Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning

The current wave of science education reforms emphasizes more equitable opportunities for students as they learn disciplinary core ideas and apply crosscutting concepts by engaging in the practices of scientists. Formative assessment—the assessment teachers and students conduct while learning is in progress—also needs to shift to support this vision. This book combines three-dimensional science learning, sociocultural theories of learning, and science for justice and equity to provide a comprehensive picture of formative assessment for today’s K–12 science classroom. Using practical examples and strategies, the author provides guidance for classroom teachers around formative assessment task design that centers students’ interests and builds on the resources they bring to school. The text explores the different enactment approaches teachers can use to prioritize and respond to students’ ideas as they are learning. It also offers approaches to, and resources for, professional learning that support teachers as they engage in formative assessment for ambitious science instruction.

Book Features:

• Provides a framework for designing and enacting 3D science assessments that support both rigorous and equitable instruction.
• Advocates for formative assessment that evaluates the practices of scientific inquiry, as opposed to measuring the memorization of science content.
• Includes assessment tasks, samples from classroom practice, and transcriptions of classroom conversations with students.
• Offers guidance for providing students with helpful feedback to advance their learning, as well as suggestions for collaborating with colleagues.
• Shows how formative assessment can be enacted across classrooms to create opportunities to coordinate practice at a larger scale.

Erin Marie Furtak is professor of STEM education at the School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Furtak received the 2011 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and the German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2006).

“By writing Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning: Supporting Ambitious and Equitable Instruction, Professor Furtak has provided a generous resource for science teachers and school leaders.… (She) lets us see how the theory works. What a wonderful and empowering professional gift.”
—From the Foreword by Lorrie A. Shepard, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of Colorado Boulder

"For educators looking for a well-grounded approach to classroom assessments that promotes equity, this volume is a must-read. This book provides a new horizon for 21st-century classroom assessment along with concrete steps toward that goal."
—Hosun Kang, associate professor, science education and teacher education, University of California, Irvine

“As a teacher, researcher, and parent, Erin Furtak writes with equal parts knowing and caring about science teaching and learning. In Formative Assessment for 3D Science Learning, she provides educators with the vision and actions needed to help all students make progress toward science literacy in a rapidly changing world.”
—Richard Bacolor, science consultant, Wayne RESA, Wayne, Michigan

Contents

Foreword Lorrie A. Shepard  xiii

Preface  xv
My History in Science and Formative Assessment  xvi
Why I Wrote This Book  xvii
Scope  xviii
To Whom This Book Is Directed  xviii

Acknowledgments  xxi

PART I: FRAMING

1.  It’s Time to Rethink Formative Assessment in Science Education  3
What Is Formative Assessment in Science?  4
New Understandings About Learning That Influence Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment  5
Formative Assessment for Ambitious and Equitable 3D Science Learning  11
Initial Drawings  15
Family Activity  15
How to Read This Book  16

2.  Broadening Our View of Science Formative Assessment  19
Formative Assessment in a System of Classroom Activity  21
Defining Elements of a Formative Assessment Activity System  23
How Activity Systems Work to Support Learning Through Formative Assessment  33
Looking Ahead  38

3.  Formative Assessment as a Vehicle for Equity and Justice in Science Learning  39
Structural Influences on Science Formative Assessment  40
Constraints on Formative Assessment  43
Formative Assessment as a Vehicle for Equity and Justice  45
Self-Reflection for Ambitious and Equitable Teaching  47
Centering Equity and Justice in Formative Assessment: Examples  49
Equity and Justice: Connective Threads for Formative Assessment Design and Enactment  53

PART II: TASKS AND PRACTICES

4.  Questions Worth Answering: The Role of Phenomena in Formative Assessment  57
Considerations for Phenomena  58
Types of Phenomena for Formative Assessment  63
How Different Phenomena Support Formative Assessment Across an Instructional Unit  66
Resources for Identifying Phenomena for Formative Assessment  69
Putting It All Together: Framing Formative Assessment Tasks With Phenomena  69

5.  Formative Assessment Tasks: Artifacts and Material Representations of Student Thinking  71
What Do We Mean by “Tasks”?  72
The Role of Formative Assessment Tasks  73
Integrating the Three Dimensions in Formative Assessment Tasks  75
Elements of Multicomponent Formative Assessment Task Design: Supporting Learners to Show What They Know  81
Putting It All Together: Redesigning a Multicomponent Formative Assessment Task  92
Beyond Paper and Pencil: Technology-Assisted Formative Assessment Tasks  100
Looking Ahead: The Importance of Practices and Feedback  103

6.  Norms, Routines, and Community: Classroom Enactment of Formative Assessment  105
What Do We Mean by “Enactment”?  105
Participation Structures  106
Norms and Routines  111
Talk Moves: Essential Elements of Formative Assessment Classroom Practices  118
Putting It All Together: A Formative Assessment Conversation to Support the Development of Student Thinking  119

7.  Feedback  125
Feedback to Support Science Learning  126
A Model of Feedback  127
Medium Cycles  138

PART III: BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

8.  Tools and Routines for Professional Learning: Collaborative Formative Assessment Design  143
Teacher Professional Learning Through Formative Assessment Design  144
Steps for Collaborative Formative Assessment Design  145
Increasing Opportunities for Teachers to Learn Through Collaboration and Formative Assessment Co-Design  159

9.  Learning Progressions: Tools for Formative Assessment  161
Defining Learning Progressions  161
Learning Progressions for Three-Dimensional Assessment  163
Three Functions for Learning Progressions in Formative Assessment  164
Features of Learning Progressions That Support Formative Assessment  174
Potential to Guide Formative Assessment, With Caution  176

10.  Conclusion: Formative Assessment for Ambitious and Equitable Science Learning: Toward a New Horizon  177
Main Arguments  177
What Can We Do?  178
Closing  179

Appendix A. Phenomenon Planner  181

Appendix B. Heated Cup Task  183

Appendix C. Formative Assessment Task Design Checklist  185

Appendix D. Weather in Three Places Task  187

Appendix E. Snowmelt Task  189

Appendix F. High-Elevation Task  191

Appendix G. Enactment Planning Guide  197

Appendix H. Skateboarder Modeling Task  199

Appendix I. Sample Meeting Agendas for Collaborative Formative Assessment Design  201

Appendix J. Learning Progression Unit Planner  203

References  205

Index  221

About the Author  227