Assessing life science conceptions: The interplay among children's ideas, teachers' assessments and elementary classroom instruction

Science education reform efforts recommend constructivist-based science teaching and authentic assessment. This case study examines a third-grade classroom where the teacher had been trained as a lead teacher for this science reform, and participated in an assessment study group with other elementary teachers. As the teacher taught a unit on adaptations and habitats, the researcher examined the connections between the students' ideas, the instruction, assessment and the teacher's work with her study group.; A qualitative case study design was used for this research because it tried to answer the following descriptive research questions: (1) What were the children's conceptions about adaptations and habitats throughout this unit, and how were their conceptions affected by instruction? (2) How did the teacher's assessment of her students' ideas inform her instruction, and how did the study group influence the teacher's assessments? (3) How did the study group change their views of assessment over the course of this unit? Interviews with children and teachers were triangulated with classroom and study group observations as well as assessment documents.; During classroom instruction, the children engaged in hands-on tasks related to crustaceans and their habitats. The children were also encouraged to discuss their ideas, and thus co-construct knowledge. At times, their teacher would assess her students' ideas and scaffold them. However, this tended to occur with very concrete concepts and not for more complex concepts. The teacher's method of assessment, which she designed in her study group, did not help her assess complex concepts. Thus, authentic assessment was the missing link in her classroom instruction.; The study group's goal was to create assessments to inform the teaching of this unit. However, they viewed assessment as standardized, quantitative and for grading purposes. Because their goal did not match their initial view, they experienced frustration and changed their view towards one that viewed assessment as authentic, qualitative and for multiple purposes.; Assessing children's complex ideas would have been valuable for the teacher because the researcher found that the children tended to have an artificial view of habitats that did not incorporate fundamental ideas of matter and energy.