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A Theoretical Model for Measuring Upper Primary School Learners’ Scientific Reasoning Abilities in Science
By Tsedeke Abate
One agenda of science instruction in primary schools is to develop learners’ scientific reasoning abilities and to equip them with the necessary twenty-first-century skills. Few studies have been conducted to develop measurement tools that aspire to assess primary school learners’ scientific reasoning. Most of these studies lack a theoretical model backing the development of these assessment tools. This paper introduces the model for measuring scientific reasoning (MMSR) as a theoretical model for guiding the development of assessment tools in the context of measuring upper primary school learners’ scientific reasoning. We first conceptualise scientific reasoning using a review of the literature and then present evidence to justify and validate this model for use in measuring primary school learners’ scientific reasoning abilities. Furthermore, using research in history and philosophy of science and science education, the MMSR model supports the development of assessment tools measuring learners’ patterns of scientific reasoning and also considering the nature of science across different contextual settings. © 2024 Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (SAARMSTE).
Professional development on assessment for learning and its effect on pre-service teacher’s self-regulated learning
By Ayanaw Yigletu
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which professional development on assessment for learning improves pre-service teachers’ self-regulated learning. Helping students develop self-regulation abilities in learning and assessment remains difficult due to the widespread culture of summative assessment in teacher education. A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design was utilized to explore the influence of professional development in implementing assessment for learning on pre-service primary mathematics teachers’ self-regulated learning skills. Three mathematics teacher educators who offered the algebra course, as well as their 52 students who attended the course, engaged in a job-embedded, context-specific, and content-based comprehensive professional development and training program on assessment for learning. A paired sample t-test result demonstrated that the self-regulated learning skills of pre-service teachers after the intervention were significantly higher than their self-regulated learning skills before the intervention, and there was a statistically significant mean difference between pre- and post-measurements of each of the achiever levels. Nevertheless, a one-way ANOVA showed that there was no statistically significant mean difference in the self-regulated learning skills across achiever levels after the intervention. This study contributes to our understanding of the influence of enhanced implementations of assessment for learning on students’ self-regulated learning skills. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
The effect of assessment for learning on pre-service mathematics teachers’ higher-order thinking skills in algebra
By Ayanaw Yigletu
In teacher education, enhancing pre-service teachers' higher-order thinking skills (HOTs) is very crucial. The effect of comprehensive professional development in assessment for learning (AfL) on pre-service teachers' HOTs in an algebra course was investigated using a nonequivalent group quasi-experimental design. A total of 129 pre-service teachers who took the Fundamental Concepts of Algebra course from three different teacher education colleges [TECs] selected randomly from ten Ethiopian TECs, participated in the study. Among these students who attended the course, a group of 52 pre-service teachers with three mathematics teacher educators who gave them the course engaged in comprehensive training and professional development on AfL, while the remaining pre-service teachers were attending the course the usual way in two different TEC. A one-way ANOVA was used to determine whether there was a mean difference among the three groups and three achiever levels on their HOTs scores. The result showed that there is a statistically significant mean difference in the HOTs scores between pre-service teachers in the treatment group and the comparison groups. The results also showed that there was a statistically significant mean difference among the three achiever levels (low, medium, and high) in their HOTs scores in the treatment group before the intervention, but there was no statistically significant mean difference after the intervention. The implications of the results and recommendations are discussed. © 2023, Pharmaceutical Association of Serbia. All rights reserved.
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