Assessing Science Understanding: A Human Constructivist View

Recent government publications like "Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy" and "Science for all Americans" have given teachers a mandate for improving science education in America. What we know about how learners construct meaning--particularly in the natural sciences--has undergone a virtual revolution in the past 25 years. Teachers, as well as researchers, are now grappling with how to better teach science, as well as how to assess whether students are learning. Assessing Science Understanding is a companion volume to Teaching Science for Understanding, and explores how to assess whether learning has taken place. The book discusses a range of promising new and practical tools for assessment including concept maps, vee diagrams, clinical interviews, problem sets, performance-based assessments, computer-based methods, visual and observational testing, portfolios, explanatory models, and national examinations.

"This is a timely and useful book for science educators or anyone training to use construct-based assessment in an educational setting. Each chapter has references, advanced organizers, and appropriate figures and adequately discusses the cognitive model used with the assessment device and the logic of its use. This high-quality contribution would be a good addition for libraries of schools offering undergraduate and graduate teacher education degrees, and would be particularly useful for science education programs. The companion volume, Teaching Science for Understanding (1998) by the same editors, should also be considered."
―CHOICE

"It is difficult to imagine that a reflective teacher who is interested in improving one's practice would not find something of value in these pages...The success of this project will depend on the extent to which the intended audience is willing to dig into the references, reflect on the lessons within the book, and also reflect on teaching practice as they experiment with ways to improve it. If these books, and others like them, have their intended impact, science education will have a bright future."
―THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER

"...a source of excellent information on new and potentially very powerful, research-based assessment strategies for probing student understanding of science."
―PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

"If one is interested in "constructivist" assessment in science, this book is a good resource..."
―CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY