How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video Study

Ambitious approaches to science teaching feature collaborative learning environments and engage students in rich discourse to make sense of their own and their peers’ ideas. Classroom assessment must cohere with and mutually reinforce these kinds of learning experiences. This paper explores how teac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Clarissa Deverel-Rico, Erin Marie Furtak, Sanford R. Student, Amy Burkhardt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-09-01
Series:Education Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/10/1060
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850205635554050048
author Clarissa Deverel-Rico
Erin Marie Furtak
Sanford R. Student
Amy Burkhardt
author_facet Clarissa Deverel-Rico
Erin Marie Furtak
Sanford R. Student
Amy Burkhardt
author_sort Clarissa Deverel-Rico
collection DOAJ
description Ambitious approaches to science teaching feature collaborative learning environments and engage students in rich discourse to make sense of their own and their peers’ ideas. Classroom assessment must cohere with and mutually reinforce these kinds of learning experiences. This paper explores how teachers’ enactment of formative assessment tasks can support such an ambitious vision of learning. We draw on video data collected through a year-long investigation to explore the ways that co-designing formative assessments linked to a learning progression for modeling energy in systems could help teachers coordinate classroom practices across high school physics, chemistry, and biology. Our analyses show that while there was some alignment of routines within content areas, students had differential opportunities to share and work on their ideas. Though the tasks were constructed for surfacing students’ ideas, they were not always facilitated to create space for teachers to take up and work with those ideas. This paper suggests the importance of designing <i>and</i> enacting formative assessment tasks to support ambitious reform efforts, as well as ongoing professional learning to support teachers in using those tasks in ways that will center discourse around students’ developing ideas.
format Article
id doaj-art-71ee934eb03e4d20aff342fda0c9a5c4
institution OA Journals
issn 2227-7102
language English
publishDate 2024-09-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Education Sciences
spelling doaj-art-71ee934eb03e4d20aff342fda0c9a5c42025-08-20T02:11:03ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022024-09-011410106010.3390/educsci14101060How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video StudyClarissa Deverel-Rico0Erin Marie Furtak1Sanford R. Student2Amy Burkhardt3BSCS Science Learning, 5415 Mark Dabling Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USASchool of Education, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USASchool of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USACambium Assessment, Washington, DC 20007, USAAmbitious approaches to science teaching feature collaborative learning environments and engage students in rich discourse to make sense of their own and their peers’ ideas. Classroom assessment must cohere with and mutually reinforce these kinds of learning experiences. This paper explores how teachers’ enactment of formative assessment tasks can support such an ambitious vision of learning. We draw on video data collected through a year-long investigation to explore the ways that co-designing formative assessments linked to a learning progression for modeling energy in systems could help teachers coordinate classroom practices across high school physics, chemistry, and biology. Our analyses show that while there was some alignment of routines within content areas, students had differential opportunities to share and work on their ideas. Though the tasks were constructed for surfacing students’ ideas, they were not always facilitated to create space for teachers to take up and work with those ideas. This paper suggests the importance of designing <i>and</i> enacting formative assessment tasks to support ambitious reform efforts, as well as ongoing professional learning to support teachers in using those tasks in ways that will center discourse around students’ developing ideas.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/10/1060formative assessmentlearning progressionsscience classroom assessmentsecondary science educationcrosscutting concepts
spellingShingle Clarissa Deverel-Rico
Erin Marie Furtak
Sanford R. Student
Amy Burkhardt
How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video Study
Education Sciences
formative assessment
learning progressions
science classroom assessment
secondary science education
crosscutting concepts
title How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video Study
title_full How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video Study
title_fullStr How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video Study
title_full_unstemmed How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video Study
title_short How Can Crosscutting Concepts Organize Formative Assessments across Science Classrooms? Results of a Video Study
title_sort how can crosscutting concepts organize formative assessments across science classrooms results of a video study
topic formative assessment
learning progressions
science classroom assessment
secondary science education
crosscutting concepts
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/10/1060
work_keys_str_mv AT clarissadeverelrico howcancrosscuttingconceptsorganizeformativeassessmentsacrossscienceclassroomsresultsofavideostudy
AT erinmariefurtak howcancrosscuttingconceptsorganizeformativeassessmentsacrossscienceclassroomsresultsofavideostudy
AT sanfordrstudent howcancrosscuttingconceptsorganizeformativeassessmentsacrossscienceclassroomsresultsofavideostudy
AT amyburkhardt howcancrosscuttingconceptsorganizeformativeassessmentsacrossscienceclassroomsresultsofavideostudy