3D Assessment Pilot Test

As part of an NSF-funded project to investigate the validity of three-dimensional (3-D) assessment tasks, BSCS Science Learning is interested in pilot testing 3-D tasks with students across the country. We are recruiting middle school science teachers willing to administer the assessment tasks to their students during the spring of 2024. The test will be administered using a web-based testing utility and should take one class period to complete.

Background

We are recruiting middle school science teachers who are able to pilot test assessments with their students in April or May. The assessment tasks of this study are being designed to assess students’ opportunity to engage with science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas to figure out real-world phenomena. These assessments will be administered online and should take one class period (approximately 45-50 minutes) to complete.

About the Tests

Each student will be given multiple assessment “tasks”. Each task focuses on a phenomenon and asks students to use their content knowledge, science practices, crosscutting concepts, and prior experiences to make sense of the phenomenon. Tasks may include multiple-choice, short-response, fill-in-the-blank, and/or modeling questions. Some questions will contain follow-up questions which ask the students to explain their response and/or provide feedback on the task. Students should complete as many questions as they can in a single class period. The test will be administered through our web-based testing utility.

Our goal is to receive feedback from students with a wide range of experiences with science learning. However, we are especially interested in involving students who have experienced NGSS-aligned instruction.

These tests are not intended to evaluate teachers or students. Individual student and teacher data will remain strictly confidential and individual students will not be identifiable. Students will not be asked to provide their name, email, or any information that would allow individual students to be identified. Our only interest is to learn how students respond to these tasks to better evaluate the tasks’ ability to measure what students’ understanding of science. This data will be invaluable in helping us refine and continue to develop assessments that support high quality science curriculum and instruction.

In order to participate

• You must be a science teacher in the United States.
• Your students must be in grades 6-8.
• You must obtain permission to participate in the field test from the appropriate school or district personnel before registering.
• You must be able to reserve enough computers that have a reliable internet connection for all students in your classes on the day of testing (one computer per student).

As a thank-you, each participating teacher will receive $100.

Participation in this study is limited, so registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. If necessary, we will also adjust our selections to achieve representation from urban, rural, and suburban schools from different parts of the country and to include students who have had NGSS-aligned instruction. Teachers who are selected to participate will be notified by email.

Assessment Website

We are also inviting teachers to our soft launch of the assessment website. The website currently contains assessment resources for two assessment projects. One is focused on the development of multiple-choice questions about energy, and the other is focused on the development of NGSS-aligned assessment tasks about energy. The resources include the assessments, scoring rubrics, student performance data, research papers, and a testing utility. The testing utility allows users to administer tests to their students. Users can administer BSCS-designed tests or develop their own using the available assessments on the site. The resources are available to all users, but the item bank and ability to administer tests are only available to registered users.

After you experience the site, please provide feedback in this survey.