MOSART HSLS: Misconceptions Oriented Standards-Based Assessment Resource for Teachers of High School Life Science

哈佛大学史密森天体物理中心的研究人员正在开发和验证一种评估工具，该工具基于面向错误概念的教师基于标准的评估资源(MOSAT)，针对9到12年级的学生和教师进行生命科学评估。该项目正在开发400个以生命科学核心内容领域为基础的新测试项目，并将这些项目与以前的国家科学教育标准保持一致，以提供与早期Mosart评估的联系。该项目还在开发和验证两个测试工具，它们涉及K-12级的能量和物质的交叉概念，特别侧重于流动、循环和守恒。新的评估将通过项目网站和他们的在线评估系统提供给其他研究人员和实践者。评估的制定基于先前工作中使用的程序，该程序已经产生了其他Mosart工具，包括评估专家、教师和学习科学家的设计工作。试点项目通过与在线成人考生众包的方式进行测试。经典测试理论技术、项目反应理论和贝叶斯技术对学生的反应进行建模。结果由项目参数、测试和分测试特征以及项目之间的预测性联系组成。对250名高中生物教师进行了分层的、具有全国代表性的抽样，在学生的课堂上对这些项目进行了实地测试。生成描述性统计数据，以确定学生知识的状态、按项目和标准划分的考试前后表现以及教师知识，包括教师正确识别出最常见错误答案的项目的比例。描述性分析之后是对教室内学生的分层线性建模(HLM)，以检查学生和教师知识之间的关系。HLM中的因变量是学生成绩。自变量包括教师的知识和学生在K-8年级评估中的表现。Mosart工具一直是一系列强有力的评估工具，它们以认知模型为基础，对科学教育中的错误概念进行了强有力的研究。关于STEM教育中的学习进展的更连贯的框架正在缓慢地扩大这一研究基础，在可预见的未来，Mosart工具将具有广泛使用的潜力。基于将核心思想与科学和工程实践相结合的9-12级生命科学仪器填补了目前Mosart评估系统中的空白。鉴于关于生命科学误解的丰富文献，以及生命科学作为一门高中课程无处不在，该仪器有望与由MSP Reta资助开发的K-8课程一样有用。关于横向概念的新工具为研究人员和实践者，特别是教师专业发展提供者提供了一套亟需的评估。向将核心内容和科学实践与生命科学和交叉概念相结合的过渡是扩大和更新这套工具的机会。

Researchers in the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are developing and validating an assessment instrument that addresses the life sciences for students and teachers in grades 9 through 12 based on the Misconception Oriented Standards-based Assessment Resource for Teachers (MOSART). The project is developing 400 new test items that are based on core content domains for life science and are aligning these items with the previous National Science Education Standards to provide a connection to the earlier MOSART assessments. The project is also developing and validating two test instruments that address the cross cutting concepts of energy and matter for grades K-12, with a specific focus on flows, cycles and conservation. The new assessments will be made available to other researchers and practitioner through the project website and their on-line assessment system.The assessment development is based on the process used in prior work that has produced the other MOSART instruments, including design efforts of assessment specialists, teachers, and learning scientists. Pilot items are tested through crowd-sourcing with online adult test takers. Classic test theory techniques, item response theory and Bayesian techniques model the student responses. Outcomes consist of item parameters, test and sub-test characteristics, and predictive linkages among items. A stratified, nationally representative sample of 250 high school biology teachers field test the items with classrooms of students. Descriptive statistics are generated to establish the state of student knowledge, pre-and post-test performance by item and by standard, and teacher knowledge, including the fraction of items for which teachers have correctly identified the most popular wrong answer. Descriptive analyses are followed by hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) of students within classrooms to examine the relationships between student and teacher knowledge. The dependent variables in HLM are student gain scores. Independent variables include teachers' knowledge, and student performance on grade K-8 assessments. The MOSART instruments have been a strong line of assessment tools that are based on a model of cognition with a strong research base in misconceptions in science education. That research base is only slowly being augmented with a more coherent framework on learning progressions in STEM education, and the MOSART instruments will have the potential for extensive use for the foreseeable future. The grades 9-12 life science instrument based on coupling core ideas with science and engineering practices addresses the gaps in the current MOSART system of assessments. Given the rich literature on misconceptions in life science and the ubiquity of life science as a course at the high school level, the instrument promises to be as useful as the one for K-8 developed with MSP RETA funding. The new instruments on cross-cutting concepts provides a much needed set of assessments for researchers and practitioners, particularly teacher professional development providers. The transition to coupling core content and sciences practices with both the life sciences and the cross-cutting concepts is an opportunity to expand and update the suite of instruments.