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Tools for Assessing and Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School

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Assessment in Science

Abstract

In this chapter we first provide an overview of assessment in elementary and middle school classrooms: we describe the purposes for assessment, outline a strategy for planning assessment in science, discuss the difference between evaluation and grading, and propose a view of assessment as profiling. We next present an overview of different types of assessments, ranging from open-ended response tasks to practical tasks. We then discuss specific methods and formats for assessing children based on their science activity and the products they produce within those activities, including the assessment of science attitude, and peer and self-assessment. We conclude the chapter by talking about children’s self-produced journals as a teaching, learning, and assessing tool in science.

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Shepardson, D.P., Britsch, S.J. (2001). Tools for Assessing and Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School. In: Shepardson, D.P. (eds) Assessment in Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0802-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0802-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-7094-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0802-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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