THE ELEMENTARY

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

CURRICULUM
Dr. Rosalie A. Corpus

Topic: Assessment Strategies Applied in the Teaching of Science

Group III
 Kreezah G. Bernardo
 Arjoy D. Mariano
 April Joy Natanuan
 Jezzabeth G. Pimentel
 Christine Jean Rebandaban
 Jonna Mae N. Malupay
 Armand Jobanni G. Zulueta

Assessment and Evaluation in Teaching Science (Arjoy D. Mariano)

The Role of Assessment in Learning

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPPINES

Sta. Mesa, Manila
 Assessment plays a major role in how students learn, their motivation to learn, and how
teachers teach.

Assessment is used for various purposes.

* Assessment for learning: where assessment helps teachers gain insight into what students
understand in order to plan and guide instruction, and provide helpful feedback to students.

* Assessment as learning: where students develop an awareness of how they learn and use
that awareness to adjust and advance their learning, taking an increased responsibility for their
learning.

* Assessment of learning: where assessment informs students, teachers and parents, as well

as the broader educational community, of achievement at a certain point in time in order to
celebrate success, plan interventions and support continued progress.

Assessment must be planned with its purpose in mind. Assessment for, as and of learning all

have a role to play in supporting and improving student learning, and must be appropriately
balanced. The most important part of assessment is the interpretation and use of the
information that is gleaned for its intended purpose.

Assessment is embedded in the learning process. It is tightly interconnected with curriculum

and instruction. As teachers and students work towards the achievement of curriculum
outcomes, assessment plays a constant role in informing instruction, guiding the student’s next
steps, and checking progress and achievement. Teachers use many different processes and
strategies for classroom assessment, and adapt them to suit the assessment purpose and
needs of individual students.

Research and experience show that student learning is best supported when
Instruction and assessment are based on clear learning goals

Students are involved in the learning process (they understand the learning goal and the
criteria for quality work, receive and use descriptive feedback, and take steps to adjust their
performance)

Assessment information is used to make decisions that support further learning

Parents are well informed about their child’s learning, and work with the school to help plan
and provide support Students, families, and the general public have confidence in the system.

The Department believes that the primary role of assessment is to enhance teaching and
improve student learning and supports this through the Provincial Assessment Initiative and
the Provincial Assessment Program.

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ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES (April Joy Natanauan)
“Assessment is a highly charged word in educational circles… It is a complex, changing, and
controversial subject that overlaps with major societal issues regarding quality of education,
diversity, and equality of access, the implementation of district and state guidelines, the efforts
to evolve national standards, and many other aspects of our current educational crisis. At its
heart, and at its best, assessment…speaks to the continuing dedicated struggles of teachers
and educators nationwide to improve instruction, to reach out to all students in effective and
stimulating ways.”
The term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to
evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition,
or educational needs of students.

1. Letter writing
Letters and persuasive writing are central to the process of science and mathematics, and to
the relationship between science and society. Letter writing offers students opportunities to
demonstrate their abilities to apply and communicate concepts they have learned in science
units.
Examples:

 Working through steps of the scientific method

 Solving an every-day problem with the scientific method
 Make a careful, step-by-step notation
of your observation
 Summarize the problem

 Problem solving in Mathematics

2. Advertisements
Ads marshal facts and ideas to communicate one point of view. Often statistics or
experimental results are used in advertising. Because students have direct experience with
media, they are often intrigued when asked to create their own “commercial” as part of a
science unit.

Examples:

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  Print Advertising: Newspaper, magazines, & brochure advertisements, etc.
 Broadcast Advertising: Television and radio advertisements.
 Outdoor Advertising: Hoardings, banners, flags, wraps, etc.
 Digital Advertising: Advertisements displayed over the internet and digital devices.
 Product/Brand Integration: Product placements in entertainment media like TV
show, YouTube video, etc.

3. Reflections (Jezzabeth G. Pimentel)

What Is Reflective Teaching And Why Is It Important?

Reflective teaching is a personal tool that teachers can use to observe and evaluate the way they
behave in their classroom. It can be both a private process as well as one that you discuss with
colleagues. When you collect information regarding what went on in your classroom and take the
time to analyse it from a distance, you can identify more than just what worked and what didn’t. You
will be able to look at the underlying principles and beliefs that define the way that you work. This
kind of self-awareness is a powerful ally for a teacher, especially when so much of what and how
they teach can change in the moment.

Reflective teaching is about more than just summarizing what happened in the classroom. If you
spend all your time discussing the events of the lesson, it’s possible to jump to abrupt conclusions
about why things happened as they did.

Reflective teaching is a quieter and more systemic approach to looking at what happened. It
requires patience, and careful observation of the entire lesson’s experience. According to Jack
Richards,  reflection or “critical reflection, refers to an activity or process in which an experience is
recalled, considered, and evaluated, usually in relation to a broader purpose. It is a response to past

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experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience as a basis for
evaluation and decision-making and as a source for planning and action. (Richard 1990)

Bartlett (1990) points out that becoming a reflective teacher involves moving beyond a primary
concern with instructional techniques and “how to” questions and asking “what” and “why” questions
that regard instructions and managerial techniques not as ends in themselves, but as part of broader
educational purposes. Asking “what and why” questions give us a certain power over our teaching.
We could claim that the degree of autonomy and responsibility we have in our work as teachers is
determined by the level of control we can exercise over our actions. In reflecting on the above kind
of questions, we begin to exercise control and open up the possibility of transforming our everyday
classroom life. (Bartlett, 1990. 267)
The process of reflective teaching supports the development and maintenance of professional
expertise.  We can conceptualise successive levels of expertise in teaching – those that student-
teachers may attain at the beginning, middle and end of their courses; those of the new teacher after
their induction to full-time school life; and those of the experienced, expert teacher. Given the nature
of teaching, professional development and learning should never stop.
Written accounts of experiences
Another useful way of engaging in the reflective process is through the use of written accounts of
experiences. (Powell 1985) and their potential is increasingly being recognized in teacher education.
A number of different approaches can be used.

Self-Reports – Self-reporting involves completing an inventory or check list in which the teacher
indicates which teaching practices were used within a lesson or within a specified time period and
how often they were employed (Pak, 1985).
Self-reporting allows teachers to make a regular assessment of what they are doing in the
classroom. They can check to see to what extent their assumptions about their own teaching are
reflected in their actual teaching practices.

Journal Writing
A procedure which is becoming more widely acknowledged as a valuable tool for developing
critical reflection is the journal or diary. The goals of journal writing are:

1. To provide a record of the significant learning experiences that have taken place

2. To help the participant come into touch and keep in touch with the self-development process that
is taking place for them

3. To provide the participants with an opportunity to express, in a personal and dynamic way, their
self-development

4. To foster a creative interaction between the participant and the self-development process that is
taking place, between the participant and other participants who are also in the process of self-
development, between the participant and the facilitator whose role it is to foster such development
(Powell, 1985, Bailey, 1990).

4. Game-playing

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Why games work. 

The number of hours spent by middle school and high school aged students playing video
and table top games has been increasing at an alarming rate, now averaging more than 2 hours
every day! In her book Reality is Broken, Jane McGonigal states that the average student in the
U.S. will have played roughly 10,000 hours of games by the time he or she finishes high school.
That’s only a little less time than the hours they’ll spend in school.

Some of the toughest challenges we face in educating our youth lie not in designing the
curriculum or selecting the content but in communicating despite the negative temperaments or
uninterested disposition of the students. So why not start there?

What do kids most naturally start doing when we leave them to themselves?
They start playing. Play is natural.

The benefits of games in education. 

One remarkable thing about games is that they remove much of the intimidation inherent in
the learning process (e.g. the feeling of dread that surfaces whenever students are faced with
new vocabulary, multi-step processes and/or complex concepts).

Games also transform the discomfort and psychological obstacle of ‘failure’ into an opportunity
to iterate toward success. Students study what they need to learn in order to excel at a game,
even when they make major mistakes.

Games stimulates a deeper level of engagement around an idea and therefore a deeper level of
understanding of that idea.

5. Pre-Post Testing (Christine Jean Rebandaban)

– is an assessment model designed to examine the change in overall critical thinking skills or
dispositions in a group of test takers. In addition to measuring how much students have
improved in one semester of study, the pre/post-test can be a valuable diagnostic tool for more
effective teaching.
Pre-Test

a. A preliminary test administered to determine a student's baseline knowledge or preparedness

for an educational experience or course of study.

b. A test taken for practice. The advance testing of something, such as a questionnaire, product,
or idea.

While taking the pre-test at the beginning of a semester, students are not expected to know the
answers to all of the questions; however, they should be expected to utilize previous knowledge
to predict rational answers.

Post Test

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A test given to students after completion of an instructional program or segment and often used
in conjunction with a pretest to measure their achievement and the effectiveness of the
program.

When taking the same test called a post-test at the end of a semester, students should be
expected to answer more questions correctly based on an increase in knowledge and
understanding.

How Can a Pre and Post-Test Be Used as a Teacher Diagnostic Tool?

1. It Identifies the Very Weak Students in a Class

2. It Identifies the strongest students in a class
3. It identifies topics which the students already know
4. It identifies topics which the students don't know
5. It identifies topics which the students have not learned

A student who does very well on a culminating test may have understood the concepts before
the unit began; a student who performed less well may have started out with misconceptions
that were substantially changed during the unit. If students are assessed in a similar manner
before and after the unit, teachers can measure not just what students know at a fixed point in
time, but what they learned.

When taking the same test called a post-test at the end of a semester, students should be
expected to answer more questions correctly based on an increase in knowledge and
understanding. A pre/post-test should be designed to measure the amount of learning a student
has acquired in a specific subject.

6. Model - making – Models provide representations of scientific concepts that can make the
ideas more understandable to learners

Models concentrate attention on specific aspects by using something that is familiar as a simile
to explain or describe something that is not familiar.

So much of what we deal with in science cannot be seen and so models are a powerful tool in
the science classroom that help us represent, describe, explain and reason about the material
world. Models encourages them to think deeply and imaginatively about scientific ideas.

Why use models?

Modelling is an important part of the scientific process. For example, climate change models
allow scientists to make predictions and test theories. In this way models are forms of
explanations (Hardman, 2017)

Models help students understand abstract scientific ideas that cannot always be seen – these
are representational models

If students create models it can make their thinking visible, allowing rapid feedback from teacher
to student and student to teacher

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When should we use models?

A model helps to clarify thinking and resolve understanding. A model is best used after the
scientific explanation. If a model is used too early on, students don’t appreciate its explaining
power and instead only see its literal parts.

Types of model in science lessons

Scale models: help students visualize an idea, process or system that is too small to see. For
example, modelling metallic structures using bubbles.

Analogue models: help make links between an abstract idea and a real-world situation that
students can understand. For example, comparing a cell to a city and comparing circuits to
ropes and central heating systems.

Historical models: help show how ideas have changed through time. Models increase in
sophistication over time and so often mirror the changing ideas students have. Models need to
be adapted throughout history because they need to explain ever-more complex ideas. For
example, models of atomic structure throughout history.

Mathematical models: help show and predict what happens to certain variables when
parameters are changed. For example, modelling radioactive decay.

Theoretical models: help bring together a range of experiences and theories. For example,
evolution.

Mental models are used to describe and explain phenomena that cannot be experienced
directly. It is a window into the learners’ understanding and can be used by the learner to give
explanations, make predictions and provide reasoning.

Mental models become expressed models when they enter the public domain through action,
speech, and writing. They are often represented as analogies and metaphors.

Expressed models used in science communication and teaching include: two-dimensional

models, such as those found in textbook diagrams; three-dimensional models such as scaled
miniatures (a smaller version of large structures); scaled enlargements (an enlarged view of
something too small to be seen); and working models.

Digital models include animated models and simulations. Simulations allow students to simulate
a situation, such as making choices about land use. Animated models may also allow students
to control variables to see what impact each variable has. Digital models intended for learning
are called learning objects.

7. Explorations – Despite its open-ended quality, exploration of new landscapes or situations is

a crucial part of the discipline of science. Exploration allows teachers to observe students

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exercising important skills such as: using all their senses to observe, recording observations,
making comparisons, formulating questions and hypotheses, and making inferences.

Discovery learning is a technique of inquiry-based learning and is considered a constructivist-

based approach to education. It is also referred to as problem-based learning, experiential
learning and 21st century learning.

It is based on the idea that students construct their own understanding and knowledge of the
world through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

Exploration activities require both the educator and the student to do things differently. There is
a shift in who controls the learning. The student becomes the leader and the teacher plays the
very important role of learning facilitator.

What the teacher does: What the student does:

 Acts as a facilitator  Conducts investigations

 Observes and listens  Forms predictions & hypotheses
 Asks probing questions  Records observations and ideas
 Provides time for students to problem solve  Shares thinking with others
 Encourages cooperative learning

Educational Psychologist Jean Piaget viewed children as little philosophers and scientists
building their own theories of knowledge. The book Hands-On Science Teaching best
summarizes this:

“Piaget’s research clearly mandates that the learning environment should be rich in physical
experiences. Involvement, he states, is the key to intellectual development, and for the
elementary school child this includes direct physical manipulation of objects.”

The Discovery Learning Method, if used incorrectly, can also be a barrier to learning. If teachers
are having activities just for the sake of having activities, then students will not learn concepts.
Formal training in this method is necessary for teachers and teachers also have to reflect about
how their activity is helping students master a concept. Teachers have to remember that just
because something is “hands on” does not mean that it is “minds on”. Canadian educational
researchers Scardamalia and Bereiter further explain:

“The shallowest forms engage students in tasks and activities in which ideas have no over
presence but are entirely implicit. Students describe the activities they are engaged in (such as
planting seeds or measuring shadows) and show little awareness of the underlying principles
that these tasks are to convey.

8. Experiment - When students design, conduct and analyze experiments, teachers have
opportunities to observe students: describing variables, designing comparison and using
controls, determining appropriate outcomes, critiquing an experiment, and drawing conclusions.

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9. Investigation – Scientific investigations encompass the entire process of posing and
answering questions, using a variety of tools and strategies to come to the best possible
answer. Students use content and process skills to construct their own pathways, make
observations, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions.
The aim of arranging practical experiments and investigations for students is to develop
students’ general and specific skills to carry out scientific experiments and investigations, and to
enhance their practical competence in handling expereimental instrumentations. Practical
experiments and investigations constitutes an important part in the research cycle for scientific
inquiries, which provides the empirical basis for the establishment and refinement of theories
and indications for making predictions. It makes sure that students do not only learn the body of
scientific knowledge, but also the methods in which it has been developed from.
Advantages
 Allow students to demonstrate and practice their knowledge and skills of “how to do
something” in action, and to achieve the learning outcomes by themselves, which is not
feasible through written assessments such as free- response questions or multiple-
choice questions.
 Provides a powerful tool for teachers to objectively assess the competence of these
manual skills of the students.
 Establishes the link between theories and practice; students can learn the scientific
attitude of taking and analyzing data patiently and accurately; experiments and
investigations do not replace textbooks and lectures, but enhance learning with practical
experience.
 Practical experiments and investigations can be extended to become a hands-on
experimental skills examination, to be coupled with brief instructions and interactive
questions on theories.

Disadvantages
 It is time-consuming and costly to set up laboratory experiments and the necessary
instrumentations along with adequate technical support; close supervision and help may
be needed for students who lack confidence in doing practical experiments and
investigations.
 For some experiments and investigations, it may not be feasible for the faculty to offer
one set of equipments to each student; students will have to perform the experiment or
the investigation as a group, which may give rise to unfair distribution of work in the
group.
 Teachers may find it difficult to develop uniform, fair, and reliable assessment rubrics to
evaluate students’ practical skills.

How to design a Practical Experiment Assessment?

1. Before conducting the practical experiment sessions, teachers can offer a briefing
session to explain to the class the basic theretical background, learning outcomes, and
the required techniques of the experiment. Precautions, potential problems and hazards,
and safety issues must be carefully discussed and explained to students in the briefing
session.
2. The experimental sessions can be coupled with active and interactive assessments in
relation to the theories. In this setting, instructions can be given to students to carry out

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 the experiment. Upon the observation of results, students need to answer questions to
explain the immediate observations based on the principles and theories they have
learnt.
3. Teachers should be reminded not to arrange practical experiments that require
excessively costly, unrealistic or unfeasible equipments.
4. In the examination context, teachers may consider video-taping the students’
performance in the experiment for easier assessment and to allow multiple assessors to
rate the students’ performance.

SAMPLE RUBRICS
MARKING EXCELLENT PROFICIENT AVERAGE POOR
RUBRICS
Relevance and Hypothesis was Hypothesis was Hypothesis No hypothesis is
feasibility of stated concisely stated clearly; stated and stated for
experimental and specifically; but was not very ambiguous and testing; the
design: the experimental specific; the not specific objective of
design can experimental enough; the performing the
efficiently test design is valid experimental experiment is
the validity of the for testing the design is weakly unknown.
stated hypothesis linked to the
hypothesis testing of the
hypothesis
Experimental Experimental Most of the Only some of Experiment was
techniques: tasks were done experimental the experimental done chaotically,
in an organized tasks were done tasks were done without
and effective neatly and satisfactorily; knowledge of
way; apparatus satisfactorily; have frequent how to use and
were handled posses problems in handle the
competently with knowledge of handling some apparatus
confidence; all how to handle of the apparatus appropriately; do
given most of the and procedures, not follow the
instructions were necessary and also in experimental
followed tightly apparatus and following the instructions
procedures given
appropriately; instructions
instructions were
well-followed
Scientific Taking the Taking the Doing the Fooling around
attitude and experiment with experiment with experiment for with the
safety isssues: a serious a positive fun; results were experimental
attitude; data attitude; taken with large equipments;
and observations errors; did not results were
measurements and try to think about estimated
were made measurements the rationable without basing
accurately and were made with behind the on real data
patiently; having minor errors; experiment
thought carefully tried to think
about possible about limitations
improvements of of the

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 the design while experimental
performing the design
tasks

10. Peer Assessment (Armand Jobanni G. Zulueta)

Faster feedback
• Having students grade assess their peers' oral presentations decreases the time taken
for students to receive their feedback. Instead of them having to wait for feedback on
their work, self- and peer-assessment allow assignments to be graded soon after
completion. Students then don't have to wait until they have moved onto new material
and the information is no longer fresh in their minds.

Pedagogical
• Teacher's evaluation role makes the students focus more on the grades not seeking
feedback. Students can learn from grading the papers or assessing the oral
presentations of others. Often, teachers do not go over test answers and give students
the chance to learn what they did wrong. Self and peer assessment allow teachers to
help students understand the mistakes that they have made. This will improve
subsequent work and allow students time to digest information and may lead to better
understanding.

Metacognitive
• Through self- and peer-assessment students are able to see mistakes in their thinking
and can correct any problems in future assignments. By grading assignments, students
may learn how to complete assignments more accurately and how to improve their test
results.

Attitude
• If self- and peer-assessment are implemented, students can come to see tests not as
punishments but as useful feedback.Hal Malehorn says that by using peer evaluation,
classmates can work together for “common intellectual welfare” and that it can create a
“cooperative atmosphere” for students instead of one where students compete for
grades. 

Application Assessment
• Students’ “learned/available knowledge” is used to make decisions and perform tasks
through direction and routines.

• Students must learn and apply their knowledge at the same time, inside and outside the
classroom, all without adding extra months or years to their studies.

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 • “You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling
over.” The process of experiential learning involves both self-initiative and self-
assessment, as well as hands-on activity.

• “Real World” – Students may tune out lectures if they think the material doesn’t pertain
to the “real world.” Experiential learning takes data and concepts and makes them “real”
by applying them to hands-on tasks, with real results.

• Opportunity for Creativity – In the “real world,” problems often have more than one
solution.Experiential learning enables the student to engage the creative portions of
their brains and seek their own unique and most fulfilling solution to a hands-on task.

• Mistakes Become Valuable – Experiential learning involves trial by error. As students

engage in hands-on tasks, they find that some approaches work better than others. 

• Improved Attitudes toward Learning – The personal nature of experiential learning

engages the students’ emotions as well as enhancing their knowledge and skills. When
students see the concrete fruits of their labor, they experience greater gratification and
pride, thus enhancing their enthusiasm for continued learning.

• Accelerated Learning – the act of practicing a skill strengthens the neural connections
in our brain, making us, in effect “smarter.” Hands-on activities require practice,
problem-solving and decision-making. As student engagement increases through these
processes, learning accelerates and retention improves.

• Opportunity for Reflection –By incorporating concrete experiences with abstract

concepts, and then reflecting on the outcome, students engage more regions of their
brain and make true, personal connections with the material. 

• Prepares Students for Real Life

11. Teacher Observation

Because in-course assessment techniques are designed to gauge the effectiveness of the
teaching and the quality of the learning taking place (and not simply to see who is or isn’t
studying), they are usually anonymous. These anonymous assignments typically can be
completed quickly, and focus on three areas:
1. Students’ academic skills and intellectual development (e.g., do students have sufficient
background knowledge or academic skills to move onto the next topic?)

2. Students’ assessments of their own learning skills (e.g., do students feel prepared to
learn new material from the textbook, without classroom review?)

3. Students' reactions to various teaching methods, materials, and assignments (e.g., do

students believe the exams fairly cover the material stressed in class?).

• Based on this feedback, faculty can adjust their teaching to help students learn.

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