SimScientists Assessment Systems

• In Event: Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Implications of Assessment Systems and Tools for Formative Classroom Practice and Improved Learning

Abstract

Digital simulations are widely used in scientific research, allowing scientists to manipulate variables they otherwise cannot, and to observe phenomena that in nature are too large, too small, too fast, or too slow to observe directly. Digital simulations have become increasingly prevalent in science education. The SimScientists program seeks to advance the use of digital simulations by embedding their use into activities that scaffold students’ interactions, providing feedback and coaching, and diagnosing students’ actions. Further, the SimScientists program aims to give teachers tools they can use to make instructional decisions, and to provide examples of tasks states can use in large scale assessments to integrate core ideas, practices, and cross-cutting concepts, as called for in the Next Generation Science Standards.

Authors

• Matt Silberglitt, WestEd

• Barbara C. Buckley, WestEd

• Mark Loveland, WestEd

• Daniel Brenner, WestEd

• Michelle LaMar, University of California - Berkeley

• Edys S. Quellmalz, WestEd