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Bill Cobern
It is natural that at the conclusion of a course of study, we would want to know how well students have done. If the purpose of science education is to improve the level of scientific literacy in general public and to improve the scientific pipeline flow to higher education in the sciences, one has to wonder, however, if high-stakes exit exams are a case of too little, too late. These exams give you a measure of success, but do they do anything to improve the rate of success? Summative assessment of this sort has a role to play in education, but that role becomes meaningless if the processes of science education are not geared towards the success of a large number of students. If exit exams are to have any meaning at all, science educators and policymakers must look at the processes of formative assessment that can be used along the way to improve science learning, long before the finality of an exit exam.
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Judith Collison and George Collison Traditional assessment reveals is that much of our teaching is ineffective, and potential for student learning is not fulfilled. Unfortunately, this information comes to the teacher too late to be of real use. The assessment itself has to be part of the instructional schema to provide guidance to both student and teacher. Research indicates that formative assessment can contribute to student success, especially when used in the context of student centered teaching techniques. Four strategies are identified by Paul Black and colleagues (Black, Harrison, Lee Marshal and William, 2003) as key elements of effective learning: Questioning, Feedback, Sharing Criteria with Learners, and Peer and Self-assessment. Thus the use of formative assessment implies changes in instructional format and methodology. We present here three highly effective examples of such changed approaches to teaching: 1. Eric Mazur’s Peer Instruction in Physics, using ConcepTests, at Harvard University, 2. An application of Mazur’s techniques in teaching Calculus using ConcepTests at Cornell University, and 3. The use of Conceptual Probes developed at the Concord Consortium for online professional development in Mathematics and Science pedagogy. ConcepTests are carefully crafted questions designed to engage directly students’ minds with content. Peer instruction rests on a think-pair-share model that actively students’ with the material and with discussion with peers. Conceptual probes were parts of online professional development for international groups of educators in mathematics and science. This talk engages participants in peer instruction using novel ConcepTests and Conceptual probes, inviting audience discussion about the techniques.
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Ibrahim A. Halloun & Naima Hassan Ahmed
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