5.2 Data presentation 75
5.2.3 What are the experiences and practices? 81
5.2.6.1 Effective assessment 94
The participants in this study take assessment as an integral part of learning and teaching as they indicated that:
Participant A1
I think objectives can be assessed by asking the learners questions to that you can see if they understood, learners should form some groups and discuss about the topic then they should provide their answers.
After passing each and every stage I have to assess that stage so that I can see that learners get the main theme of the topic.
The second participant A2 showed that
I used to ask them questions or give them the test or class work which tells me whether they have understood or not. I use different types of assessments; sometimes I give them homework like I did today.
Information gathered during class observation revealed that participant A1 used assessment in the teaching and learning of Integrated Science. He used to pose questions time and time to check if he was still moving along with his learners. For example the types of questions he asked were meant for learners to apply existing
knowledge, to get information and all those questions were related to the learning outcomes that were stated at the beginning of the lesson. He spelt learning the learning outcome as “at the end of this lesson I am expecting you to define …” this simply implied what was expected of the learners to have acquired. What they would be competent in and according this one is to define which is level one of recall (cognitive domain) Participant A1 had stages which he asked questions after each stage. This goes hand-in-hand with what was written in the lesson plan because different stages of his lesson plan had questions to be answered by learners to show that they are on the same trek with the teacher.
Lesson observation revealed that Participant A2 used formative assessment as a tool of achieving stated outcomes, the evidence in appendix F indicated that this assessment was used during the observation. In his lesson he asked learners questions on different stages of the lesson that is from the introduction, he introduces the lesson with questions that were related to previous lesson, development of the lesson still questions were his tools of checking progress of learners. Participant A2 did not have stages but he was asking questions time and time to check learners understanding and to confirm to the content he was teaching. The second lesson observation, at the end of the lesson he gave learners homework which was suppose to be submitted the next day.
Participant B1
We have books that have activities, so through the use of these activities they help us to see if the learners understand, at the end of the topic we normally give formal assessment where they are given question to answer.
Participant B2 used Integrated Science text book activities which have questions to guide learners through practical. The experiment that learners were conducting was fully described that is all procedures were given. At the end the task was concluded with question that helped learners to conclude on their experience.
Participant B2 who used Integrated Science text book activity which had questions, for example the questions from the textbook were:
From your observation which of the two materials, water and air can be compressed more easily?
Explain your answer above relating to experiment conducted.
This corroborated with the lesson plan for the activity. He did not relay on questions from the textbook. He had questions for learners to answer after the activity in addition to those questions that were given in the textbook. Even during the activity he had some questions which he used to find out if learners were still on the right trek. Observation revealed that learners were able to conclude as they were guided by good questions throughout the activity.
In Chapter Two different researchers indicated the importance of assessment in the learning and teaching of integrated science, for example Suskie (2004) sees assessment as the ongoing process of getting clear, measurable expected outcomes of learners learning when ensuring that enough and good opportunities are given to learners to achieve those outcomes. Agreeably, Mitchel (1989) and Department of Education (2002) define assessment as process of gathering evidence using a number of strategies about individual learners‟ competence. In addition formative and summative assessment is used to check if the learning outcomes have been achieved.
In support to literature (Suskie 2004, Mitchel 1989 and Department of Education 2002), theoretical framework of this study showed that Bloom‟s taxonomy provides details of construction of assessment which relates to the stated learning outcomes at the beginning of the lesson. There are three important components that need to be considered in terms of using Bloom‟s Taxonomies, namely Cognitive, Skills and Attitude.
These responses correspond to what was observed in different lessons of the participants, documents reviewed that assessment is used in their teaching of Integrated Science. These corroborate with the lesson plan of Participant A1and Participant B2 where they had verbal questions as part of their assessment in their lesson plans which learners had to answer. Also the text book that Participant B2 used for the practical the one his learners were doing was having written questions which were related to the stated comprehension outcomes at the beginning of the lesson to check if those learners were following and leading towards achieving the outcomes stated.
Forehand (2005) stated that Bloom„s taxonomy of educational outcomes should be related to different the form of assessment in the teaching and learning environment.
This implies that teaching and learning of Integrated Science in JC should take constructivist strategies where learners would be on the side to deal with why part of learning that is higher level thinking that promotes personal meaning and situated and contextual learning (Fischer, 1997). He further indicated that constructivists see learners as being active rather than passive. Knowledge is not received from the outside or from someone else; rather, it is the individual learner‟s interpretation and processing of what is received through the senses that creates knowledge (Ministry of Education, 2008).
The learner is the center of the learning, with the instructor playing an advising and facilitating role with the help of SMART outcomes that are facilitated by good assessment strategies.
Why do the Form Three Integrated Science teachers experience and practise outcomes and assessment strategies the way they do?