The missing disciplinary substance of formative assessment

We raise concerns about the current state of research and development in formative assessment, specifically to argue that in its concentration on strategies for the teacher, the literature overlooks the disciplinary substance of what teachers and students assess. Our argument requires analysis of specific instances in the literature, and so we have selected four prominent publications for consideration as examples. These, we show, pay little attention to the student reasoning they depict, presume traditional notions of “content” as correct information, and treat assessment as distinct from other activities of learning and teaching, even when they claim the contrary. We then offer an alternative image of formative assessment centered on attention to disciplinary substance, which we illustrate with an example from a high school biology class. Assessment, we contend, should be understood and presented as genuine engagement with ideas, continuous with the disciplinary practices science teaching should be working to cultivate. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1109–1136, 2011     

学科规训与大学学科发展

大学学科的发展与学科规训制度是一种互动的关系,即学科规训制度对于学科的发展既有促进作用,也有规限作用。学科规训促进了以学科为中心的学术机构的形成与扩展;促进了学科研究范式和教学模式的形成。同时,学科规训使早期统一的知识文化分为“两种文化”,而且使文化的“形而上”和“形而下”发生分离;学科规训还对跨学科研究构成限制。从大学知识生产、学科发展与学科规训的关系可以揭示学科规训与学科发展之间的这一独特关系。     

多学科研究与高等教育学学科建设

学科是高等教育研究领域的重要范畴 ,但高等教育学本身却不是一门成熟的学科。在这种情况下 ,高等教育研究面临着学科建设的重任。在整个社会科学界大声疾呼“开放社会科学”、“重建社会科学”的今天 ,高等教育学学科建设的取向至关重要。展望未来 ,将高等教育学建设成为一个真正的多学科研究领域 ,将是高等教育学学科建设走向成熟的第一步     

On disciplinary judgement

This paper enquires into the grounds for convergence of judgements in a situation of blind peer review, where reviewers are asked to assess the standing of scholars in a disciplinary field. The paper first considers traditional accounts of peer review and threats to its reliability and validity. Next it examines the grounds for disciplinary sociality and different forms of expertise that stratify the disciplinary field. The paper will report the results of an initial study of peer review judgements in the disciplines of Law, Psychology and Historical Studies. The paper will conclude by assessing the variable merits of micro- and macro-sociological explanations in accounting for the phenomenon of convergent disciplinary judgements. A case will be made for the explanatory power of social norms.     

‘Teaching is a co-learning experience’: academics reflecting on learning and teaching in an ‘internationalized’ faculty

This paper reports on a study that took place in a faculty of humanities and social sciences at a UK university. The institution had recently undergone a radical restructure and the vision for the future presented by the new senior management team highlighted internationalization as one of four major areas for growth. The internationalization agenda was largely focused on increasing recruitment, but provided an opportunity to engage the academic community in a discourse about what internationalization meant for them and the challenges and opportunities it presented. Emerging themes relate to experiences and understandings of internationalization, with implications for learning and teaching, and student induction and support. The value of discourse about pedagogical development and practical innovations and the sharing of best practice are suggested as means to achieve conceptual change and a broader vision of internationalization.     

从知识失业现象分析构筑文科专业壁垒的价值

当前,我国高等教育文科建设面临就业难问题,随着扩招和＂双选＂就业机制的深入,这一问题越来越凸显,随之而来的就是知识失业现象。在实现大众化教育以后,文科生就业形势与理工科相比要严重得多,知识失业现象也比较明显。有必要通过构筑文科专业壁垒体系,从根本上提升文科大学生的教育质量。文科建设必须充分体现对高深专门知识的传授。     

学科差异与学术评价

学科间在知识属性、研究范式、学科文化和成果形式等方面存在明显差异,基于学科差异的分学科评价是保证学术评价客观公正的前提。然而,在当今以强调绩效责任、提高管理效率为取向的学术评价中,学科差异没有得到应有的尊重。为此,善用学术评价,应强调大学自治和教授治学,实行政学分开、降低管理重心,正确处理质量与数量、统一与多样的关系。     

德国的学科文化研究:概念分析与现象学描述

德国的学科文化研究是德国高校社会化研究框架内的一个新的研究分支.本文分析了学科文化的概念,并从现象学的层面描述了德国学科文化的表现特征.从概念上来看,德国现有的学科文化概念分别以布迪厄的习性理论和帕森斯的行动理论为基础.从现象学的层面来看,学科文化的特征集中体现在学科的认识论取向、课程符码、教学文化、学业组织、师生互动模式、学科成员的衣着打扮、学习风格、居住形式、政治态度及其典型的感知、思维和行为模式等方面.     

比较视野下的我国研究生教育学科结构分析

1996年至2006年,我国11个学科门类授予硕士、博士学位数量的比例变化不大,基本上是"存量决定增量";各学科发展过于均衡,未能出现结构性变化,授予的硕士学位与博士学位的学科结构很接近。这种结构雷同表明我国研究生教育没有体现出不同学科专业对于不同层次人才需求的差异性。我国硕士研究生教育应在保证基础性、理论性学科专业基本需求的前提下,大力发展应用型学科专业,培养高层次应用性人才;博士研究生教育则需在稳定规模的基础上,着力优化结构,积极发展博士专业学位教育。     

Comprehension in disciplinary learning: An examination of elementary readers' processing and recall

The authors explored elementary students' comprehension of informational text in disciplinary learning. Forty on-grade-level readers in Grades 2–5 participated. A priori and emergent coding was used to analyze 120 verbal protocols and 120 oral recalls. Analyses of variance and correlations showed students' processing and recall of procedural text contrasted with their processing and recall of biography or persuasive text. Also, second-grade students did not process informational text as actively or recall informational text as well as third- through fifth-grade students did. An expanded focus on students' comprehension of informational text in disciplinary learning and further study of the relationships among students' text use, text processing and recall, and development are warranted.     

Cultivating the myopic learner: the shared project of high-stakes and low-stakes assessment

This paper argues that, despite the obvious and important differences between high-stakes and low-stakes assessment, there remain important points in common. These manifest themselves at a sociological level, where each tradition of assessment shares a similar disposition towards power. It is argued that both high-stakes and low-stakes assessment, as they are practised in England today, act together in support of a wider regime of power. This regime relies upon the construction of specialised subjectivities, defined by a myopic and self-perpetuating concern with individual progression.     

高等教育的科学内涵和学科建设

高等教育既是一种独立的教育门类 ,有着丰富的内涵 ,也是一个广泛的活动领域。高等教育活动的基本矛盾是人的个性发展与社会需求和环境之间的矛盾 ,其基本规律有两条 ,一是高级专门人才的培养规律 ,二是高等教育的发展规律。高等教育学科建设的最终目标 ,是在广泛开展问题研究和多学科研究的基础上 ,以哲学认识论为武器 ,建立高等教育自己独立的、科学的理论体系     

Learning outcomes and ways of thinking across contrasting disciplines and settings in higher education

This article describes the ways in which learning outcomes have been, or will be, investigated within the TLRP projects in higher education. It introduces the term ways of thinking and practising which has been used in one of the projects to describe the intentions of staff in higher education. This term covers what staff see as the essential nature of their discipline and so defines learning outcomes more broadly than is typical in the current specification of intended learning outcomes. The article considers the wide range of differences in learning outcomes that exist across higher education, reflecting different institutional missions and priorities, as well as the fundamental differences that exist between subject areas in the nature of learning outcomes, and considers some of the problems encountered in how to conceptualize and assess them.     

Disciplinary cultures in an Australian college of advanced education

Recently scholars have called for more detailed historical study of the teaching lives of academics across countries, systems and institutions. This article contributes to the research on the professoriate in its widest sense. The article focuses on the disciplinary perspectives and cultures of academic staff employed in one of Australia’s oldest colleges of advanced education during the period 1965–1982. It examines official beliefs, slogans, and truisms, which formed part of these perspectives. Disciplinary perspectives include the academics’ views of the subject, the important problems for the subject, and the criteria of utility of the subject. Australia’s Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Advanced Education saw colleges of advanced education compared to universities enrolling students with different interests, stressing part‐time studies, concentrating on applied courses rather than humanities, being closely attuned to the labour market and workforce needs and being principally teaching institutions. They were to be equal but different to universities, but came to be viewed as equal but cheaper. A crucial issue is the extent to which the disciplinary perspectives of college of advanced education academics matched those that the legislators envisaged.     

化学素质教育探微

化学素质教育的内涵包括学科素质及情感素质。在素质教育观指导下，化学教育的内容要及时反映最新的科技成果，要与其它学科相综合，要与社会紧密相联；构建化学素质教育模式的改革要从教学环境、教学方法、化学实验三方面进行；考评内容及方式要重在创造性思维能力的考核、创造性组织和实践能力的考核、信息获取处理能力的考核。     

Tracing assessment policy discourses in neoliberalised higher education settings

This article explores assessment policy in two European universities with different political, historical and social backgrounds: the University of Glasgow and Tallinn University. The University of Glasgow is a well-established Russell Group university in the UK; Tallinn University is a relatively new university in post-Soviet Estonia, shaped by very recent neoliberalisation processes. By applying a Foucauldian theorisation and Faircloughian methodology, this article approaches assessment policy as not only relating to institutional contexts but also national and global policy environments. The article argues that the assessment policy in Glasgow relates to globally dominant neoliberal discourses of accountability and excellence. These discourses have turned assessment into a complex technology of government that manages educational processes as well as academic and student subjectivities. While Tallinn University is shaped by neoliberalism at strategic levels, the policy documents in Tallinn still indicate a strong sense of local tradition where regulations have a modest impact on academic freedom and assessors’ disciplinary power over students.     

Making the invisible visible: disciplinary literacy in secondary school classrooms

In Ireland, policy on literacy now aims to expand the role that post-primary teachers of all subjects have in developing students' literacy skills. This paper draws on data from a wider research study carried out in secondary schools in 2010 and focuses on the classroom support with disciplinary literacy provided by subject teachers for students who have literacy difficulties. A brief outline is provided of the context and perspectives informing the study as well as the research methods used. Findings are examined against the backdrop of policy developments for literacy at second level and within the context of wider policy change. Teachers' lack of professional knowledge, combined with barriers at wider system level, is identified as a significant challenge to pedagogical change at classroom level. Implications for policy implementation, for initial teacher education and for cultural change at school level are discussed. It is argued that literacy must be repositioned as a central aspect of subject pedagogy and teachers, as subject experts, supported in unpacking and sharing with students, the discourse practices and ways of viewing and communicating about the world that are characteristic of their academic disciplines.     

Inclusive assessment for linguistically diverse learners in higher education

As classrooms become increasingly diverse in higher education, educators are emphasising inclusive practices in teaching and learning to accommodate the needs of diverse learners. There is also an emerging need for an inclusive approach in assessment for accessibility, opportunity, relevance and engagement. This study, using design-based research guidelines with student–faculty partnership, designed, developed, implemented and evaluated contextually sensitive assessment protocol as inclusive and fair assessment. Data from students’ reflections and face-to-face interviews with open-ended questions suggested that, despite concerns such as potential bias, time and accommodation challenges, such assessment practices can make valuable contributions in creating a positive learning environment, improving relatedness and self-esteem and motivating and engaging students for better effort and effective learning. Implications for higher education practitioners with diverse learners are discussed.     

Reading biographical texts: a gateway to historical disciplinary reading

We examined the response of high school students in Israel to biographical texts. Students were exposed to three sub-genres of biographical texts (a literary-biographical text, an autobiographical text and a scientific-biographical text). These texts all differ from the conceptual schema of ordinary school texts. The data were collected from 64 participants from three classes in two different public schools in Israel. The ability of students to apply historical disciplinary reading skills was evaluated for each text, with an emphasis on ‘sourcing’ and ‘corroboration’. The basic premise was that the texts the students are exposed to influence not only their level of knowledge but also their disciplinary concepts and skills.

We contend that it might be that biographical texts, and especially autobiographical and literary-biographical texts, evoked historical reading in students, and strengthened their disciplinary reading abilities.     

The school disciplinary system from the perspective of rule by law

Discipline affects students’ rights and interests greatly. If there is no scientific and efficient system to standardize it, the disciplinary rights of students will be easily abused, which will not only infringe on students’ rights and interests but also give rise to campus disputes. The problems of the disciplinary system in Chinese primary and middle schools are as follows: disciplinary actions lack a legal basis; the disciplinary system is not standardized; disciplinary enforcement infringes on students’ other legal rights; and the mechanism for the supervision of discipline is imperfect. The status and modes of discipline should be made clear in the legislation to make the school disciplinary system detailed and specific, the disciplinary enforcement equitable and reasonable, and the procedure of the disciplinary enforcement justifiable, and also ensure that students’ other legal rights are protected. __________ Translated from Journal of the Chinese Society of Education, 2005 (10)