is extremely important for effective teaching. Avoid questions where responses are likely to be a single word. Structure questions so some type of reasoning is required. How? Why? Explain. Present problem-solving activities. All of these promote and challenge higher level thinking.
Students may be asked to interpret a graph or photograph, or to answer a question orally; assessment does not have to consist entirely of written work. Such varied format adapts to students' differing learning styles.
Following the completion of a Core Unit or thematic unit, summative assessment items can cover more scope and depth than formative assessment items. The format of summative assignments can be just as varied, including practical tasks (to reflect practical abilities), interpretation of graphs and photographs, investigative blackline masters, and so on. Multiple choice, true or false, or fill-in-the-blank tests usually assess only basic factual recall. Short answer questions sometimes assess application, but in a limited way. Such tests should be used as little as possible and fewer "marks" should be awarded than for those items that require process abilities.
Essay questions are more useful. They promote the use of process skills and can be used in both formative and summative assessment. For those students who have difficulty writing, discuss the essay topic for the assessment. At the Elementary Level, illustrations or art projects, an oral report, a project, journal writing, or a Science Challenge activity can serve as suitable alternatives to the written essay.
Projects are useful as summative assessments, because they usually cover a topic in depth as well as scope, and involve the use of a range of process abilities. If the project is a group effort, difficulties might arise in assessing individual participation. This can often be determined, however, by observing the ways in which the group members interact with one another and with other members of the class. The number and type of assignments completed in a learning centre can also be recorded as a summative assessment. Test stations are particularly useful for allowing students to demonstrate competence.
The recommended resources provide a variety of investigative activities, assessment activities, and blackline masters which can be used or adapted for the purpose of formative and summative student assessment. A teacher can choose those which best suit the abilities being emphasized and the students' learning styles. Assessment methods for other resources would have to be devised. The checklists presented before the Core Units at the beginning of each grade and the templates provided in this Curriculum Guide can be used to ensure that the factors of scientific literacy being developed at each grade are covered.
Assessing values is the most difficult of all the areas of assessment and evaluation. At one time, values were not considered part of the school's written curriculum. Parents and society certainly required students to develop acceptable behaviours and attitudes, but these were promoted through the "hidden curriculum": the teachers' and school's influence. Now, specific attitudes and values are to be openly promoted, so the teacher's influence may be directed specifically toward these outcomes. Accordingly, they must be assessed.
Most general values are introduced to students in their home environment and reinforced by the teacher. Should the teacher introduce any new value which is not reinforced in the child's wider environment, it will be an uphill struggle to maintain that value, particularly if it is science-related. For this reason, a family letter which makes parents aware of the science values as well as science content being introduced at school could be valuable. If possible, parents should be persuaded to add to the school's influence, and also to observe their own children. Feedback from parents may then be obtained regarding students' attitudes and behaviours displayed at home. These have to be compared with those displayed at school, since a child can say and do things simply because they appear to be expected at school.
This matter of expectation is difficult to overcome. Using a direct question to discover what a child thinks and feels may or may not elicit a truthful reply. This does not mean that direct questioning can not be used or that the results cannot be noted. It does mean that other methods also have to be used, since it is impossible for a child to keep up a continuous pretence over a period of time. However, attitudes and values can change, so a teacher might be interested in short, medium, and long term assessment.
Teachers can expect to have an short or medium term effect over the schooling years of a child. The long term impact, when the teacher or school is no longer able to influence students directly, is uncertain. There is no point, then, in considering assessment over the long term. Teachers should only be concerned with that over which they may have continuing impact; for example, over the grade years currently being taught. Follow-up is interesting, but the validity of assessing the continuing impact of past teaching is very suspect, since students are subject to other influences in later years. No method of assessment can readily separate the effect of past and current learning and teaching. Teachers must realize that all students have values on entering the classroom. Teaching builds on these, maintaining, adding, or changing them.
There are valid reasons to assess students' value and attitude outcomes at school and to promote these with effective teaching methods. Since the values listed in Dimensions F and G of the factors of scientific literacy will be developed over time, teachers should be emphasizing many of the same values through all the grades, but developing them to higher levels. This reinforcement helps to take the child to a point where the level achieved may become a feature of his or her character, and may continue to develop further in adult life.
Through the school years, students display their current values and attitudes by what they say, write, and do. These three acts have to be used for assessment purposes. Formative assessments can be made by observations and through activities of various kinds, which may be recorded as and when a value or attitude is assessed.
The purpose of program evaluation is to ascertain whether the curriculum being presented to the students is meeting both their needs and the goals as prescribed by the province. Because Saskatchewan has a specific framework for science education, based on the Dimensions of Scientific Literacy. By developing the Common Essential Learnings, program evaluation is not merely considering "content." The content is defined broadly in the scope and sequence. It is through topics and the activities selected that the factors of scientific literacy will be developed.
Each lesson developed must reflect the factors of scientific literacy as appropriate to the grade level and students' needs, interests, and ability levels.
Program evaluation is not necessarily carried out at an end point. All of the intended curriculum has gone through an initial pilot implementation to judge its apparent worth. Therefore, some formative evaluation has already taken place before implementation. During implementation, if any lesson is found to be received badly by the students, even after everything has been carefully planned and presented, then there would be little point in using it as is. The problem would have to be investigated and remedial steps taken, perhaps even to the extent of abandoning the lesson. In this sense, formative evaluation can be powerful. Under usual circumstances a teacher could record impressions from his or her initial evaluation. After this, relevant comments would be recorded on individual lessons and chapters as they were implemented. The comments could be recorded in a diary entry.
A summative evaluation would consider the integration of units, projects, and activities as a whole at the end of the school year. Notes made for the formative evaluation would help produce the summative evaluation. This summative evaluation would make direct use of that part of the curriculum at a later date, when problems can be addressed.
For more information on program evaluation consult Saskatchewan Education's Saskatchewan School-Based Program Evaluation Resource Book and School-Based Program Evaluation Manual.