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Conceptualizing the Science Curriculum: 40 Years of Developing Assessment Frameworks in Three Large-Scale Assessments

Kind, P.M.

Conceptualizing the Science Curriculum: 40 Years of Developing Assessment Frameworks in Three Large-Scale Assessments Thumbnail


Authors

P.M. Kind



Abstract

The paper analyzes conceptualizations in the science frameworks in three large-scale assessments, Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The assessments have a shared history, but have developed different conceptualizations. The paper asks how and why the frameworks are different and seeks answers by studying their development. The methodology is document analysis by, first, tracing developments within each assessment, next, comparing developments and conceptualization across the assessments, and, last, relating the frameworks to trends of developments in educational theory. The outcome of the analysis provides a complex picture with the assessments following their own lines of development but with influence from trends in assessment and educational theory. Five main conceptualizations are found to have existed over time, with different definition of scientific behavior and explanations to the relationship between knowledge and behavior. The frameworks have moved toward more elaborated explanations of the science domain, providing assessors with better support for operationalizing learning objectives. Currently, the assessments are faced with a challenge of adapting to the “practice turn” in science studies and learning science and thereby accounting for scientific behavior as a community practice. The paper concludes with suggestions for how frameworks may be improved to achieve this aim.

Citation

Kind, P. (2013). Conceptualizing the Science Curriculum: 40 Years of Developing Assessment Frameworks in Three Large-Scale Assessments. Science Education, 97(5), 671-694. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21070

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 21, 2013
Publication Date Sep 1, 2013
Deposit Date Aug 19, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Science Education
Print ISSN 0036-8326
Electronic ISSN 1098-237X
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 97
Issue 5
Pages 671-694
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21070

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Kind, P. M. (2013), Conceptualizing the Science Curriculum: 40 Years of Developing Assessment Frameworks in Three Large-Scale Assessments. Science Education, 97(5): 671–694, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sce.21070. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.




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