Course: Assessment in Science Education (8628)

Semester: Spring, 2020

ASSIGNMENT No. 2
Q. 1 Explain the nature of practical skills and abilities. What is the use of assessment of practical skills.
Ans:
Hands-on engineering-based projects in the classroom develop these skills:
1. Teamwork: Children learn to be able to work in teams. Even if disagreements occur, hands-on projects
teach children to work towards a common goal, while also learning self-control, empathy, time
management and negotiation.
2. Problem solving: Students discover answers from their own questions and research theories. From
this, students learn to think critically, observe and analyze situations in order to form creative solutions
based off of problems. 
3. Communication skills: Communication skills are crucial to any role. Through problem solving, students
learn to effectively communicate, both in writing and orally. Children will learn to say what they mean
and explain ideas.
4. Failure is okay: Failure is an important part of finding solutions. Children learn that there often is no
single “right” answer in engineering projects. This type of learning removes the stigma that stems from
failure, and encourages it as a positive way to learn.
5. Leadership skills:  During teamwork, leadership skills arise through actions, especially through project
management. Common to any job, the “unofficial” project manager will help to establish roles,
responsibilities, set priorities and influence opinions to make decisions.
In a nutshell, engineering education is based on real-world problems. It helps foster creativity, habits of
perseverance and persistence—attributes that are essential in numerous roles inside and outside of the STEM
industry. This core belief has served me well in my career and driven me to become an active promoter and
volunteer for numerous STEM education initiatives and programs. At DuPont, our engineers are involved in
programs like FIRST robotics, National Science Olympiad, DuPont’s Ag Ambassadors Program and many more. 
We see that promoting STEM education early on makes for a successful, well-rounded individual, with the
knowledge and ability to apply these key skills as needed to any field.
Course providers will often use different methods to assess a student’s understanding of the course they are
studying. Some courses may have exams, whereas others will use coursework. Practical Assessments are a
type of coursework, and this article aims to answer some of the most common questions about them.
ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma is a vocational qualification, and as such it aims to teach the skills and
knowledge required to allow graduates to enter employment upon completion of the course. The coursework
is therefore made up of achievement tests to assess your knowledge and Practical Assessments to assess your
application of this knowledge to a specific set of documents. Practical Assessments are a form of coursework
which allow course providers to assess the practical skills of students in their chosen area of study. Practical
Assessments are often found within vocational qualifications as they provide students with practical
experience related to the profession being studied. Not only do Practical Assessments allow course providers
to see how well instructions have been followed, they also reflect the student’s attention to detail and how
well they are able to apply the knowledge gained from the course to a practical situation. Practical
Assessments are useful for a variety of reasons. The Practical Assessments in the Legal Secretaries Diploma will
help students improve their word processing skills as well as their attention to detail and their level of
accuracy. Practical Assessments also help students become familiar with the practical procedures of working
as a Legal Secretary. They give you the opportunity to gain experience by understanding and producing the
legal documents, forms and correspondence you will come across in your career. As these are the exact
documents used in the legal profession, they give students experience of the role prior to gaining
employment. Not only does this mean that you can hit the ground running once you have gained your first
role, but it is also a useful tool for gaining a position in the first place. We recommend that our graduates take
their portfolio of completed assessments along to any interviews they are attending. Practical work includes
experiments in laboratories, study tours, projects, assignments etc. the advantages of practical work are
unmatched. Getting theoretical knowledge has no value until students can apply it for practical purposes.
 When you do something with your own hands you remember better.
 Practical work promotes experiential learning.
 Practical work encourages self-learning.
 Practical work familiarizes students with tools and equipment that he will be required to use.
 Practice leads to perfection.
 One cannot become an expert overnight; greater the practice, greater the expertise.
 Practical work is a good change from the monotonous lecture method.
 Students are required to participate actively in practical activities.
 Involvement of students is more in practical work.
 Practical work complements theory.
 Practical assignments are often carried out in groups. Group work helps to inculcate social values and
values like sharing, cooperation, team spirit, compassion etc.
 Practical work makes students independent and increases their confidence.
Students who complete engineering education often find that when they start working, they are at a loss in
spite of getting very good marks in the examination. If the engineering colleges in pune integrates theory with
practice, students are better prepared for jobs. Practical knowledge in advance boosts their confidence.
Q. 2 Explain the five categories of Krathwohl’s taxonomy with concrete examples from any science subject.
Ans:
Krathwohl's affective domain taxonomy is perhaps the best known of any of the affective taxonomies. "The
taxonomy is ordered according to the principle of internalization. Internalization refers to the process whereby
a person's affect toward an object passes from a general awareness level to a point where the affect is
'internalized' and consistently guides or controls the person's behavior (Seels & Glasgow, 1990, p. 28)."
Krathwohl's taxonomy is a model that describes how individual's process and internalize learning objects on
an affective or emotional level.
There are 5 levels to the taxonomy.
1. Receiving: keeping an open mind and
1. differentiating among
2. accepting
3. listening to
2. Responding: committing in some way to an idea by
 complying with
 following
 recommending
 participating in
2. Valuing: actively participate in internalizing an idea, e.g., by
 developing proficiency in
 supporting
 debating
3. Organization: integrating a new value with those already held
 discuss
 theorize
 formulate
 balance
 examine
4. Characterization by value or value set: to act consistently with internalized values
Bloom’s Taxonomy 1956 Anderson and Krathwohl’s Taxonomy 2001

 1. Knowledge: Remembering or retrieving  1. Remembering: Recognizing or recalling knowledge

previously learned material. Examples of verbs that from memory. Remembering is when memory is used to
relate to this function are: produce or retrieve definitions, facts, or lists, or to recite
  previously learned information. 

know define recallrecord name

identify memorize recognize
relate list repeat acquire

 2. Comprehension: The ability to grasp or construct  2. Understanding:  Constructing meaning from different

meaning from material. Examples of verbs that types of functions be they written or graphic messages,
relate to this function are: or activities like interpreting, exemplifying, classifying,
  summarizing, inferring, comparing, or explaining.     

restate locate identify discussillustrate

report describe discussinterpret draw
recognize review infer represent
explain differentiate
express conclude

 3. Application: The ability to use learned material,  3. Applying:  Carrying out or using a procedure through
or to implement material in new and concrete executing, or implementing. Applying relates to or refers
situations. Examples of verbs that relate to this to situations where learned material is used through
function are: products like models, presentations, interviews or
  simulations.  

apply relate organize employpractice

develop restructure calculate show
translate use interpret exhibit
operate demonstrate dramatize
illustrate
 4. Analysis: The ability to break down or distinguish  4. Analyzing:  Breaking materials or concepts into parts,
the parts of material into its components so that its determining how the parts relate to one another or how
organizational structure may be better they interrelate, or how the parts relate to an overall
understood.Examples of verbs that relate to this structure or purpose. Mental actions included in this
function are: function are differentiating, organizing, and
  attributing, as well as being able to distinguish
between the components or parts. When one is
analyze differentiate experiment
analyzing, he/she can illustrate this mental function by
compare contrast scrutinize
creating spreadsheets, surveys, charts, or diagrams, or
probe inquire investigate discover inspect
graphic representations.
examine detect surveydissect
contrast classify deduce discriminate
categorize separate

 5. Synthesis: The ability to put parts together to  5. Evaluating:  Making judgments based on criteria and
form a coherent or unique new whole. In the standards through checking and critiquing. Critiques,
revised version of Bloom’s synthesis recommendations, and reports are some of the products
becomes creating and becomes the last and most that can be created to demonstrate the processes of
complex cognitive function. Examples of verbs that evaluation.  In the newer taxonomy, evaluating comes
relate to the synthesis function are: before creating as it is often a necessary part of the
  precursory behavior before one creates something.    

compose plan inventpropose develop

produce formulate collectarrange
design set up generalizeconstruct
assemble document organize
create combine relate originate derive
prepare write propose
predict
modify tell

 6. Evaluation: The ability to judge, check, and even  6. Creating: Putting elements together to form a
critique the value of material for a given purpose. coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements
This function goes to #5 in the revised version of into a new pattern or structure through generating,
Bloom’s. Examples of verbs that relate to evaluation planning, or producing. Creating requires users to put
are: parts together in a new way, or synthesize parts into
  something new and different thus creating a new form
or product.  This process is the most difficult mental
judge assess argue decidevalidate consider
function in the new taxonomy. 
compare choose rateappraise value
evaluate select estimate criticize infer
conclude
measure
deduce

Q. 3 What is the outcome based assessment criteria? Support your answer with suitable examples.
Ans:
Assessment for learning occurs throughout the learning process. It is designed to make each student’s
understanding visible, so that teachers can decide what they can do to help students progress. Students learn
in individual and idiosyncratic ways, yet, at the same time, there are predictable patterns of connections and
preconceptions that some students may experience as they move along the continuum from emergent to
proficient. In assessment for learning, teachers use assessment as an investigative tool to find out as much as
they can about what their students know and can do, and what confusions, preconceptions, or gaps they
might have. The wide variety of information that teachers collect about their students’ learning processes
provides the basis for determining what they need to do next to move student learning forward. It provides
the basis for providing descriptive feedback for students and deciding on groupings, instructional strategies,
and resources. Assessment as learning focusses on students and emphasizes assessment as a process of
metacognition (knowledge of one’s own thought processes) for students. Assessment as learning emerges
from the idea that learning is not just a matter of transferring ideas from someone who is knowledgeable to
someone who is not, but is an active process of cognitive restructuring that occurs when individuals interact
with new ideas. Within this view of learning, students are the critical connectors between assessment and
learning. For students to be actively engaged in creating their own understanding, they must learn to be
critical assessors who make sense of information, relate it to prior knowledge, and use it for new learning. This
is the regulatory process in metacognition; that is, students become adept at personally monitoring what they
are learning, and use what they discover from the monitoring to make adjustments, adaptations, and even
major changes in their thinking. Assessment of learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what students
know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum outcomes or the goals of their individualized
programs, or to certify proficiency and make decisions about students’ future programs or placements. It is
designed to provide evidence of achievement to parents, other educators, the students themselves, and
sometimes to outside groups (e.g., employers, other educational institutions). Assessment of learning is the
assessment that becomes public and results in statements or symbols about how well students are learning. It
often contributes to pivotal decisions that will affect students’ futures. It is important, then, that the
underlying logic and measurement of assessment of learning be credible and defensible.
If we think of our children as plants … Summative assessment of the plants is the process of simply measuring
them. It might be interesting to compare and analyze measurements but, in themselves, these do not affect
the growth of the plants. Formative assessment, on the other hand, is the equivalent of feeding and watering
the plants appropriate to their needs - directly affecting their growth.
Factors Inhibiting Assessment:
A tendency for teachers to assess quantity and presentation of work rather than quality of learning. Greater
attention given to marking and grading, much of it tending to lower self-esteem of students, rather than
providing advice for improvement. A strong emphasis on comparing students with each other, which
demoralizes the less successful learners.
Shifts in Assessment:
Shifts in Assessment From assessing to learn what students do not know From using results to calculate grades
From end-of-term assessments by teachers From judgmental feedback that may harm student motivation To
assessing to learn what students understand To using results to inform instruction To students engaged in
ongoing assessment of their work and others To descriptive feedback that empowers and motivates students
Why these shifts in assessment? Why these shifts in assessment?
A change in the mission of schools:
A shift from a focus on sorting and ranking students to a focus on leaving no child behind. A strong research
base: Evidence of the substantial impact on student achievement Self-Evaluation Where would you place your
assessment practice on the following continuum? The main focus is on: Quantity of work/Presentation Quality
of teach Marking/Grading Comparing students Advice for improvement identifying individual progress
Implications for classroom practice Share learning goals with students.  Involve students in self-assessment.
Provide feedback that helps students recognize their next steps and how to take them. Be confident that
every student can improve. Assessment AS Learning. Develops students’ skills of metacognition
• critical thinking skills
• communication and interpersonal skills.
Q. 4 Discuss the attitudes in science education. How can we develop scientific attitude among science
students?
Ans:
Attitudes towards science, scientists, and learning science have always been a concern for science educators.
Attitude is very broadly used in discussing issues in science education and is often used in various contexts.
Two broad categories are distinguishable. The first one is attitude toward science (e.g., interest in science,
attitude toward scientists, or attitudes toward social responsibility in science). Attitude towards science can be
defined as the feelings, beliefs, and values held about an object that may be the endeavor of science, school
science, the impact of science and technology on society, or scientists. The second one is scientific attitude
(i.e., open-minded, honesty, or skepticism). Scientific attitude is the desire to know and understand,
questioning to all statements, search for data and their meaning, search for verification, and consideration of
consequences (Gardner, 1975; Osborne, Simon & Collins, 2003).
Research studies that indicate positive correlations between achievement in science courses and positive
attitudes toward science, attitude and certain characteristics of the classroom environments that include
personal support, use of a variety of teaching strategies, innovative learning activities, and student-centered
instructional designs have all been reported in the recent research journal (Osborne, Simon & Collins, 2003;
Russell & Hollander, 1975; Shrigley, Koballa & Simpson, 1988; French & Russell, 2006). Attitudes towards
science and scientists influence views of science, future career awareness, and classroom participation.
Students who have positive attitudes show increased attention to classroom instruction and participate more
in science activities (Germann, 1988; Jarvis & Pell, 2005).
Most research indicates that students develop more negative attitudes toward studying science, toward their
science classes, and toward their science teachers the longer they study typical school science (Yager &
McCormack, 1989). It is important to develop student positive attitude toward science. When they have
positive attitudes, the learning of scientific information and science process skills are enhanced (Yager, 1996).
After fourth grade student attitude toward science starts to decline through junior and high school (Penick &
Yager, 1982). Assessment of student attitudes toward science have been conducted and reported. Student
responses indicate that student interest in science decreases the longer the students study science (NAEP,
1978). Reasons why students develop more negative attitudes towards science as they move through
elementary school include;
 Students are interested in a number of non-school activities when they get older
 Low achievement with school work
 More emphasis on specific science facts
 More emphasis on test results
  Not much opportunity for students to enjoy science (Yager, 1996)
Research studies indicate many factors influencing attitudes toward science. Probably gender is the most
significant variable related student attitudes toward science (Gardner, 1975; Schibeci, 1984; Weinburgh,
1995). Children receive messages about gender and ethnic stereotypes everyday from television programs and
commercials, books, and the adults around them.  They also see pictures of scientists most of whom are all
men, are all white, and have strange/weird behaviors. The strong correlation between attitude toward science
and achievement indicate little difference between girls and boys. Also, more positive attitudes are necessary
for girls to enable them to achieve high scores (Weingburgh, 1995; Jarvis &Pell, 2005).
The National Science Teachers Association defined the STS approach as the teaching and learning science and
technology in the context of human experience (NSTA, 1990). STS means focusing upon current issues and
attempts at their resolution as the best way of preparing students for current and future citizenship roles. This
means identifying local, regional, national, and international problems with students, planning for individual
and group activities which address them, and moving to actions designed to resolve the issues investigated.
The emphasis is on responsible decision-making in the real world of the student. STS provides a means for
achieving scientific and technological literacy for all. The emphasis is on responsible decision-making in the
real world of the student where science and technology are components.
The view of the student where the STS approaches are practiced make classrooms very different than they are
where traditional teaching is practiced. In traditional teaching the teacher decides which topics to include, in
what sequence, and in what ways. The teacher is the authority and students are the passive recipients.
Conversely, students are central in the STS approach. Students generate their own questions rather than
purely relying on the questions provided by others. Based on their own questions, student view their own
previous understandings of the problem and issues.  Student-directed questions further serve to define
problems, potential solutions, and actions need to resolve them. This enables students to see/ do science in
the same way that scientists do. This makes science more meaningful, exciting, and appropriate for most
students. The main goal of the STS approach is to achieve scientific literacy for all. It creates student-centered
environments where students improve on their own ideas, raise questions, and undertake investigations. The
STS approach starts with real world issues, and problems that related to students lives. Table 1 indicates the
differences between students involved in an STS program and those in a traditional science program in terms
of the attitude domain
Table 1: Contrast between STS Programs and Traditional Science Programs in terms of the Attitude Domain

STS Traditional

Students continually offer ideas Students have few original ideas

 Students interest increases from grade level Student interest in science declines at all
to grade level and in specific courses grade levels

Students become more curious about the

Science seems to decrease curiosity
material world

Students see their teacher as a Students see their teacher as a purveyor of

facilitator/guide information

Students see science as a way of dealing with

Students see science as information to learn
problems

Q. 5 Write short notes on the following:

a) Use of assessment information
Ans:
Assessment for learning is best described as a process by which assessment information is used by teachers to
adjust their teaching strategies, and by students to adjust their learning strategies.
Assessment, teaching, and learning are inextricably linked as each informs the others.
Assessment is a powerful process that can either optimise or inhibit learning, depending on how it is applied.
For teachers
Assessment for learning helps teachers gather information to:
 plan and modify teaching and learning programmes for individual students, groups of students, and the
class as a whole
 pinpoint students’ strengths so that both teachers and students can build on them
 identify students’ learning needs in a clear and constructive way so they can be addressed
 involve parents, families, and whānau in their children's learning.
For students
Assessment for learning:
 provides students with information and guidance so they can plan and manage the next steps in their
learning
 uses information to lead from what has been learned to what needs to be learned next.
Approaches 
Assessment for learning should use a range of approaches. These may include:
 day-to-day activities, such as learning conversations
 a simple mental note taken by the teacher during observation
 student self and peer assessments
 a detailed analysis of a student’s work
 assessment tools, which may be written items, structured interview questions, or items teachers make
up themselves.
b) Student evaluation task
Ans:
1. Change Weighting Scale
When calculating a final grade for report cards, teachers use student assignments, tests, quizzes, and exams
collected over the semester. Each type of assessment holds a certain “weight” in the overall grade. Exam
results might be worth 50% of the entire grade, while daily assignments are worth 20%. For students with
instructional accommodations and modifications, teachers can adjust the importance or weight of an
assessment activity.
2. Use Informal Observation
Observing students throughout the school day can give important insight into their learning needs and
progress. Collecting data through notes, checklists, sticky notes, and audio notes can help teachers keep track
of student strengths and needs. Moreover, informal observations alert teachers to issues and information that
one can’t provide on a written test.
3. Allow for Self-Assessment
Give students an opportunity to assess their own learning and reflect on the progress they are making. They
can identify their own gaps in skills or knowledge, revise their work, and set realistic goals. This process also
helps students stay motivated and interested in their own learning.
  4. Provide Multiple Test Formats
Tests do not need to be restricted to pencil and paper formats. Students with written output issues can be
given oral-response tests. Teachers can use multiple choice, long answer, short answer, diagrams, charts, fill-
in-the-blank, and other graphic organizers to have students answer questions about material.