Assessing Students’ Reasoning Abilities Following the Implementation of the TSC Project

Abstract

After looking into the learning processes that may induce changes in students’ reasoning and exploring the relationship between science knowledge and the TSC learning activities, this chapter finally addresses the basic issue of whether the project had an effect on students’ reasoning abilities. Assessment of reasoning abilities is not an easy task. Traditional assessment that consists primarily of multiple choice tests often focuses on declarative knowledge requiring recall of information and algorithmic problem solving. Although several researchers (e.g., Watson & Glaser, 1964; Jungwirth, 1985 Norris & Ennis, 1989; Facione & Facione 1990/1998; Facione, Facione & Giancario, 2000) have developed multiple-choice tests for assessing critical thinking, other researchers believe that assessment of higher order thinking calls for open-ended assessment means such as open-ended questions, performance assessment, hands on assessment and portfolios (Birenbaum, 1997; Stiggins, 1994).