Validation of Automated Scoring for a Formative Assessment that Employs Scientific Argumentation

Scientific argumentation is one of the core practices for teachers to implement in science classrooms. We developed a computer-based formative assessment to support students’ construction and revision of scientific arguments. The assessment is built upon automated scoring of students’ arguments and provides feedback to students and teachers. Preliminary validity evidence was collected in this study to support the use of automated scoring in this formative assessment. The results showed satisfactory psychometric properties related to this formative assessment. The automated scores showed satisfactory agreement with human scores, but small discrepancies still existed. Automated scores and feedback encouraged students to revise their answers. Students’ scientific argumentation skills improved during the revision process. These findings provided preliminary evident to support the use of automated scoring in the formative assessment to diagnose and enhance students’ argumentation skills in the context of climate change in secondary school science classrooms.     

多元智能理论下普职融通试点班学生评价研究

普职融通试点班的学生如果达到一定的标准,可以分流到与其结对的普通高中进行学习和生活。目前,分流的标准是依据学生的考试成绩,但单一的纸笔测验并不能真正反映出学生的综合素质和能力。为了促进学生的全面发展以及个性化发展,运用访谈法与文献分析相结合的方法,从多元智能理论的视角出发,得出普职融通试点班应采用可以量化的纸笔测验和基于学生表现的质性评价即档案袋评价相结合的方法进行学生评价的结论。     

Episodic memories and the longitudinal impact of high school physics on female students’ physics identity

Students enter physics classes with negative attitudes towards physics compared to the other sciences. Female students are more likely to opt out of a second higher-level physics course. Thus, the broad goal of this work is to better understand how to have the most lasting positive impact on female students’ attitudes and motivations towards learning physics after a single physics course in high school. Through longitudinal case studies of six female students using the frameworks of episodic memory and physics identity, we explore the most impactful features of students’ high school physics experiences. The data is drawn from three years of student interviews and one initial student survey. Our results indicate that the students could remember in detail and with longevity their experiences with physics causing high arousal and negative initial valence, such as teachers presenting physics knowledge in a counter-intuitive way. The students can remember the context but not the details of their experiences with physics causing low arousal and non-neutral valence, such as their teacher sharing a story about physics. Experiences that were eventually tied to positive valence had positive impacts on female students’ physics identity maintenance, such as problem solving activities where no one was left behind.     

Explaining a reverse gender gap in advanced physics and computer science course-taking: An exploratory case study comparing Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking high schools in Israel

In the past three decades in high-income countries, female students have outperformed male students in most indicators of educational attainment. However, the underrepresentation of girls and women in science courses and careers, especially in physics, computer sciences, and engineering, remains persistent. What is often neglected by the vast existing literature is the role that schools, as social institutions, play in maintaining or eliminating such gender gaps. This explorative case study research compares two high schools in Israel: one Hebrew-speaking state school that serves mostly middleclass students and exhibits a typical gender gap in physics and computer science; the other, an Arabic-speaking state school located in a Bedouin town that serves mostly students from a lower socioeconomic background. In the Arabic-speaking school over 50% of the students in the advanced physics and computer science classes are females. The study aims to explain this seemingly counterintuitive gender pattern with respect to participation in physics and computer science. A comparison of school policies regarding sorting and choice reveals that the two schools employ very different policies that might explain the different patterns of participation. The Hebrew-speaking school prioritizes self-fulfillment and “free-choice,” while in the Arabic-speaking school, staff are much more active in sorting and assigning students to different curricular programs. The qualitative analysis suggests that in the case of the Arabic-speaking school the intersection between traditional and collectivist society and neoliberal pressures in the form of raising achievement benchmarks contributes to the reversal of the gender gap in physics and computer science courses.     

自组织表征理论:一种物理问题解决的新理论

依据协同学理论,提出了问题解决的自组织表征理论,采用原始物理问题测验工具,研究了中学生解决原始问题的表征情况,发现得分直方图呈现双峰分布与双峰分布转移现象,通过协同学的唯象分析给出了理论解释。     

高中生综合素质评价的多视角探索

科学的学生综合素质评价要求与之相适应的科学的评价内容、评价标准及评价实施办法,社会的诚信水平、考试、基础评价指标、招生等多重因素影响综合素质评价的科学性,如何理清思路,解决存在的问题,促进学生个性发展和全面发展,是全面实施素质教育的要求,也有利于教育公平公正。     

Web-Based Student Assessment for Program Evaluation

As part of an overall evaluation of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, (GLOBE) program, we designed a Web-based assessment environment to measure students' environmental awareness and data analysis skill. It was expected that students who were identified as high implementers in the GLOBE program would outperform low implementers in their ability to construct environmental inferences and the degree to which they could analyze environmental data. Seven high and middle school classrooms were identified as either high or low GLOBE implementers depending on the amount of atmospheric data they had collected during the year. Within each classroom students were assigned into smaller learning groups of three students per group. A total of 32 groups participated in this study. Analysis of students' responses to the tasks revealed that the students differed in their performance. Overall, the results showed that students in the high implementing classrooms were more likely to construct higher-level environmental inferences than students in the low implementing classes. Contrary to expectations, middle school students were more likely than high school students to solve the data analysis problem correctly. However, upon further analyses, high school students constructed more data graphs and were more skilled in providing correct evidence to support their decision making than were middle school students in GLOBE. This study confirms the viability of using technology-based assessments for measuring students' environmental awareness and data analysis.     

Improved application of the control-of-variables strategy as a collateral benefit of inquiry-based physics education in elementary school

In a quasi-experimental classroom study, we longitudinally investigated whether inquiry-based, content-focused physics instruction improves students’ ability to apply the control-of-variables strategy, a domain-general experimentation skill. Twelve third grade elementary school classes (Mdn_age = 9 years, N = 189) were randomly assigned to receive either four different physics curriculum units (intervention) or traditional instruction (control). Experiments were frequent elements in the physics units; however, there was no explicit instruction of the control-of-variables strategy or other experimentation skills. As intended, students in the intervention classes strongly increased their conceptual physics knowledge. More importantly, students in the intervention classes also showed stronger gains in their ability to apply the control-of-variables strategy correctly in novel situations compared to students in the control classes. Thus, a high dose of experimentation had the collateral benefit of improving the transfer of the control-of-variables strategy. The study complements lab-based studies with convergent findings obtained in real classrooms.     

Structured cognitive discussions in senior high school physics: Student and teacher perceptions

Concern with the quality of student engagement and learning in senior high school physics has been evident for many years. In this study we have focussed on student engagement. Three tasks that utilised a structured discussion, approach to learning concepts in mechanics were developed in collaborative work with two Year 11 physics teachers. These tasks demanded an initial individual response from each student, then a single response from groups of three, and then a whole class interpretive dicussion led by the teacher and based on the group responses. We report the detail of reactions of students and teachers to these tasks in the two classes taught by the teachers involved in the development of the tasks, and more general reactions from a further seven Year 11 physics classes.     

Perceptions of assessment in a senior physics class

Students' responses to assessment tasks are likely to be affected by a range of factors including teaching approaches, the nature of the curriculum, the nature of the assessment task, socialising influences, and perceptions of the teacher's assessment objectives. This paper describes the perceptions of assessment practices held by senior physics students and their teacher in one Brisbane school. The nature and rationale for these practices were inferred from an examination of school documents. Congruences and dissonances between and within these indicators of physics assessment practices in the school are explored, with particular reference to gender. Specializations: science education, science teacher education, physics education.     

Meeting the Discipline-Culture Framework of Physics Knowledge: A Teaching Experience in Italian Secondary School

The paper deals with physics teaching/learning in high school. An investigation in three upper secondary school classes in Italy explored the reactions of students to a structuring lecture on optics within the discipline-culture (DC) framework that organises physics knowledge around four interrelated fundamental theories of light. The lecture presented optics as an unfolding conceptual discourse of physicists regarding the nature of light. Along with the knowledge constructed in a school course of a scientific lyceum, the students provided epistemological comments, displaying their perception of physics knowledge presented in the classroom. Students’ views and knowledge were investigated by questionnaires prior to and after the lecture and in special discussions held in each class. They revealed a variety of attitudes and views which allowed inferences about the potential of the DC framework in an educational context. The findings and interpretation indicate the positive and stimulating impact of the lecture and the way in which DC-based approach to knowledge organization makes physics at school cultural and attractive.     

Building an organized knowledge base: Concept mapping and achievement in secondary school physics

Direct teaching of problem-solving methods to high school physics students met with little success. Expert problem solving depended upon an organized knowledge base. Concept mapping was found to be a key to organizing an effective knowledge base. The investigation of the effect of the degree of concept mapping on achievement was the purpose of this study. Six intact high school physics classes, taught by this investigator, took part in the study. Two classes were control groups and received standard instruction. Four classes received six weeks of concept-mapping instruction prior to the unit under study. Two of these four classes were the low-level treatment group and were required to submit concept maps at the conclusion of the instruction. The other two classes were the high-level treatment group and were required to submit concept maps at the beginning and at the conclusion of the unit under study. One class from each treatment group took a pretest prior to instruction. An analysis of the posttest results revealed no pretest sensitization. A one-way analysis of covariance indicated a significant main effect for the treatment level at the p < 0.05 level. A pair of single-df comparisons of the adjusted treatment means resulted in significant differences (p < 0.05) between the control group and the average of the treatment means as well as between the two experimental groups. It can be concluded that for this sample (upper-middle-class high school physics students) mapping concepts prior to, during, and subsequent to instruction led to greater achievement as measured by posttest scores.     

多媒体教学和传统教学在中学物理教学中的比较

多媒体与中学物理教学整合在中学课堂教学实践中得到普遍应用,极大地推动了新课程改革的步伐。通过选取成都市温江二中的高一和高二共198名学生,对多媒体教学和传统的＂粉笔＋黑板＂教学进行对比研究,从而得出以下结果：1.接受多媒体教学的学生的成绩优于传统教学班的学生;2.实验班的男女生的平均分差异比普通班的差异小;3.实验班和普通班女生平均分的差异大于男生平均分的差异。最后通过访谈学生和科任教师探讨出引起这些差异的原因,同时为教师采用多媒体教学提供了几点参考意见。     

初中物理教学中学生科学探究能力的培养

初中物理教学要适当开展科学探究活动,加入科学探究活动的初中物理教学课程更加注重学生学习的过程,注重学习过程可以确保学生在融入科学探究活动的初中物理学习时进一步提升对物理学习的兴趣,培育学生自主学习的能力,从而达到提升学生物理综合素质的目的。结合传统物理教学实践,我们通过物理融入实际生活、物理结合实验教学、重视物理与其他学科的联系等途径提高初中学生的科学探究能力。     

Success of students in a college physics course with and without experiencing a high school course

High school students with high ability were enrolled in a standard college physics course for each of two summers with the same professor, same course outline, same textbook, same laboratories, and the same examinations. Half of each group had completed a high school physics course; half had not. Dormitory counselors were available for assistance and support. In addition, tutors were available in the laboratories to provide any help necessary with interpretation of lectures and performances in the laboratory, and with mathematical computation. Pre- and posttest measures concerning course content and attitude were given. After the eight-week summer instruction, the students who had not completed high school physics performed as well on the final course examination; there were no differences with respect to course grade or attitude toward physics. The group that had not completed high school physics used the tutors provided far more frequently than did students who had completed the high school course. When high-ability students are enrolled in college physics with tutors made available for needed assistance, there appears to be no advantage for students to complete the standard high school physics course.     

大学物理实验综合性考核中平时成绩的客观量化

以发展性评价作为指导思想,在原有综合性考核的基础上,单列出平时表现成绩考核作为大学物理实验成绩评定的一项,并制定了详细的实施细则。教学效果表明改进的评价方式更能促进学生对大学物理实验的学习。学生自评、互评结果和改进的评价方法结果的一致性验证了新的评判方法的客观性。     

The Impact of Internet Virtual Physics Laboratory Instruction on the Achievement in Physics, Science Process Skills and Computer Attitudes of 10th-Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the impact of Internet Virtual Physics Laboratory (IVPL) instruction with traditional laboratory instruction in physics academic achievement, performance of science process skills, and computer attitudes of tenth grade students. One-hundred and fifty students from four classes at one private senior high school in Taoyuan Country, Taiwan, R.O.C. were sampled. All four classes contained 75 students who were equally divided into an experimental group and a control group. The pre-test results indicated that the students’ entry-level physics academic achievement, science process skills, and computer attitudes were equal for both groups. On the post-test, the experimental group achieved significantly higher mean scores in physics academic achievement and science process skills. There was no significant difference in computer attitudes between the groups. We concluded that the IVPL had potential to help tenth graders improve their physics academic achievement and science process skills.     

核心素养在初中物理课堂的渗透策略

初中物理作为课程教学体系中的基本学科,在中考中所占的比率相对较大。在新课改教学目标的引导下,广大教师逐渐重视在初中物理课堂中渗透核心素养等相关内容,尤其是在教育改革背景下,开始运用多样化的课程教学策略,旨在帮助学生不断完善自我、优化自我。为帮助初中生更好地适应学习生涯发展的需要,教师要将物理课程教学策略进行优化和调整,激发学生的学习兴趣,探讨发展核心素养的有效方法。     

Developing Procedures for Implementing Peer Assessment in Large Classes Using an Action Research Process

Peer assessment has been used successfully in higher education, with important benefits reported in terms of student learning. However, most of the literature has focused on its use with small groups of students taught by staff who are committed to the peer assessment process. This paper reports the development of peer assessment procedures for use in large classes, using a cyclical process of action, reflection and refined action. The project was carried out in three phases and after each phase changes were made to the procedures in response to student and staff feedback. The development of procedures is discussed in relation to assessment tasks, assessment criteria, anonymity, procedural guidelines, distribution systems, marking procedures and tutor remarking. Although there are specific difficulties associated with the use of peer assessment in large classes, this study suggests that these are outweighed by the learning benefits for students. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations are made for ways in which peer assessment might be successfully applied in large classes.