Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Assessing inquiry skills of grade 5&6 students through performance assessments
Kruit, Patricia; van den Berg, Ed; Schuitema, Jaap; Oostdam, Ron
Publication date 2017
Document Version Final published version
Link to publication
Citation for published version (APA):
Kruit, P., van den Berg, E., Schuitema, J., & Oostdam, R. (2017). Assessing inquiry skills of grade 5&6 students through performance assessments. Abstract from GIREP-ICPE-EPEC 2017, Dublin, Ireland.
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Download date:27 Nov 2021
ASSESSING INQUIRY SKILLS OF GRADE 5&6 STUDENTS THROUGH
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS
Patricia Kruit
1, Ed van den Berg
1,3, Jaap Schuitema
2, Ron Oostdam
1,21. Centre for Applied Research in Education (CARE)
Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) 2. Universiteit van Amsterdam
3. Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Examples of Science Inquiry Skills
INQUIRY SKILLS: Skills involved in generating and validating knowledge through investigations/experiments
• Formulating a research question
• Creating an hypothesis
• Designing experiments
• Controlling variables
• Observing, Measuring
• Recording observations & measurements
• Analysing data
• Identifying patterns
• Explaining results
National Curriculum England year 5&6 (2013)
During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study
content:
• planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary
• taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
• recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
• using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
• reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal
relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations
• identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or
arguments.
Nature of science inquiry skills
• General thinking skills vs science inquiry skills (Millar/Driver, 1987)
• Content dependence vs content free
• Role of metacognition and critical thinking
Assessment of Inquiry Skills
• Investigation Projects (reports and presentations)
• Observation and guidance checklists (van Keulen et al)
• Pencil Paper Tests of science processes (PPT)
• Performance Assessment (PA) .. Mini investigations
• Problem: reliability of PAs:
Validity/Reliability of Performance Assessments
• Pine et al (2006) based on PAs with 1000 5 th graders: ……..
there was remarkably little consistency in the performance of individual students on their three performance assessments.
Perhaps surprisingly, there did not appear to be appreciable numbers of students who were generally good at doing
inquiries, or bad.
Research Questions
Can PAs be constructed such that:
a) They can be used from grade 5 and up to assess science inquiry skills?
b) They are reliable across different content?
c) Can be scored by generalist elementary teachers or students?
d) Provide detailed diagnostics for feedback to teachers and students?
PA Skateboard
PA Skateboard
I think that you roll farther with your skateboard when you start higher on
the slope.
I think that it makes no difference where you
start on the slope
What do you think?
Jaap and Ying are planning to go down the slope on their skateboard. They
start at different heights. Jaap thinks that at the bottom of the slope he will
roll farther than Ying. Is that right? That is what you will investigate.
The PA question template and skills assessed
Skill Skill
1 Formulate research question 8 Draw conclusion about relationship 2 Design experiment 9 Formulate support for conclusion 3 Formulate hypothesis 10 Compare hypothesis with conclusion 4 Record results in self-designed table 11 Identify differences between plan and
execution
5 Make graphs, axis given, scale not 12 Give suggestions to extend/improve the investigation
6 Interpret relationship 2 variables 13 Link conclusion to skateboard context
7 Extrapolate results 14 Formulate learning gains about inquiry
11
Sample and Methodology
Sample: 128 grade 5 & 6 pupils (age 10 – 12) from 7 urban schools in Amsterdam, NO experience with investigations
PRETESTS PPT1
PA1
Skateboard Jr.MAI
±8 weeks control III. Regular lessons 128 pupils, 7 schools
POSTTESTS PPT2
PA2 Hot Chocolate PA3 Bungee Jump Jr. MAI
SMT SCHOOL
RECORDS CITO
School Progress Test
TREATMENTS
±8 weeks 90 minute/week I. Explicit Teaching, or
II. Implicit teaching
574 pupils, 12 schools
Descriptive statistics PAs
Test Mean SD Range
Minimum 0 Maximum
34
Alpha
PA1 Skate
Board 10.07 5.56 0 - 23 .72
PA2 Bungee
Jump 11.31 5.09 0 - 24 .67
PA3 Hot
Chocolate 10.34 4.88 0 - 21 .69
Cronbach alpha + correlations between all tests
Alpha 1 2 3
1. PPTpre+post .82
2. PA1 Skateboard .72 0.55
3. PA2 Bungee Jump .67 0.48 0.58
4. PA3 Hot Chocolate .69 0.52 0.58 0.67
Combined alpha of 3 PAs: 0.86
Cronbach alpha + correlations controlled for cognitive ability
Alpha 1 2 3
1. PPTpre+post .82
2. PA1 Skateboard .72 0.43
3. PA2 Bungee Jump .67 0.33 0.42
4. PA3 Hot Chocolate .69 0.40 0.46 0.57
Combined alpha of 3 PAs: 0.86
Percentage scores per skill
Skill % Skill %
Formulate research question 23 Draw conclusion about relationship 31
Design experiment 27 Formulate support for conclusion 22
Formulate hypothesis 53 Compare hypothesis to conclusion 22
Record results 24 Identify differenes between plan and execution
47 Make Graphs 34 Give suggestions to extend/improve
experiment
27
Interpret relationship 2 variables 38 Draw conclusion related to context 34
Extrapolate results 19 Formulate learning gains about inquiry 8
Slides with example answers
RESEARCH QUESTION
Will Jaap be earlier at the bottom than Ying?
If you go higher, can you go faster?
If something is higher on the slope, will it roll farther at the bottom?
DESIGN
I will put one marble higher and another lower
I will measure at 30, 15 and 1 cm and see how far the marble rolls
I will look from different heights how the marble rolls. When it is down I
will draw a stripe how far it got. Then measure with a ruler. I will let it go
per cm
Example Answers
LOOKING BACK, differences of plan and execution
• I have done nothing differently
LOOKING BACK, suggested changes, further research
• Most “don’t know”
• How far would a real skateboard go?
• Using paper instead of ruler, looking how it would roll further in sand or mud
• Use more distances to have more results WHAT DIT YOU LEARN?
• Mostly content answers (the higher the farther)
• It is important to make a good plan
Research Questions and Answers
a) Can PAs be used from grade 5 and up to assess science inquiry skills?
Yes, as average is 31% and range 0 – 68% there is ample room for progress b) Are PAs reliable across different content:
Reliability is like a typical classroom test (about 0.6), and reaches above 0.80 when PAs are combined. The key to reliability is the use of a common template. Our PAs limited to physics c) Can a PA be scored by generalist elementary teachers or students?
Yes, there was sufficient agreement after training, varying from 0.71 – 0.92 for each of the 14 questions and self-consistency ranging from .8 to 1.0.
d) Provide diagnostic information per skill?
Yes, see reliability above, but more research needs to be done to assess validity. We have
thinking-aloud data and extensive worksheet data and video for cross-validation, not yet
analysed. Clinical interviews using the PAs would be useful.
Further information
p.m.kruit@hva.nl
e.berg@vu.nl
Extra slides
performance assessments
hands-on mini-scientific investigation to measure inquiry skills
three performance assessments
“skateboards”
“hot chocolate”
“bungee-jump”
generic questions with scoring rubrics
structure of assessments:
context of a problem
research question, plan, hypothesis
performance of experiment
organize and analyse data
evaluate
23
14 items
(Harmon et al., 1997; rolling down hill developed by Winnett, Ahlbrand & Bryan)
24
