Washington: Assessing Science Knowledge Implementation through Teacher Research Final Report

Most teachers have a difficult time relating to scientific inquiry because they didn't have that kind of instruction when they were in school. Because of the lack of experience of science teachers, teachers from four different schools in Washington State were trained in scientific inquiry, thinking, and performance.

During the training, a workshop gave the teachers the opportunity to bring out prior knowledge and use new information to construct the knowledge needed to use assessment resources effectively. In addition, a structured professional learning community allowed teachers to communicate with each other and discuss resources and strategies, and a showcase allowed the teachers to reflect on what they have learned. After training, the teachers were then compared against control group teachers who had not undergone training.

The student achievement levels showed higher levels of improvement for the teachers that went through the training than the control teachers. The experimenters had also expected that the newly trained teachers would demonstrate more use of formative assessment for classroom decision making than the control teachers, but the results indicated that there was no significant difference.

Click here to view the full report

Return to the Research Table