Abstract
Assessment for, with and of learning within the field of early childhood science education brings to the fore the child within their social and emotional context. In this chapter we seek to explore the wholeness of the assessment context where the learner and the social context are inextricably fused, in order to discuss the complexity of assessment in early childhood science education. We introduce an assessment perezhivanie and the concept of ‘potentive assessment’ as a complement to formative and summative assessment for early year’s science and technology education. We draw specifically on cultural-historical theory to present our arguments and to highlight a framework which seeks to make visible an assessment approach which captures the dynamic relations between development and learning within the early childhood period, and, through this, provide an assessment approach which is centred upon illuminating children’s science content knowledge and capability as located and understood within meaningful contexts.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This term is also known as early years education, early childhood education and development, or early child care and development.
References
Allal, L., & Ducrey, G. P. (2000). Assessment of-or-in the zone of proximal development. Learning and Instruction, 10, 137–152.
Appleton, K. (2006). Elementary science teacher education. International perspectives on contemporary issues and practice. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Black, P. J. (1993). Formative and summative assessment by teachers. Studies in Science Education, 21(1), 49–97.
Black, P. (2001). Dreams, strategies and systems: Portraits of assessment past, present and future. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 81(1), 65–85.
Black, P. J., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education, 5(1), 7–74.
Black, P. J., & Wiliam, D. (2003). ‘In praise of educational research’: Formative assessment. British Educational Research Journal, 29(5), 623–637.
Black, P., Harrison, C., Hodgen, J., Marshall, B. M., & Street, N. (2011). Can teachers’ summative assessments produce results and also enhance classroom learning? Assessment in Education: Principles Policy & Practice, 18(4), 451–469.
Bozhovich, L. I. (2009). The social situation of child development. Journal of Russian and East Europeon Psychology, 47(4), 59–86.
Carr, M. (1998). Assessing children’s learning in early childhood settings: A series of three video tapes. Auckland: Video Campus and Wellington/NZCER.
Carr, M. (2000). Technological affordances, social practice and learning narratives in an early childhood setting. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 10, 61–79.
Carr, M. (2001). Assessment in early childhood settings. Learning stories. London: Paul Chapman.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2009). Belonging, being and becoming. The early years learning framework for Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2010). Educators belonging, being and becoming. Educators’ guide to the early years learning framework for Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Cowie, B. M. (2000). Formative assessment in science classrooms. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Waikato, New Zealand.
Cullen, J. (1994). Why retain a development focus in early education? In E. Mellor & E. Combe (Eds.), Issues in early childhood services: Australian perspectives (pp. 53–64). Dubuque: Wm C. Brown.
Cullen, J. (2003). The challenge of Te Whaariki: Catalyst for change. In J. Nuttall (Ed.), Weaving Te Whaariki: New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice (pp. 269–396). Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (1999). Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: Postmodern perspectives. Philadelphia: Falmer.
Elliott, J. (2003). Dynamic assessment in educational settings: Realizing potential. Educational Review, 55(1), 15–28.
Feuerstein, R., Rand, Y., & Hoffman, M. B. (1979). Dynamic assessment of retarded performers: The learning potential assessment device, theory, instruments and techniques. Baltimore: University Park.
Feuerstein, R., Rand, Y., Hoffman, M. B., & Miller, R. (1980). Instrumental enrichment: An intervention program for cognitive modifiability. Baltimore: University Park.
Fleer, M. (2010). Early learning and development: Cultural-historical concepts in play. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Fleer, M. (2011). Technologically constructed childhoods: Moving beyond a reproductive and critical view of curriculum development. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(1), 16–24.
Fleer, M., & Jane, B. (2007). Science for children (3rd ed.). Australia: Pearson Education.
Fleer, M., & Richardson, C. (2003). Collective mediated assessment: Moving towards a sociocultural approach to assessing children’s learning. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 10(1), 41–55.
Fleer, M., & Richardson, C. (2006). Observing children in early childhood environments: Using a sociocultural approach to assessment. Canberra: Early Childhood Australia.
Fleer, M., & Richardson, C. (2009). Cultural-historical assessment: Mapping the transformation of understanding. In A. Anning, J. Cullen, & M. Fleer (Eds.), Early childhood education: Society and culture (pp. 130–144). UK: Sage.
Fleer, M., Agbenyega, J., Blaise, M., & Peers, C. (2008). Assessment within the early years: Assumptions, beliefs and practices. A literature review for DECS. Melbourne: Research node for furthering early childhood research and learning, Faculty of Education, Monash University.
Fleet, A., & Patterson, C. (2011). Seeing assessment as a stepping stone: Thinking the context of the EYLF. Research in Practice Series, 18(4).
González Rey, F. (2009). La Significación de Vygotski para la Consideración de lo Afectivo en la Educación: Las Bases para la Cuestión de la Subjetividad. Vygotsky’s significance for the consideration of the affective processes in education: The basis for the matter of subjectivity. Actualidades Investigativas en la Educacion, 9, 1–24.
Hedges, H. D. (2002). Subject content knowledge in early childhood curriculum and pedagogy. Unpublished M. Ed. thesis, Massey University, New Zealand.
Jordan, B. (2009). Scaffolding learning and co-constructing understandings. In A. Anning, J. Cullen, & M. Fleer (Eds.), Early childhood education: Society and culture (pp. 39–52). UK: Sage.
Kravtsova, E. E. (2008). Zone of potential development and subject positioning. Paper presented at Vygotsky symposium, Monash University, Melbourne.
Lunt, I. (1993). The practice of assessment. In H. Daniels (Ed.), Charting the agenda. Educational activity after Vygotsky (pp. 145–170). London: Routledge.
MacDonald, M. (2007). Toward formative assessment: The use of pedagogical documentation in early elementary classrooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 232–242.
MacNaughton, G. (2009). Exploring critical constructivist perspectives on children’s learning. In A. Anning, J. Cullen, & M. Fleer (Eds.), Early childhood education: Society and culture (pp. 53–64). UK: Sage.
NAEYC & NAECS/SDE (National Association for the Education of Young Children & National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education). (2003). Joint position statement. Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age eight. Washington, DC: National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education.
Nuttall, J. (2005). Educators and children learning together: Reflections on the early childhood assessment exemplars. Early Education, 38(Spring/Summer), 63–71.
NZ Ministry of Education. (2011). Assessment for learning. http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/curriculumAndLearning/Assessmentforlearning/KeiTuaotePae/Book2.aspx. Accessed 3 July 2011.
Podmore, V. N. (2009). Questioning evaluation quality in early childhood. In A. Anning, J. Cullen, & M. Fleer (Eds.), Early childhood education: Society and culture (pp. 158–168). UK: Sage.
Tasmania Department of Education. (2008). Kindergarten development check. Hobart: Tasmanian Department of Education.
Tzuriel, D. (2001). Dynamic assessment of young children. New York: Kluwer.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky: Vol. I. Problems of general psychology. R. Rieber & A. Carton (Eds.) (trans: Minick, N.). New York: Plenum.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1994). The problem of environment. In R. Van der Veer & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Vygotsky reader (pp. 338–354). Oxford: Blackwell.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1997). The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky. Vol. 4. The history of the development of higher mental functions. New York: Plenum.
Wiliam, D., Lee, C., Harrison, C., & Black, P. (2004). Teachers developing assessment for learning: Impact on student achievement. Assessment in Education, 11(1), 49–65.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fleer, M., Quiñones, G. (2013). An Assessment Perezhivanie: Building an Assessment Pedagogy for, with and of Early Childhood Science Learning. In: Corrigan, D., Gunstone, R., Jones, A. (eds) Valuing Assessment in Science Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6668-6_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6668-6_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6667-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6668-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)