ERIC Number: EJ963413
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-May
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0957-7572
EISSN: N/A
Assessing Scientific and Technological Enquiry Skills at Age 11 Using the E-Scape System
Davies, Dan; Collier, Chris; Howe, Alan
International Journal of Technology and Design Education, v22 n2 p247-263 May 2012
This article reports on the outcomes from the "e-scape Primary Scientific and Technological Understanding Assessment Project" (2009-2010), which aimed to support primary teachers in developing valid portfolio-based tasks to assess pupils' scientific and technological enquiry skills at age 11. This was part of the wider "e-scape" project (2003-present), which has developed an innovative controlled alternative to design & technology and science public assessment at age 16. Teachers from eight primary schools were trained in the use of an online task-authoring tool to develop and trial assessment activities based on current classroom work. To compile their e-portfolios of assessment evidence, pupils used netbook devices, which afford multi-modal responses (text, drawing, photo, audio, video, spreadsheet) whilst leaving space on pupils' tables for practical investigations. Once the pupil e-portfolios had been uploaded to the secure e-scape website, teachers assessed them using a "comparative judgement" approach to produce a rank order with a high reliability coefficient. Participant teachers recognised the strength of the e-scape approach in terms of facilitating and managing pupils' responses to assessment tasks in the classroom, which they successfully adapted to suit primary pedagogy. In particular, the benefits of scaffolding complex assessment tasks through the step-wise e-scape process in the authoring tool represented for some of the teachers a pedagogically significant development in terms of their planning.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Evidence, Video Technology, Portfolios (Background Materials), Reliability, Skill Development, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Inquiry, Elementary School Students, Technology Education, Science Education, Inservice Teacher Education, Portfolio Assessment, Student Evaluation, Educational Assessment, Performance Based Assessment, Program Implementation, Program Effectiveness, Internet, Computer System Design, Handheld Devices, Synchronous Communication, Web Sites, Programming, Educational Technology, Computer Software, Evaluation Methods, Program Descriptions, Comparative Analysis, Multimedia Materials
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A