Rubric-based formative assessment to support students' learning of organic chemistry in the selected secondary schools in Rwanda: A technology-based learning

A significant number of instructors, researchers and students have claimed that chemistry is a challenging subject to teach and learn at all education levels. Its main learning difficulties are in line with certain sights of its phenomena that are abstract, and some chemistry teachers do not specify what to be learned and assessed in chemistry lesson. The current work investigates the use of formative assessment rubrics for supporting secondary school students' progressive learning in organic chemistry through a technology-based learning project approach in Rwanda. The investigators used a convergent parallel research design, and quantitative data were gathered by distributing questionnaires to the students, and the answers were statistically analyzed. Qualitative data were obtained through observation and interview and were narratively analyzed. The results from this study showed that rubric-based formative assessment supported students' learning of organic chemistry via technology-based learning approach. This is accredited to the fact that students were motivated while doing their assessment and they were able to do self-assessment by applying the provided rubrics via technology. The students understood instructors' expectations, encouraged their learning, sharpened their technology skills, and their knowledge retention was also increased. The instructors were able to grade the students' tasks fast with the help of an analytic rubric and good formative feedback was availed to students on time. The instructors were also able to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the learners and give them quick formative feedback.