Diagnostic assessment in science as a means to improving teaching, learning and retention (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Review and Comparison of Diagnostic Instruments to Identify Students’ Misconceptions in Science
EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2015
Different diagnostic tools have been developed and used by researchers to identify students' conceptions. The present study aimed to provide an overview of the common diagnostic instruments in science to assess students' misconceptions. Also the study provides a brief comparison of these common diagnostic instruments with their strengths and weaknesses. A total of 273 articles published (from the year 1980 to 2014) in main journals were investigated thoroughly through document analysis method. The study reveals interviews (53%), open-ended tests (34%), multiple-choice tests (32%) and multiple tier tests (13%) as the most commonly used diagnostic tools. However, each tool has some advantages as well as disadvantages over the others that should be kept in mind in their usages. A careful user of a diagnostic instrument such as a classroom teacher or a researcher would be aware of the diagnostic instruments and selects the most effective one for his/her purposes.
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2005
Scientific literacy and authenticity have gained a lot of attention in the past few decades worldwide. The goal of the study was to develop various authentic assessments to investigate students' scientific literacy for corresponding to the new curriculum reform of Taiwan in 1997. In the process, whether ninth graders were able to apply school knowledge in real-life problems was also investigated. Over the course of our two-year study, we developed authentic assessments to investigate a stratified random sampling of 1,503 ninth graders' levels of scientific literacy, including scientific cognition, process skills, application of science, habits of mind, nature of science, and attitude towards science. The purpose of this article is to discuss three different formats of authentic assessments: multiple-choice, open-ended, and hands-on test items, which we developed to investigate scientific cognition. To validate the three formats of authentic assessments, students' performance on these three assessments were compared with the science section of Taiwan's Academic Attainment Testing (STAAT), and the values of Pearson correlation coefficient were all at the significant level, ranging from 0.205 to 0.660 (p < 0.01). We found that our three authentic assessments were better in evaluating students' authentic abilities in science than standardized tests (such as STAAT). Further authentic assessments, particularly the hands-on activity, benefited low-achieving students. Concerning the common themes tested in the authentic assessments, students performed better in a multiple-choice test than an open-ended test on electricity and heat and temperature. In addition, two themes of chemical reactions and reactions of acid and base with indicators were performed best in a hands-on test than in the other two tests. In this article, we provide evidence that authentic assessments could be developed in different formats to investigate students' scientific cognition as part of the national test. Of these formats, the multiple-choice, open-ended, and hands-on test items are all shown to be sensitive in their evaluation of students' cognition in science.
Diagnosing Students' Alternative Conceptions in Science
This study described an attempt to develop a networked two-tier test system. A two-tier test is a two-level multiple-choice question that diagnoses students' alternative conceptions in science. Three networked, two-tier test items were presented in this study. Students in Taiwan (555 14 year olds and 599 16 year olds) were asked to answer these items online. An analysis of students' answers suggested that students' alternative conceptions might be retained even after formal instruction about relevant conceptions. Moreover, their responses were related across these three two-tier test items. Further development of the two-tier test system will mainly focus on designing appropriate feedback and guidance that help students overcome their alternative conceptions. In this way, the networked two-tier test system is not only a diagnostic tool, but also an effective instructional tool. This study has illuminated some innovative thoughts for the research and practice of science education.
2012
This chapter stems from the research of the past two decades on conceptualizing and assessing the quality of knowledge, especially knowledge as an outcome of science education. The findings that students performed well on some test types, whereas results were poor in other kinds of assessments, initiated a series of research projects. The results of these studies indicated that students’ knowledge fell into several segments which may be independent form each other. The attempts for theoretical explanations and generalizations led to the conclusion that at least three different kinds of knowledge exist that are relevant to consider; different theoretical raditions may be mobilized to understand and describe the different aspects of students’ knowledge, and, considering them imultaneously may result in a better framework for assessment. After an elaboration of the co-existence of the different theoretical directions, we applied this approach to the development of assessment frameworks for a diagnostic assessment project. The project aims at developing an online assessment system for the first six grades of primary school for reading, mathematics and science. Thus, the approach I present in this paper for science works well for mathematics and with some limitations for reading as well. However, this approach focuses on the initial stage of schooling; therefore, not all of its aspects can be generalized to later phases of education. In this chapter I present the empirical predecessor and theoretical resources of our current work on framework development. In order to enhance the diagnostic power of the assessments, we use three different types of test tasks for assessing the development of students’ scientific reasoning, their scientific literacy and their scientific expert knowledge. Thus, for developing the framework for the tests we tap three different sets of theoretical resources. As will be shown, framework development for diagnostic assessment should be an analytic activity where goals should be carefully differentiated; on the other hand, teaching science should adopt a synthetic approach where the goals are seamlessly integrated.
ELEMENTARY: Islamic Teacher Journal
This study aims to develop diagnostic questions in measuring student misconceptions and to describe the profile of the misconceptions following students in the science concepts subject in the Motion Systems sub-chapter. This research is part of the research and development (R&D) step in developing a four-level type of diagnostic test item consisting of a preliminary study stage, a development stage, and a validation stage. At this stage of development, the researcher gave open description questions to students of the Primary Educational Teacher Department, Universitas Muria Kudus in semester 3 of the 2018/2019 academic year classes 3C, 3D, 3E, and 3F to find the form of diagnostic questions, find answer options and options for these questions. The instrument is provided as a diagnostic question instrument in the form of a description. Based on data analysis, it is found that it is valid and reliable so that it can be used for research. The proportions of the resulting answers, namely there are four answer choices and four reason choices with
Assessment of science learning: Living in interesting times
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2012
Beginning with a reference to living in a time of both uncertainty and opportunity, this article presents a discussion of key areas where shared understanding is needed if we are to successfully realize the design and use of high quality, valid assessments of science. The key areas discussed are: (1) assessment purpose and use, (2) the nature of assessment and the importance of research on learning, (3) assessment design processes, (4) validity arguments, (5) measurement and statistical inference, (6) affordances of technology, and (7) systems of assessment. After introducing each vital area, the article discusses how each of the five articles in the special issue is connected to the areas. Concluding comments emphasize the reminder that despite the large amount of work to be done, we are well positioned to realize the high quality, valid science education assessments that we need for K-16 science education.
Assessment in Science Education
Journal of Physics: Conference Series
An analyses study focusing on scientific reasoning literacy was conducted to strengthen the stressing on assessment in science by combining the important of the nature of science and assessment as references, higher order thinking and scientific skills in assessing science learning as well. Having background in developing science process skills test items, inquiry in its many form, scientific and STEM literacy, it is believed that inquiry based learning should first be implemented among science educators and science learners before STEM education can successfully be developed among science teachers, prospective teachers, and students at all levels. After studying thoroughly a number of science researchers through their works, a model of scientific reasoning was proposed, and also simple rubrics and some examples of the test items were introduced in this article. As it is only the beginning, further studies will still be needed in the future with the involvement of prospective science teachers who have interests in assessment, either on authentic assessment or in test items development. In balance usage of alternative assessment rubrics, as well as valid and reliable test items (standard) will be needed in accelerating STEM education in Indonesia.
The nature of student conceptions in science
Science Education: An International Course Companion , 2017
Prior knowledge - what learners already know and understand - is a major determinant of what students will learn from their science classes.A great deal of research suggests that very commonly students may hold ideas about science topics which are different to, and indeed often inconsistent with, canonical scientific principles and theories. Studies have described learners’!own ideas about science topics in various ways such as misconceptions, intuitive theories and alternative conceptual frameworks, although there are not widely agreed meanings for these different terms. Research also suggests that the ideas elicited from students vary on a number of dimensions that influence how significant student thinking is for learning canonical scientific ideas..The chapter explains how student conceptions in science can vary in terms of degrees of acceptance, connectedness, multiplicity and explicitness.The nature of each of these dimensions is described in the chapter drawing upon examples from research into student thinking about science topics, and the significance of each dimension for student learning is explored.
Research Methodologies in Science Education Strategies for Productive Assessment
Why would an instructor, department, or institution want to "assess" their courses? What does it mean to assess a course? How would they go about performing this assessment? These are questions that we are routinely asked at professional meetings by scientists interested in understanding how to improve their teaching. Here we lay out a few guidelines that will help you interpret published education research, apply this research to your own classroom, or engage in your own research endeavors. Because the techniques used in science education research have more in common with the behavioral sciences than the physical sciences, it is often difficult for those in the "hard" sciences to interpret the education literature. This column will serve as a medium for highlighting the most important, useful, or easily applied techniques, with additional guidelines for what to look for in your own literature reviews.