Assessing Students’ Conceptual Understanding in Science: An introduction about a national project in Taiwan

Abstract

In this article, we discuss several aspects of the national project, the National Science Concept Learning Study, designed to assess elementary, middle, and secondary students’ conceptual understanding in science. After a short introduction to provide some history of the project, we describe the processes used in the integrative study, the participants in the research, the involvement of about 30 senior researchers and 80 research assistants, and the findings from the national data. Although the results of Taiwanese students’ conceptions in science are similar to those of western countries, some aspects of our students’ performance are unique to Taiwanese culture and language. This article concludes with some educational implications from the research findings.

Keywords:

• Conceptual understanding
• Assessment
• Two‐tier test item
• Science learning

Acknowledgements

The first two authors would like to thank sincerely the Taiwanese National Science Council (NSC) for support of the integrative projects (NSC 89‐2511‐S‐003‐157, NSC 90‐2511‐S‐003‐105, NSC 91‐2522‐S‐003‐022, NSC 92‐2511‐S‐003‐060 for the first author “chemistry group coordinator”; NSC 89‐2511‐S‐018‐044, NSC 90‐2511‐S‐143‐009, NSC 91‐2522‐S‐143‐009, NSC 92‐2511‐S‐143‐007 for the second author “Project leader”) and Professor David Treagust for continuous support in helping bring the completed research together in this Special Issue. The authors wish to acknowledge the diligence and editorial expertise of Dr Chi‐yan Tsui and Dr A. L. Chandrasegan who read and edited the final submitted manuscripts.

Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge other colleagues for their help with the project—Y. W. Kuo, H. P. Chang, C. Y. Chou, H. P. Tam, T. C. I. Huang, C. C. Chen, C. Y. Lin and Y. Y. Lu.