Lower secondary school students’ perceptions of science assessment feedback and their conceptions of science assessment: a transitional phase of developing an understanding of assessment

ABSTRACT

Background

In the field of science education, the importance of assessment in students’ learning process has been recognized. Understanding of how students perceive science assessment and feedback may be an important issue that science education researchers need to pay attention to in order to achieve meaningful learning.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between lower secondary students’ perceptions of science assessment feedback and their conceptions of science assessment.

Sample

The participants of this survey study were 313 eighth-grade students (161 males and 152 females) in Taiwan.

Design and methods

Two instruments were adapted and implemented to investigate the aim of this study (i.e. the perceptions of science assessment feedback and conceptions of science assessment). To examine the structural relations between the students’ perceptions of science assessment feedback and their conceptions of science assessment, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was performed.

Results

The results showed that students who perceived the science assessment feedback as knowledge of the results, reports, and grades (i.e. outcome feedback) tended to highlight the surface conceptions of science assessment (i.e. Reproducing knowledge). Students with the perceptions of assessment feedback as the provision of the correct answer (i.e. corrective feedback) were prone to hold summative conceptions (i.e. Rehearsing and Accountability). In particular, those students who regarded the science assessment feedback as process feedback which focused on improving learning may have had both summative and formative purposes of science assessment (i.e. Improving learning, Problem solving, and Critical judgment).

Conclusions

The findings revealed that the lower secondary students’ perceptions of science assessment feedback made a significant contribution to their conceptions of science assessment and may be in a transitional phase of shaping an understanding of assessment. The practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Perceptions of science assessment feedback
• Conceptions of science assessment
• Secondary school students

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the ‘Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences’ of the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan and by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under the following grant numbers: 109-2628-H-003 −001 -MY3, 110-2511-H-003-035, 106-2628-S-003-002-MY3.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Instrument evaluating perceptions of science assessment feedback (PSAF)

B1. The feedback of science assessment is showing me a grade.

B2. Regarding the feedback of scientific assessment, I only care about the scores given by the teacher.

B3. For the feedback of scientific assessment, I just want to know if my score is good or not.

B4. The feedback of scientific assessment is mostly grades.

B5. Regarding the feedback of scientific assessment, I just want to know my rank in the class.

B6. The feedback of science assessment is to tell me which questions I answered wrong.

B7. The feedback of science assessment is to check whether my response is correct or not.

B8. What I think the feedback of science assessment is to reveal whether my answer is correct.

B9. The feedback of science assessment is to single out and mark my mistakes.

B10. The feedback of science assessment is to let me know which parts do not meet the classroom requirements.

B11. The feedback of science assessment is that the teacher gives constructive suggestions based on my classroom performance.

B12. The feedback of science assessment reflects what I need to improve in the future.

B13. The feedback of science assessment is to make me reflect on whether I have underperformance.

B14. What I think the feedback of science assessment is to let me know how to learn better.

B15. What I think the feedback of science assessment is that teachers will provide me with better learning strategies

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [106-2628-S-003-002-MY3,109-2628-H-003 −001 -MY3,110-2511-H-003-035] and by the ‘Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences’ of the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.