Self-assessments have become increasingly popular tools, because they involve students in monitoring their own progress. Self-assessments can range in structure from pre-made checklists and questionnaires to student-generated reflections in a science journal (“What is the most important idea I learned today?”). The latest research in cognition and learning tells us that students need frequent self-assessment opportunities to reflect on what they have learned. In addition to consolidating knowledge, self-assessments encourage students to reflect on the learning process itself.
Many teachers are finding success with self-assessment as they encourage students to record and then revisit their prior knowledge. Teachers can ask students to articulate how their thinking has changed over time and can then assess students on their reflections as well as the revised content.
In the elementary curricula reviewed here, self-assessments tend to fall into one of two groups. First, there are self-assessments that evaluate the students’ attitudes or feelings about a specific unit of study or about science itself. In these assessments, students are often asked to reflect upon their own work habits and group skills. Other self-assessments attempt to provide evidence about how students judge their own understanding of specific science concepts.
Attitudes and Working Style
STC includes self-assessment as part of the final assessment for a unit. For example, in the grade-5 Food Chemistry module, students are asked to fill out the self-assessment questionnaire provided with the module. Rather than being a tool to evaluate science concepts, this reflective questionnaire gets at whether or not the student enjoyed the unit and did good work. Their attitudes about science in general are also addressed. Teachers interpret the responses in their own ways, and use their own forms or record books to keep track of their observations.
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Science Concepts
As part of the ongoing DASH curriculum, students are asked to fill out a Concept and Skill Inventory at the end of each school year. Students rate themselves on a scale of 0 to 4 in terms of how well they understand certain concepts. The teacher also rates the students on the same scale and records the results on a class record. It is suggested that teachers discuss any discrepancies in evaluation with their students, but specific suggestions are not provided.
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Insights modules include self-assessment as part of the teaching sequence. For example, in the grades-4–5 Circuits and Pathways unit, it is suggested that the Introductory Assessment and the Final Assessment be reviewed and compared by students at the end of the module. Some of the questions in each assessment are the same and, therefore, responses can be easily compared. Specific questions help teachers focus the students’ thoughts about the development of their ideas. The teacher’s observations of this comparison process can be added to the individual Student Profiles.
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more about this example of a self-assessment.
