Tools for Assessing and Improving Science Teacher Assessment Reasoning

该项目正在通过改进方式来推进本科STEM教育，使预期成为中学（初中和高中）科学教师的科学专业学生准备参与基于学生学习和理解证据的形成性评估推理。传统的中学评估方法强调评分，而很少强调评估在促进学生学习方面的作用。 这鼓励死记硬背和肤浅的学习，教学实践倾向于强调完成工作，而不是学生理解的质量。 该项目旨在彻底改变教师评估做法，这对推进教育改革至关重要。 这项工作特别侧重于形成性评估，这种评估对提高学生在课堂上的学习有着最直接的承诺。 本项目的未来教师是准备通过亚利桑那大学科学学院的教师准备计划成为初中和高中科学教师的本科科学专业学生。 该项目分四个阶段完成：（1）开发评估探针，以诊断未来科学教师在科学教师准备计划中不同点的形成性评估推理技能，（2）创建两个“地图”，一个描绘未来教师在整个计划中推理的进展，第二个地图描绘形成性评估推理的专家教师标准，（3）开发和实施旨在改善未来教师的推理进展与专家教师推理图之间的一致性的教学活动，以及（4）分析与实施的教学活动相关的学习成果，然后修改活动。在这个项目中创建的产品-评估探头和教学活动-将是可持续的，并直接纳入亚利桑那大学教师准备计划的日常教学实践。 该项目的所有产品和研究成果将完全提供给其他科学教师教育工作者，供全国各地的教师准备项目使用。

This project is advancing undergraduate STEM education through the improvement of ways in which science majors, who anticipate becoming science teachers at the secondary level (middle school and high school), are prepared to engage in formative assessment reasoning that is grounded in evidence of student learning and understanding. Traditional secondary level school assessment methods stress grading with too little emphasis on the role of assessment in fostering student learning. This encourages rote and superficial learning with teaching practices tending to emphasize completion of work over the quality of student understanding. This project seeks to revolutionize teachers' assessment practices as crucial to advancing educational reform. The work especially focuses on formative assessment, the type of assessment that holds the most direct promise for enhancing student learning in classrooms. The prospective teachers in this project are undergraduate science majors preparing to become middle school and high school science teachers through a teacher preparation program in the College of Science at the University of Arizona. The project is being accomplished in four phases: (1) development of assessment probes to diagnose prospective science teachers' formative assessment reasoning skills at different points in the science teacher preparation program, (2) creation of two "maps," one that characterizes the progression of prospective teachers' reasoning throughout the program and a second map of expert teacher standards for formative assessment reasoning, (3) development and implementation of instructional activities designed to improve the alignment between prospective teachers' reasoning progression and the expert teacher reasoning map, and (4) analysis of the learning outcomes associated with the implemented instructional activities followed by revision of the activities. The products created in this project - assessment probes and instructional activities - will be sustainable and directly incorporated in the daily instructional practices in the teacher preparation program at the University of Arizona. All of the products and research findings of this project will be fully available for other science teacher educators for use in teacher preparation programs across the nation.