The Implications of Project-Based Pedagogy for the Classroom Assessment Infrastructures of Science Teachers.

In project-based science teaching, teachers engage students in the practice of conducting meaningful investigations and explanations of natural phenomena, often in collaboration with fellow students or adults. Reformers suggest that this approach can provide students with more profitable learning experiences; but for many teachers, a shift to such instruction can be difficult to manage. As some reform-minded teachers have discovered, classroom assessment can serve as a vital tool for meeting the challenges associated with project science activity. In essence, it functions as an infrastructure that both students and teachers rely upon as a mediational tool for classroom activity and communications. The research described here investigated the classroom assessment infrastructures created by three teachers involved in the Learning through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) Project from 1993-94 to 1995-96. Each of the three teachers under study either created a new course or radically reformulated an old one in an effort to incorporate project-based science pedagogy and supporting technologies. Their instructional goals and the role projects played within them varied widely, as did their assessment infrastructures. This paper provides a brief case study of each course which outlines the complex relationship between their curricular and assessment designs. In addition, a cross-case analysis demonstrates the common challenges faced and solutions employed by the teachers as they crafted assessment infrastructures in support of project-based science activity. 1The research reported here was originally completed as part of my dissertation work as a graduate student involved in the Learning through Collaborative Visualization Project at Northwestern University. That project was funded by NSF grants RED-9454729 and MDR88-55582 as well as the Illinois State Board of Education under the Eisenhower program. I’m deeply grateful to the teachers and students who participated in the study and the members of my dissertation committee who supported the work: Louis M. Gomez, Roy D. Pea, Allan Collins and Brian Reiser. I also extend my gratitude to Joe Polman, Kevin O’Neill and Nancy Israel for their useful and insightful comments on early drafts of this document. The Implications of Project-Based Science Pedagogy for Classroom Assessment Infrastructures Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 20, 1999 Laura D’Amico page 2 INTRODUCTION In the last decade, traditional forms of science education have come under increasing criticism. Researchers and practitioners alike note that a reliance on textbooks, lectures and highly structured labs as vehicles for teaching science can lead to the development of “inert” forms of knowledge (Whitehead, 1929) which students are unable to apply in appropriate contexts (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Hawkins & Pea, 1987; Lave, 1990), as well as a misunderstanding of the socially constructed, complex and dynamic nature of scientific knowledge and practice (Bazerman, 1988; Carey, 1989; Latour & Woolgar, 1979; Lederman, 1992; Linn, 1991; Myers, 1990). As the American Association for the Advancement of Science warns, “Students cannot learn to think critically, analyze information, communicate scientific ideas, make logical arguments, work as part of a team, and acquire other desirable skills unless they are permitted and encouraged to do those things over and over in many contexts,” (AAAS, 1990, p. 199). These concerns have led the development of new standards and guidelines for science education (e.g. AAAS's Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 1990; Science for all Americans, 1993; and NRC's National Science Education Standards, 1996) which emphasize the need for inquiry-based learning environments where students can build their scientific understandings as they work with others to make meaningful investigations and explanations of natural phenomena. Classroom instruction designed along these lines often places teachers in the role of facilitators who help students build from their current knowledge and proficiencies toward the development of key disciplinary ideas and practices in science. For many teachers, a shift to instruction of this kind constitutes a radical departure from the customary teaching and learning activity of their classrooms. They face enormous challenges as they not only reconstitute their own practices and expectations, but also those of their students. As some reform minded teachers have discovered, classroom assessment can serve as one of their most vital tools for meeting these challenges. Teachers' assessment practices not only allow them to evaluate what students know and can do, but also serve as a crucial tool for structuring classroom activity and communicating expectations to students. By specifying both the shape and the “worth” of specific intermediate and final products, as well as the behavior or effort they expect to lead to those products, teachers indicate the kinds of work and activity which are valued in class. In essence, assessment forms an infrastructure that both students and teachers rely upon as a mediational tool (Wertsch, 1991) for classroom activity and communications. Teachers construct