. "4 Classroom Assessment and Inquiry." Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2000.
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Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning
Table 4-1. Assessment Formats and Procedures
Formats
multiple choice, true/false, matching
constructed response, essays
investigations, research reports, projects
portfolios, journals, lab notebooks
Amount of time
typically ~1 min
2-3 min with justifications
1-2 min short answers
5-15 min open-ended responses
days, weeks, or months
months or even years
Whose questions? (audience for the answer)
anonymous or the teacher’s
anonymous or the teacher’s
the teacher’s or the student’s
the teacher’s or the student’s
What kind of questions?
posed narrowly
posed narrowly
posed more openly
varies
Source of answer
anonymous or the teacher’s
the student’s
the student’s
the student’s
What kind of answers?
right/wrong
extent of correctness
standards or criteria for quality
standards or criteria for quality
Resources available during assessment
usually none
none or some equipment
equipment, references
equipment, references
Opportunity for feedback, revision
none
usually none
usually some from teachers and peers
usually some from teachers and peers
familiar formats of multiple choice, constructed response, projects, and portfolios, are displayed in Table 4-1. The challenge for teachers increases from the left side of the table to the right, as the products of assessment go from being right or wrong to having qualities that must be negotiated with other members of the school community. In other words, what are the teacher’s, the school’s, or the science community’s criteria for an excellent response to a particular question?
Discussions among teachers at a school or district level, calibrated with the participation of outsiders, are a component of most effective assessment systems. As Daro (1996, p. 260) puts it:
If standards are to have any real consequence, it will have to be
