Assessing Student Learning in Science

Teachers who use hands-on methods of teaching have known for years that their students were learning science. Now FOSS has tools to provide evidence of learning—a fully integrated assessment component that permits continual monitoring of student progress during a module as well as summary information on student performance. The methods range from observation of students while they engage in their science investigations to tightly designed evaluative tools. It all adds up to a very thorough look at student achievement.

ASSESSMENT VARIABLES

What do we want to know about student learning? This is the fundamental question that the FOSS team had to answer before developing the assessment program. After lengthy consideration three general dimensions of learning, called assessment variables, were identified.

1. Content Knowledge. What do students know about the natural world? What can they report about objects and organisms and the principles that govern natural events? Content knowledge is one important goal of the FOSS program, and a substantial number of tools and strategies are used to acquire data about students' content acquisition.

2. Conducting Investigations. The enterprise of science is characterized by a number of activities that serve the purpose of acquiring information about the natural world. These include systematic observations, experimentation, equipment design, data organization, and much more. Can students conduct investigations to obtain data and extract meaning from those data? The FOSS program has performance assessments incorporated into the investigations to provide information about this important dimension of student growth.

3. Building Explanations. Making sense out of experiences and incorporating that sense into an ever-deepening knowledge of the natural world is the highest order of achievement FOSS expects to provide for students. At this level of understanding students can put their knowledge to work to solve problems and make considered decisions that will affect how humans relate to the natural world. The process of generating explanations exercises the mind in ways that have implications for reasoned thinking in all aspects of school and life. The FOSS program has tools to assess this dimension of learning and discourse.

For example, students learn the content knowledge that crayfish live in streams and ponds where they have cool water and access to food. Guided by the teacher, students create a crayfish habitat in the classroom and conduct investigations by providing four structures for the crayfish to use as shelter. Students record the location of each crayfish during a week and analyze the data. Based on their observations and the accumulated data, students build explanations about crayfish behavior and movement in their natural habitat.

FOSS ASSESSMENT THROUGH THE GRADES

Kindergarten. FOSS kindergarten assessment takes the form of informal teacher observation and teacher questioning. The teacher guide suggests behavior to watch for during investigations and questions to ask about the content. Based on these two means of assessment, teachers will know how to adjust their teaching for individual students or for the whole class. A recording system is included.

Assessment for Grades 1-6. The FOSS assessment materials for grades 1-6 fall into two categories: formative assessment, which helps teachers keep a finger on the pulse of student progress throughout a module, and summative assessment, which provides an overall measure of the learning outcomes at the end of the module.

Grades 1 and 2. In first and second grades students begin to produce a body of work related to their science investigations. Progress is assessed using teacher observation, anecdotal notes, student interviews, and student written work. This accumulation of simple statements and drawings about science can be used to determine how well students are acquiring the content and skills taught in the module. Each teacher guide has an assessment section that includes specific guidance for conducting observations and interviews, scoring guides, and recording strategies. A short summative test and a system for portfolio assessment are also included.

Grades 3-6. The FOSS assessment system for grades 3-6 includes several strategies for formative assessment.

Summative assessments demonstrate the extent and depth of learning. Two principal tools are employed: the end-of-module assessment and the portfolio of accumulated work. The Assessment folio in the teacher guide provides scoring guides for all the assessment tools and recording materials, and guidance for turning assessment results into grades.