ABSTRACT

Background: The paper discusses how the design of summative assessments of practical science can be enhanced through the use of robust theoretical models that capture the diversity of scientific methods. The developments in assessment policy in England and the role of practical science in teaching and learning of science are reviewed.

Purpose: The paper has two main purposes: (a) to explore how summative assessments of practical science can potentially reflect the breadth of scientific methods; and (b) to investigate how Year 10 students in England engage with and perceive summative assessments designed using Brandon’s Matrix, a framework clarifying the diversity of scientific methods.

Sample: The paper draws on data from Year 10 (14–15 years old) students with a sample of physics assessment tasks developed using Brandon’s Matrix.

Design and methods: The study focused on the development of a series of assessment questions based on Brandon’s Matrix, a framework by a philosopher of science, who classifies scientific methods in a taxonomy. Students’ performance on the assessments as well as their perceptions about practical science are investigated.

Conclusion: The results suggest that students held a very narrow understanding of what a scientific method is and often linked it to hypothesis testing, variable manipulation and measurement of several variables. Furthermore, they reported not to enjoy drawing conclusions from data.

摘要

背景：本文讨论了如何通过使用能够捕捉科学方法多样性的强大理论模型来增强实践科学总结性评估的设计。回顾了英格兰评估政策的发展以及实践科学在科学教学中的作用。

目的：本文有两个主要目的：（a）探索对实践科学的总结性评估如何潜在地反映科学方法的广度；（b）调查英国10年级的学生如何使用布兰登矩阵（Brandon's Matrix）设计的汇总评估方法，并进行总结性评估，该框架阐明了科学方法的多样性。

样本：本文采用10年级（14-15岁）学生的数据，并使用布兰登矩阵开发了物理评估任务的样本。

设计和方法：研究重点是根据布兰登矩阵（Brandon's Matrix）开发一系列评估问题，布兰登矩阵是科学哲学家的一个框架，他将科学方法分类。调查学生在评估中的表现以及对实用科学的看法。

结论：结果表明，学生对什么是科学方法持有非常狭understanding的理解，通常将其与假设检验，变量操纵和几个变量的测量联系起来。此外，他们报告说不喜欢从数据中得出结论。