A Picture Worth a Thousand Words: Students’ Models in Science Assessments as Evidence for Learning Progressions

• In Event: Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Research on the Use of Learning Progressions, Formative Assessments, and Motivation in Mathematics and Science Assessment and Learning

Abstract

Cognitive research and recently released national science standards (NGSS) suggest that new kinds of evidence are needed if assessments are to be used to track and guide student learning, thus urge assessment developers rethink the design of assessments. We believe that engaging students in developing and using models is an alternative means of gathering data about student thinking. In this paper, we report a preliminary study investigating how a modeling tool can be used as an effective assessment technique to probe the process of knowledge building and provide evidence to locate students along a learning progression for a core idea. The findings suggest that students’ drawings provide evidence to relate that to a LP thus to inform instruction.

Authors

• Lei Liu, Educational Testing Service

• Aaron D. Rogat, Educational Testing Service

• Maria Bertling, Educational Testing Service