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Science Formative Assessment, Volume 1
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Science Formative Assessment, Volume 1
75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning

Second Edition

A Joint Publication With the National Science Teachers Association



384 pages | Corwin

Newly Updated! Deepen students’ science knowledge through formative assessment.

Formative assessment informs the design of learning opportunities that take students from their existing ideas of science to the scientific ideas and practices that support conceptual understanding. Page Keeley, a nationally known expert in science education, wrote Science Formative Assessment to help educators weave formative assessment into daily instruction and learning. In the second edition, the author provides many new examples, links the strategies to current research as well as the Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards, and even shows how these same techniques can be used across other disciplines.

Teachers will appreciate 75 formative assessment classroom techniques (FACTs) that include: 

  • Descriptions of how each FACT promotes learning and informs instruction
  • Charts linking K-12 core concepts and scientific practices to the 75 FACTs
  • Implementation guidance, such as required materials and student grouping
  • Modifications for different learners and grade spans
  • Links to use in other content areas, including a brief example

Use Science Formative Assessment with any science curriculum or state standards to improve and enhance teaching and learning in K-12 science classrooms.

 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques (FACTs)
What Does a Formative Assessment-Centered Classroom Look Like?

 
Why Use FACTs?

 
How Does Research Support the Use of FACTs?

 
Classroom Environments That Support Formative Assessment

 
Connecting Teaching and Learning

 
Understanding Misconceptions in Science: Misconceptions About Misconceptions

 
Making the Shift to a Formative Assessment-Centered Classroom

 
Connections to Current State Standards, A Framework for K–12 Science Education, Next Generation Science Standards, and Literacy Capacities

 
 
Chapter 2: Connecting FACTs to Instruction and Learning
Integrating Assessment and Instruction

 
Assessment That Promotes Thinking and Learning

 
Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning: The Science Assessment, Instruction, and Learning (SAIL) Cycle

 
Stages in the SAIL Cycle

 
Engagement and Readiness

 
Eliciting Prior Knowledge

 
Exploration and Discovery

 
Concept and Skill Development

 
Concept and Skill Transfer

 
Self-Assessment and Reflection

 
Selecting and Using FACTs to Strengthen the Link Between Assessment, Instruction, and Learning

 
 
Chapter 3: Considerations for Selecting, Implementing, and Using Data From FACTs
Selecting FACTs

 
Selecting FACTs to Match Learning Goals and Standards

 
FACTs and Core Disciplinary Content

 
FACTs and the Scientific and Engineering Practices

 
Selecting FACTs to Match Teaching Goals

 
The Critical Importance of Classroom Context in Selecting FACTs

 
Planning to Use and Implement FACTs

 
Starting Off With Small Steps

 
Maintaining and Extending Implementation

 
25 Way to Lead Learning About Formative Assessment

 
Using Data From the FACTs

 
 
Chapter 4: Get the FACTs! 75 Science Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques (FACTs)
1. A&D Statements

 
2. Agreement Circles

 
3. Annotated Student Drawings

 
4. Card Sorts

 
5. CCC—Collaborative Clued Corrections

 
6. Chain Notes

 
7. Commit and Toss

 
8. Concept Card Mapping

 
9. Concept Cartoons

 
10. Data Match

 
11. Directed Paraphrasing

 
12. Explanation Analysis

 
13. Fact First Questioning

 
14. Familiar Phenomenon Probes

 
15. First Word–Last Word

 
16. Fishbowl Think Aloud

 
17. Fist to Five

 
18. Focused Listing

 
19. Four Corners

 
20. Frayer Model

 
21. Friendly Talk Probes

 
22. Give Me Five

 
23. Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning

 
24. Human Scattergraph

 
25. Informal Student Interviews

 
26. Interest Scale

 
27. I Think–We Think

 
28. I Used to Think . . . But Now I Know

 
29. Juicy Questions

 
30. Justified List

 
31. Justified True or False Statements

 
32. K-W-L Variations

 
33. Learning Goals Inventory (LGI)

 
34. Look Back

 
35. Missed Conception

 
36. Muddiest Point

 
37. No-Hands Questioning

 
38. Odd One Out

 
39. Paint the Picture

 
40. Partner Speaks

 
41. Pass the Question

 
42. A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

 
43. P-E-O Probes (Predict, Explain, Observe)

 
44. POMS—Point of Most Significance

 
45. Popsicle Stick Questioning

 
46. Prefacing

 
47. PVF—Paired Verbal Fluency

 
48. Question Generating

 
49. Recognizing Exceptions

 
50. Refutations

 
51. Representation Analysis

 
52. RERUN

 
53. Scientists’ Ideas Comparison

 
54. Sequencing Cards

 
55. Sticky Bars

 
56. STIP—Scientific Terminology Inventory Probe

 
57. Student Evaluation of Learning Gains

 
58. Synectics

 
59. Ten-Two

 
60. Thinking Log

 
61. Think-Pair-Share

 
62. Thought Experiments

 
63. Three-Minute Pause

 
64. Three-Two-One

 
65. Traffic Light Cards

 
66. Traffic Light Cups

 
67. Traffic Light Dots

 
68. Two-Minute Paper

 
69. Two or Three Before Me

 
70. Two Stars and a Wish

 
71. Two-Thirds Testing

 
72. Volleyball—Not Ping-Pong!

 
73. Wait Time Variations

 
74. What Are You Doing and Why?

 
75. Whiteboarding

 
 
Appendix: Annotated Resources for Science Formative Assessment
 
References
 
Index

Page D. Keeley

PAGE KEELEY has been a leader in science education for over 20 years. She "retired" from the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) in 2012 where she had been the Senior Science Program Director since 1996. Today she works as an independent consultant, speaker, and author providing professional development to school districts and organizations in the areas of formative assessment and teaching for conceptual understanding. Page has been the principal investigator and project director on 3 National Science Foundation-funded projects including the Northern New England Co-Mentoring Network (NNECN), PRISMS- Phenomena... More About Author

Also available as a South Asia Edition.