Assessing Hands-On Science

"A must for teachers doing hands-on science! Straightforward and user-friendly for even the beginning teacher." Debby West, Science Teacher, Medea Middle School Oak Park, California

"I wish I′d had this book when I started teaching 12 years ago." Dave Jelinek, Researcher Ph.D. Candidate

If you want to make sure your students are learning, you must somehow measure their progress. But how can you do that in a science program where the students "construct knowledge" for themselves instead of memorizing facts? Brown and Shavelson show you exactly what to do in this useful guide to science performance assessment. This book helps you answer these questions:

• Why should you use performance assessments for your hands-on science program?
• What can you "measure" that you can′t just observe?
• How can you score the responses to give meaning in a grading context?
• Which performance assessment will work best for your (and your students′) purposes?

Find out which kinds of assessments and scoring systems work best for your classroom. You′ll learn how to measure precisely what your students know and understand about the science they′re learning. The step-by-step instructions here will help you choose assessment methods that provide reliable, valid, measurable evaluations of your students′ performance. The authors give you samples of completed score forms to help you assess your own classroom findings. They also include model assessments that look and feel so much like regular, hands-on science curricula that your students won′t even realize they′re being tested! If you teach hands-on science, or if you plan to start, this book has practical information you can use right now.