Background: Formative assessments are needed to enable monitoring how student knowledge develops throughout a unit. Constructed response items which require learners to formulate their own free-text responses are well suited for testing their active knowledge. However, assessing such constructed responses in an automated fashion is a complex task…

This qualitative case study explored how grading can be used to support learning by analyzing the implementation of a skills-based grading system in a high school English department. Black and Wiliam's (2018) model for assessment in relation to pedagogy was used as a lens through which to examine the relationship between the grading system and…

Mole, molar mass and the Avogadro number are used constantly to measure the amount of substance in chemical changes. However, students have difficulty in understanding these concepts because they are not familiar with measuring very small amounts of matter that cannot be seen and weighed in daily life, like atoms. The mole concept was developed to…

Digital automated assessment is a valuable and time-efficient tool for educators to provide immediate and objective feedback to learners. Automated assessment, however, puts high demands on the quality of the questions, alignment with the intended learning outcomes, and the quality of the feedback provided to the learners. We here describe the…

Increased expectations for writing performance have created a need for formative writing assessments that will help middle school teachers better understand adolescents' grade-appropriate writing skills and monitor the progress of students with or at risk for writing disabilities. In this practice piece, we first explain research-based…

This study investigated the nature of pre-service science teachers' (PSTs') situation-specific skills for informal formative assessment (FA) and their awareness of activating these skills in classroom-like situations. Video-based interviews were conducted to collect data from fifteen PSTs before they participated in a teacher education program.…

Because of their brief nature, vignettes are a strategic way to highlight or explore complex instructional practices. Using a qualitative approach, we examined how the use of vignettes in a Vignette Activity Sequence contributed to secondary mathematics preservice teachers' understanding of the Mathematical Practices and the Mathematics Teaching…

"Fast Feedback" is a feedback system for primary student writing. Developed in line with a Writer(s)-Within-Community model, and empirical research in the fields of writing instruction, feedback and self-regulation, this system uses individualized goals and focused feedback in the expectation that it will accelerate student progress. In…

While positive teacher-student relationships are at the heart of teaching and learning, it is no easy task to improve these relationships and cultivate caring classroom communities. This study drew on key elements of improvement science. Three 9th grade language arts teachers and one researcher collaborated to plan, implement, study and revise an…

In this study, 34 trials of formal formative assessment activities in the context of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) from Swiss primary and upper secondary school teachers will be analysed. The aim will be to explore the formal formative assessment activities implemented in IBSE at different school levels. The trials (14 from primary…

Teachers' understanding of formative assessment is quite essential for its implementation in everyday classroom practices [Heritage, M. (2007). Formative assessment: What do teachers need to know and do? "Phi Delta Kappan," 89(2), 140-145]. This study investigates the development of teachers' perspective on formative peer assessment when…

Acid-base chemistry is a key reaction motif taught in postsecondary organic chemistry courses. More specifically, concepts from the Lewis acid-base model are broadly applicable to understanding mechanistic ideas such as electron density, nucleophilicity, and electrophilicity; thus, the Lewis model is fundamental to explaining an array of reaction…

Formative assessments have been shown to improve student success; however, the format in which these assessments are implemented has not been well researched. In this study, individual Anatomy and Physiology lab sections were administered formative assessments composed of either a projected (i.e. 'shared-display') quiz presentation or a…

Peer review is regularly found to be a powerful and efficient technique for assessment and feedback, but many students are inexperienced and sometimes struggle to provide meaningful feedback. It is considered best practice to provide students with some training on how to be a good reviewer, but few classes can afford to devote much time to such…

Facilitation of online learning relies on an intentionally designed strategy for embedded formative assessment and scaffolding in order to encourage adult learner engagement with the educator, fellow learners, and the learning content. This article examines the nature of online formative assessment by discussing prior studies and offering practice…