Assessment
Assessments are a means in which to gather information on student understandings and misconceptions. Assessments are a tool used in the evaluation of teacher effectiveness, conceptual change, and to expose opportunities for growth (Andrews et al., 2008).
Teaching strategies that facilitate assessment include:
Concept maps provide a structure for the visual depiction of a student’s understanding.Through the construction of a concept map nonlinear patterns between concepts are exposed, in addition to illuminating a student’s potential misconceptions. Concept maps may be used as both a pre- or post-lesson assessment of factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks, thereby serving as a means to monitor a student’s progression of understanding.
|
Inquiry allows for assessment of students' understandings based on how they apply concepts to explain their results and patterns in data, and how they critically examine other findings. Inquiry also allows for assessment of students' understanding of the scientific process with their creation of questions, hypotheses, and designing experiments.
|
References
Andrews, K. E., Tressler, K. D., & Mintzes, J. J. (2008). Assessing environmental understanding: An application of the concept mapping strategy. Environmental Education Research, 14(5), 519-536.