Learning progressions are ordered descriptions of students' understanding of a given concept. In this paper, we describe the iterative process of developing a force and motion learning progression ...and associated assessment items. We report on a pair of studies designed to explore the diagnosis of students' learning progression levels. First, we compare the use of ordered multiple-choice (OMC) and open-ended (OE) items for assessing students relative to the learning progression. OMC items appear to provide more precise diagnoses of students' learning progression levels and to be more valid, eliciting students' conceptions more similarly to cognitive interviews. Second, we explore evidence bearing on two challenges concerning reliability and validity of level diagnoses: the consistency with which students respond to items set in different contexts and the ways in which students interpret and use language in responding to items. As predicted, students do not respond consistently to similar problems set in different contexts. Although the language used in OMC items generally seems to reflect student thinking, misinterpretation of the language in items may lead to inaccurate diagnoses for a subset of students. Both issues are less problematic for classroom applications than for use of learning progressions in large-scale testing.
Learning progressions-particularly as defined and operationalized in science education-have significant potential to inform teachers' formative assessment practices. In this overview article, I lay ...out an argument for this potential, starting from definitions for "formative assessment practices" and "learning progressions" (both in science education and more subject-general literature). By aligning the challenges that teachers face in enacting formative assessment practices with the affordances of learning progressions, I explain how learning progressions may support these practices. Finally, I preview how the articles in the special issue address this hypothesis.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
As scientific models of student thinking, learning progressions (LPs) have been evaluated in terms of one important, but limited, criterion: fit to empirical data. We argue that LPs are not ...empirically adequate, largely because they rely on problematic assumptions of theory-like coherence in students' thinking. Through an empirical investigation of physics teachers' interactions with an LP-based score report, we investigate 2 other criteria of good models: utility and generativity. When interacting with LP-based materials, teachers often adopted finer-grained perspectives (in contrast to the levels-based perspective of the LP itself) and used these finer-grained perspectives to formulate more specific, actionable instructional ideas than when they reasoned in terms of LP levels. However, although teachers did not use the LP-based materials in ways envisioned by LP researchers, the teachers' interactions with the score reports embodied how philosophers envision the fruitful use of good models of dynamic, complex systems. In particular, teachers took a skeptical, inquiring stance toward the LP, using it as an oversimplified starting place for generating and testing hypotheses about student thinking and using concepts from the model in ways that moved beyond the knowledge available in the LP. Thus, despite-and perhaps even because of-their empirical inadequacy, LPs have the potential to serve teachers as productive models in ways not envisioned by LP researchers: as tools for knowledge generation.
Establishing nuanced interpretations of student thinking is central to formative assessment but difficult, especially for preservice teachers. Learning progressions (LPs) have been proposed as a ...framework for promoting interpretations of students' thinking; however, research is needed to investigate whether and how an LP can be used to support preservice teachers' interpretations. This article reports a study of two pairs of preservice physics teachers (PSPTs) working with video-based evidence of student thinking with and without an LP for force and motion. The PSPTs' discussions were video-recorded and investigated in terms of PSPTs' interpretations of student thinking: how they analyzed evidence of student thinking and identified implications for future learning. The PSPTs used the LP to focus attention on relevant aspects of student thinking and to begin to think about implications for student learning in a more step-like fashion, but did not use the LP to make sense of confusing student thinking or to draw specific implications for future learning. Recommendations for use of LPs in preservice teacher education are discussed.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
As models of how students' thinking may change over time, learning progressions (LPs) have been considered as supports for teachers' classroom assessment practices. However, like all models, LPs ...provide simplified representations of complex phenomena. One key simplification is the characterization of student thinking using levels—that is, the twin assumptions that student thinking is both coherent and consistent. While useful for the design of standards and curricula, the LP level simplification may threaten the basic premise that LPs could be used to diagnose a student's level and then provide tailored instruction in response. At the same time, our work with teachers suggests that, even with their simplifications, LPs may be useful in the classroom. Thus, rather than abandoning LPs, we sought to understand their potential affordances by exploring how teachers learn from LPs (knowledge‐for‐practice) and contribute to deeper understanding of LP use (knowledge‐of‐practice) as they identify and enact uses of these tools. To do so, we engaged high school physics teachers in a 2‐year, LP‐based professional development program. Based on qualitative analyses of planning meetings and interviews with the teachers, we describe how teachers used LPs to support classroom assessment with varying reliance on the LP level simplification. Although teachers used LPs in ways that relied on the coherence and consistency assumptions of the LP level simplification, uses of LPs that did not require these assumptions were more prevalent both within and across teachers. This study's findings have implications for research, teacher professional development, and the design of LPs.
Addressing student conceptions with instruction has been a major issue in physics education for decades. However, too often the focus is on treating student ideas as “misconceptions” rather than as ...potentially productive ideas with varying degrees of sophistication. This paper introduces learning progressions as models that describe ideas students are likely to hold at varying levels of sophistication. This guidance can help us to focus on students’ existing understanding, rather than on what students do not yet know. With such nuanced and structured models of student learning, we can ensure that our assessments do not just check for whether students have the “right” answer, but obtain a more accurate “picture” of what students truly understand about the content to inform instruction that is responsive to students’ learning needs.
In this article we describe the development, analysis, and interpretation of a novel item format we call Ordered Multiple-Choice (OMC). A unique feature of OMC items is that they are linked to a ...model of student cognitive development for the construct being measured. Each of the possible answer choices in an OMC item is linked to developmental levels of student understanding, facilitating the diagnostic interpretation of student item responses. OMC items seek to provide greater diagnostic utility than typical multiple-choice items, while retaining their efficiency advantages. On the one hand, sets of OMC items provide information about the developmental understanding of students that is not available with traditional multiple-choice items; on the other hand, this information can be provided to schools, teachers, and students quickly and reliably, unlike traditional open-ended test items.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
