Sometimes a crunchy question comes after us. Is there any useful measures that could assess student skills completely? What kind of their skills that we're really want to know? Do we really need to know or just following rules in our nations? Or maybe it just for an obigation?
The goal of science education is to enhance all students’ scientific literacy; that is to help students grasp essential science concepts, to understand the nature of science, to realize the relevance of science and technology in their lives and to willingly continue their science study in school or beyond school (AAAS, 1993). The student-centered active learning process. Many researchers agreed that students bring their preconceptions to class in science education (Ausubel, 2000; Driver and Oldham, 1986). There are three important dimensions of science, viz: 1) content of science, the basic concepts and scientific knowledge 2) the process of doing science and 3) scientific attitudes (Opateye, 2012).
According to Ozgelen (2012), science process skills are thinking skills that scientists use to construct knowledge in order to solve problems and formulate results. Implicit in these definitions of science process skills is that these skills are integral and natural to a scientist; they are instruments for the study and generation of scientific knowledge; science learning and development of science process skills are integrated activities (Ongowo, 2013). Assessment in science education have a in position in this step of science process skills. assessment used for determine which stage are students being of their science process skills.
Effective teachers continually assess the progress their students are making toward intended learning outcomes. They make observations and ask questions and analyze responses on the spot and adjust their instruction as needed. This type of anecdotal and informal assessment can guide instruction, but it may not be structured or deep enough to truly assess a student's concept and skill development. However, several assessment strategies have emerged that help a teacher accurately determine if students are making progress (Shiverdecker, 2004).
Concept maps, portofolis, journals and other data collection techniques provide the depth of information an educator needs to adequately assess students’ progress. Each of this kind assessment have their own unique characteristics, but they are all embedded and authentic assesment. Embedded here means that those kind of assesmnet has being integrated of an instructional activity. Authentic means that all of problems used for assessment are scientific fact and avalable to apply in a real-world situations.
There are three strategies that can be used through assessment (Peterson & Olson, 2002). First, find out what students already know and use those information for planning instruction. Second, using formative assessments to guide instruction rather than to grade students. Third, using multidimensional assessment strategies that used to check student undertsanding and their performance.
Both the teacher and the student can learn from these types of assessment strategies. Using assessment as an informational tool allows teachers to determine if students are linking their current knowledge to new knowledge. Involving students in the assessment processes helps them learn to identify quality work and monitor their own progress. Developing and using a systematic method for gathering and interpreting evidence is beneficial for both the teacher and the student.
Portfolios
Portfolio must be more than a repository for student work to be an effective assessment tool. A well-planned portfolio provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate growth by selecting pieces that show progress towards mastery of scientific knowledge and scientific skills. The number or type of pieces to be included depends upon the goals for developing the portfolio. In any case, students should be given an opportunity to reflect upon their selections. The reflection allows students to assess their progress and set goals. A portfolio reflection also helps students learn to identify quality work and explain how they know one piece of work meets a higher standard than another similar piece of work.
Interviews and Questioning
Interviews and questioning are effective tools for determining if students are linking new knowledge to prior knowledge. Questions should be open-ended and should probe into what the student is thinking. Questions that seek only correct factual knowledge do not allow the teacher to determine if the student is constructing new knowledge. The best questions provide students with an opportunity to talk about the ideas they are developing relevant to what they are learning. Questions of this nature help teachers and students identify and correct misconceptions.
Science Journals
Journaling is a wonderful way to capture where a student is in terms of their conceptual understanding as they construct new knowledge. Regular journal entries provide a learning log that can help both teachers and students monitor progress, identify misconceptions, and make connections between prior and new knowledge.
Concept Maps
Concept maps are graphic organizers that help students make connections between pieces of knowledge. Typically, concept maps are hierarchical with the main idea in a position of prominence while supporting or related ideas are arranged in a way that the student can show how each supporting idea is linked to the main idea. Linking lines with linking words or phrases are used to complete the map. This concrete representation of a concept serves as a valuable data source for determining if students are constructing appropriate links between various bits of knowledge.
Drawings/Diagrams
Before and after drawings or drawings that represent what students think is happening also serve as a rich source of data. They provide students with an opportunity to express their ideas when they may not have the vocabulary skills to do so. Drawings and diagrams also encourage students to think about the details of what is happening. Before and after drawings used along with interviewing techniques give students an opportunity to identify the changes and express their understanding as to how the changes occurred.
Performance Assessments
Performance assessments give students an opportunity to demonstrate what they are able to do. Performance assessments can be group or individual activities and they can assess just process skills or a combination of process skills and content knowledge. The following ORC resources are examples of performance assessments:
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