Curriculum and assessment in science education: the policy interface

Black, Paul

doi:10.1080/0950069950170405

Cited by 11 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 18 publications

(13 reference statements)

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“…This paper aims to contribute to the clarification and expansion of how NOS can be conceptualized in science classrooms for meaningful teaching and assessment, particularly through the design of curriculum and high-stakes assessments. Researchers commonly posit that apart from curriculum documents, the design of teaching and assessments in classroom can be affected by high-stakes assessments (Black, 1995;Brookhart, 2010;Erduran, Cullinane, & Wooding, 2019). More importantly, this paper also explores how the government documents and high-stakes assessments align with each other.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Inclusion of Nature of Science in Biology Curriculum and High-Stakes Assessments in Hong Kong

Cheung

2020

Sci & Educ

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Nature of science (NOS) becomes one of the major emphases in curriculum and assessment. This study explores what and how NOS is included in the Hong Kong biology curriculum and seven-year high-stakes assessments. Although there are different conceptualizations on the definition of NOS, the family resemblance approach (FRA) is used to analyze the inclusion of NOS in the curriculum and the high-stakes assessments. In FRA, NOS comprises a cognitive-epistemic system and a socialinstitutional system. There is a total of 11 categories in these two systems and these categories are interconnected with one another. By adopting Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA), the frequency of connections among these NOS categories in the curriculum and the high-stakes assessments can be visualized and compared. This study reveals three major findings: (1) both the curriculum and the high-stakes assessments neglect the NOS categories in relation to the social-institutional system;(2) the NOS categories included in the curriculum are not aligned with those included in the high-stake examinations; (3) the high-stakes examinations require students to demonstrate their NOS understanding using a limited range of skills in a limited range of contexts. Implications on the design of curriculum and assessment items will be discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Inclusion of Nature of Science in Biology Curriculum and High-Stakes Assessments in Hong Kong

Cheung

2020

Sci & Educ

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General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy

Childs

Baird

2020

The Curriculum Journal

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This article responds to two key concerns in science education: firstly, that policies designed to assess practical work have distorted its use as an effective pedagogical tool. Secondly, it addresses concerns about the lack of research on the assessment of practical work. The article analyses the policy trajectory for the assessment of science practical work, through the GCSE, in the English National Curriculum from 1988 to the present day. Drawing on published research and policy documents, using Bowe, Ball and Gould's policy cycle approach to policy analysis, we first identify three distinct eras which represent different ways of assessing practical work from 1988 to the present day. Second, we demonstrate that the interaction between high‐stakes assessment narrows the ways practical work is conducted in schools. The interaction between curriculum policy and assessment policy and its influences on pedagogy for practical work has been influenced by the high‐stakes nature of the tests. This is not a unique case to England nor to science education. Finally, we question whether we can design assessments, ‘tests worth teaching to’, that can withstand the implications of high‐stakes testing.

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From nationwide standardized testing to school‐based alternative embedded assessment in Israel: Students' performance in the matriculation 2000 project

Dori

2002

J Res Sci Teach

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Matriculation 2000 was a 5-year project aimed at moving from the nationwide traditional examination system in Israel to a school-based alternative embedded assessment. Encompassing 22 high schools from various communities in the country, the Project aimed at fostering deep understanding, higherorder thinking skills, and students' engagement in learning through alternative teaching and embedded assessment methods. This article describes research conducted during the fifth year of the Project at 2 experimental and 2 control schools. The research objective was to investigate students' learning outcomes in chemistry and biology in the Matriculation 2000 Project. The assumption was that alternative embedded assessment has some effect on students' performance. The experimental students scored significantly higher than their control group peers on low-level assignments and more so on assignments that required higher-order thinking skills. The findings indicate that given adequate support and teachers' consent and collaboration, schools can transfer from nationwide or statewide standardized testing to school-based alternative embedded assessment. ß

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Curriculum and assessment in science education: the policy interface

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

Exploring the Inclusion of Nature of Science in Biology Curriculum and High-Stakes Assessments in Hong Kong

Exploring the Inclusion of Nature of Science in Biology Curriculum and High-Stakes Assessments in Hong Kong

General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the assessment of science practical work: an historical review of assessment policy

From nationwide standardized testing to school‐based alternative embedded assessment in Israel: Students' performance in the matriculation 2000 project

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