Unit 7 Prepared By: Atika Abid

STUDENTS’
LEARNING IN
SCIENCE
EDUCATION
UNIT 7
PREPARED BY: ATIKA ABID
What is assessment?
Assessment in education is the process of gathering,
interpreting, recording, and using information about
pupils’ responses to an educational task. (Harlen,
Gipps, Broadfoot, Nuttal,1992)
PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT
Forms of Assessment
Standardized tests,
Class discussions,
 Independent reports or group projects.
Assessments may be classified as pre-assessment (placement),
formative or summative, each serving a different purpose and
measuring various aspects of student knowledge and learning.
Why Assessment? (Assessment in the
school program)
Following are the main reasons that why we assess the school program.
Preparation of instructional objectives (have a look on SOLO/ Blooms taxonomy
of educational objectives, unit 2);
Selection decision (selection of students in medical colleges, engineering
universities etc.);
Classification decision (classify classes into arts/sciences/humanities etc.);
Pre assess learners’ needs (either we place a child in science class or not);
Monitor learners’ progress (day to day, weekly, monthly etc.);
Diagnose learning difficulties of the students;
Conti…
Improvement in science teaching;
Improvement in learning process;
Guidance and counseling;
Decision making;
Comparing groups;
Reporting to parents/administration;
Evaluation of curricula;
Purpose of Assessment
The primary purpose of assessment is for the student to receive multiple
attempts to practice and to demonstrate understanding of content and to
develop skills by receiving specific and timely feedback by the teacher in order
to improve achievement.
The primary purpose of assessment is for the teacher to analyze student
progress for the purpose of modifying and refining the teaching/learning cycle
to better meet student needs.
An important role for assessment is to help students understand how they
learn so they may improve their own learning and thinking skills.
Different kind of assessment is used to
serve different purposes
Portfolio assessments may include reflective journals, collections of laboratory
reports or reviews of student investigations. These assessments may help
illustrate student progress during an instructional unit or over a longer period of
time.
Performance-based assessments Whether used as a pre-assessment, formative
or summative assessment, performance-based assessment can measure
students’ scientific inquiry skills and content knowledge.
Time series assessments help teachers track the development of student
understanding throughout the duration of a lesson or unit.. This approach also
fosters self-assessment, as students consider changes in their conceptions over
time.
Conti….
Predict-and-explain assessments ask students to apply scientific
principles and evidence. This assessment provides opportunities for
students to practice being scientists by analyzing and solving real-
world problems.
Concept mapping is an illustrated representation of a student’s

cognitive understanding, with labeled nodes indicating concepts and
labeled lines between nodes indicating relationships among
concepts. Concept mapping can be used as a pre-assessment,
formative or summative assessment.
MODES OF ASSESSMENT
1. Oral
2. Written
3. Practical
Oral assessment
Oral assessments are tasks designed to provide students with
opportunities to develop and demonstrate their command of
spoken presentation content (Heywood, 2000 p. 316)
Why oral assessment?
“Effective communication”
Benefits of oral assessment
Allowing students to research, prepare and present findings in a context

similar to that of their future work
 Group-base assessment tasks that reflect ‘real life’ teamwork.
Providing an assessment experience that is more personal, more challenging,
and more engaging than other forms of assessment
Allowing academics to probe understanding through follow-up questions
which encourages deep approaches to learning.
Balancing and developing student strengths.
Countering plagiarism.
Written Assessment
Written tests, either achievement or aptitude, objective or
subjective, norm referenced or criterion referenced, personality or
intelligence, all play very specific role to assess the performance of
the individuals. Therefore, the most frequently used mode of
assessment is “written.”
Laboratory is a spacious room where the students in groups carry
out their experimental work. It provides many opportunities for
students to talk and write about science.
Pre labs and Post labs
Pre-Labs are the activities, which are provided to the students prior
to the actual laboratory-work, highlighting the essential ideas of the
work to be done. It may be in the form of a lecture, work sheets,
written assignment, videos, CAL, simulation etc.
Post-Labs are the activities, which are provided to the student at the
end of the actual laboratory work. It may be in the form of written
report, viva voce, quiz, post-lab interviews, discussion, or a practical
activity.
Practical
Main objectives of laboratory work are:
Create interest in science;
Verify facts taught in theory classes;
Develop the habit of doing independent work among students;
Prepare students for higher studies and science careers;
Develop skills in handling specific science apparatus and equipment's.
Improve observation and critical thinking;
Conti….
Develop the habit of reasoning;
Have a clear understanding of science concepts;
Develop the habit of doing systematic work: and
Create interest for research.
DEVELOPING, SCORING AND USING
TESTS
Developing a good test requires a lot of expertise. Developing valid, reliable and useful tests is
greatly enhanced if a series of steps is followed:
1. Determining the purposes of testing
2. Developing the test specifications
3. Selecting the appropriate item types
4. Preparing relevant test items
5. Assembling the test
6. Administering the test
7. Appraising the test
8. Using the test scores
Phases of teacher made test
1) Planning Phase
(
(2) Preparation Phase

(3) Try-out Phase,
(4) Administration/evaluation Phase.
Planning Phase
The tests, in this phase, are planned keeping in view the concepts of validity, reliability and
usability by answering the questions:
What objectives are to be measured?
What and how much content area (theoretical and practical) is covered?
How much weightage in the test is given to each objective of the Blooms
Taxonomy?
How many types of test-items/problems/questions are to be included?
How long my test will be?
Preparation Phase
At this stage, write the objectives at the top of the two-way chart
(table of specification) while the contents on the left column of the
two way chart. Keeping in view the weightage given in the
specification table, develop the test-items/problems/questions
(objective & subjective)
After the preparation of each test item, discussed with the experts in
the field of science education to know their opinion about the
validity of the test, format, language and their distracters. On the
basis of their opinion and suggestions, improve the test items.
Try-out Phase
After the discussion with the experts, the tests should be
pilot tested on the very small group. After getting feedback,
the tests should be improved through the selection,
substitution and revision of test items/problems and by
using the item analysis procedure.
Administration phase
After the improvement of the test, now it is ready for administration.
After the completion of administration, the test is ready for
evaluation as per criteria mentioned in marking scheme. After the
completion of marking (of answer sheets), the marks achieved by
the students should be kept in the record file of each student for
reporting/further (statistical) procedures.
MARKING/SCORING AND
REPORTING/USING TEST SCORES
(1) Reports to pupils and parents,
The report should:
Clarify the school program’s objectives,
Indicate the pupil’s strengths and weaknesses in learning,
Promote greater understanding of the pupil’s personal-social development,
and
Contribute to the pupil’s motivation.
(2) Use of test reports by the teachers
and students’ counselor
The increased information supplied by progress reports is

especially useful for teachers when they are planning
instruction, diagnosing learning difficulties, and coping with
special problems of personal-social development.
Use of tests results/reports by
administrators
Marks and progress reports serve a number of

administrative functions. They are used for promotion,
awarding honours, reporting to other schools and
prospective employers. For most administrative purpose a
single letter grade is preferable because such marks are
compact and can be easily recorded.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
TEST
Objectivity
Objective Basedness
 Comprehensiveness
 Validity
 Reliability
Continue
Practicability
Comparability
Utility
 Simplicity
Scorability
Thank you

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Unit 7 Prepared By: Atika Abid

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STUDENTS’

Concept mapping is an illustrated representation of a student’s

Allowing students to research, prepare and present findings in a context

(2) Preparation Phase

The increased information supplied by progress reports is

Marks and progress reports serve a number of

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