If we want our students to become capable practitioners of scientific inquiry, we should not stop at providing opportunities to do inquiry. We need to be intentional about assessing and teaching the competencies necessary for inquiry. However, the ability to conduct scientific inquiry can be difficult to assess. Therefore, the author created The…

This article discusses the resources available for teachers to apply higher-level thinking and cognitive complexity to their instruction and assessments. While designing higher-level assessments might be a challenging task, doing so not only can improve student achievement in science, it also prepares students for a changing world. Students learn…

To ensure students are fully engaged in the learning process, educators must explore every available path for assessment. This article provides a list of ideas and programs/websites that can be used in any combination for formative and summative assessments. (Contains 5 figures.)

Too many multiple-choice tests are administered without an evaluative component. Teachers often return student assessments or Scantron cards--computerized bubble forms--without review, assuming that the printing of the correct answer will suffice. However, a more constructivist approach to follow up multiple-choice tests can make for more…

Nothing brings out the best in eighth-grade physical science students quite like an engineering challenge. The wind turbine design challenge described in this article has proved to be a favorite among students with its focus on teamwork and creativity and its (almost) sneaky reinforcement of numerous physics concepts. For this activity, pairs of…

It seems that everyone is using science journals or notebooks lately. As middle school science teachers, the authors use science journals as a tool to enhance students' knowledge and understanding of content and reinforce students' writing skills. Here they share how they use science journals to motivate students to write about science in middle…

The American Academy of Dermatology (2008) reports that our students will experience 80% of their lifetime exposure to the Sun by the time they are 18. Further, research has demonstrated that continued exposure to the Sun's ultraviolet rays can lead to skin aging, sunburn, immune suppression, ocular melanoma, cataracts, corneal burns, and even…

Analyzing student presentations from three perspectives--expert, peer, and self--provides extended feedback and opportunities to learn. All three of these are helpful and serve different purposes. The expert (teacher) feedback shows how the teacher views student work and often assigns a grade. Peer analysis provides students doing the analysis an…

In order to fully understand student learning, we science teachers need to know the ideas that students bring into the classroom. Plus, good assessment calls for ongoing evaluation of students' progress and difficulties with learning on an everyday basis. Cartoons are one tool that has been used successfully as a means of assessing student…

Describes the Geographic Information System (GIS) which is capable of storing, manipulating, and displaying data allowing students to explore complex relationships through scientific inquiry. Explains applications of GIS in middle school classrooms and includes assessment strategies. (YDS)

Students learn how to write in English class, but they seem shocked when they are told that they can put those skills to work in science class too, since writing is a huge part of science to communicate ideas, results, conclusions, and opinions to other scientists. The author of this article, a middle school science teacher, describes how he uses…

A formative assessment can provide a snapshot of what a student knows and is able to do. It can include written tests, performance tasks, formal or informal questioning, or teacher observations embedded in a unit of study. The information gathered from formative assessments is then interpreted and used to further student learning. Such assessment…

Reflecting on one's practice, whether it is a conversation with a single student, a lesson, or a unit plan, is the surest way for a teacher to improve. Going through the process of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) is a journey of reflective practice. The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a nonprofit,…

Assessing student-led, open-ended scientific inquiry holds a unique problem for classroom teachers because of the diverse skills and content that emerge from student work. This article provides tangible strategies for teachers to assess divergent student-generated inquiry in a manner that is manageable for teachers, informative for students, and…

To confront some of the challenges faced by teachers beginning to implement Standards-based inquiry activities in their middle school classrooms, learning coordinators and teachers selected an inquiry-based set of courses and created a District Science Curricula Scope and Sequence, which overviewed the major units and showed teachers and parents…