Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Using Video-Based Interviews to Investigate Pre-service Secondary Science Teachers’ Situation-Specific Skills for Informal Formative Assessment

  • Published:
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study investigated the nature of pre-service science teachers’ (PSTs’) situation-specific skills for informal formative assessment (FA) and their awareness of activating these skills in classroom-like situations. Video-based interviews were conducted to collect data from fifteen PSTs before they participated in a teacher education program. Authentic classroom videos capturing evidence of student thinking were used as probes to elicit information on the PSTs’ perceptions, interpretations, and decision-making in various classroom-like situations that afforded opportunities for FA. The findings indicate that the PSTs tended to focus on content-generic evidence and the responses of students in the whole class, to infer student thinking at a non-content specific level, and to propose responses that were vague or devoid of scientific content. On re-exposure to the same evidence of student thinking captured in short video clips, and with more specific prompting questions, more of the PSTs identified content-specific evidence from individual students and interpreted the nuances of student thinking at a content-specific level. Yet, the capacity of the PSTs to propose student-focused instructional moves remained limited. Overall, the findings suggest that the PSTs were not particularly aware of applying their situation-specific skills for informal FA when making on-the-fly teaching decisions in classroom-like situations that offer rich opportunities for FA. This study adds to the existing understanding of PST knowledge/skills for informal FA and provides a mechanism for eliciting and characterizing teachers’ situation-specific skills for informal FA. The implications for initial teacher education are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We used a single question to elicit the participants’ perceptions and interpretations of evidence of student thinking, as we regard the processes of perceiving and interpreting as interacting in a dynamic way (Sherin, 2017).

  2. Although we selected the moment at which each clip was paused, we believe that the participants could still recognize anything that stood out to them in the clips; they were not pre-conditioned to identify particular events/issues.

References

  • Alonzo, A. C., & Kim, J. (2016). Declarative and dynamic pedagogical content knowledge as elicited through two video-based interview methods. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 53(8), 1259–1286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aydeniz, M., & Dogan, A. (2016). Exploring pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical capacity for formative assessment through analyses of student answers. Research in Science & Technological Education, 34(2), 125–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnhart, T., & van Es, E. (2015). Studying teacher noticing: Examining the relationship among pre-service science teachers' ability to attend, analyze and respond to student thinking. Teaching and Teacher Education, 45, 83–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, R. E. (2011). Formative assessment: A critical review. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 18(1), 5–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blömeke, S., Gustafsson, J.-E., & Shavelson, R. J. (2015). Beyond dichotomies: Competence viewed as a continuum. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 223(1), 3–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brophy, J. (2004). Using video in teacher education: Advances in research on teaching (Vol. 10). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buck, G. A., Trauth-Nare, A., & Kaftan, J. (2010). Making formative assessment discernable to pre-service teachers of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47(4), 402–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, K. K. H., & Yung, B. H. W. (2015). On-site pedagogical content knowledge development. International Journal of Science Education, 37(8), 1246-1278.

  • Chung, H. Q., & van Es, E. A. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ use of tools to systematically analyze teaching and learning. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 20(2), 113–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coffey, J. E., Hammer, D., Levin, D. M., & Grant, T. (2011). The missing disciplinary substance of formative assessment. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(10), 1109–1136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colestock, A., & Sherin, M. G. (2009). Teachers’ sense-making strategies while watching video of mathematics instruction. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 17(1), 7–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowie, B., & Bell, B. (1999). A model of formative assessment in science education. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 6(1), 101–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowie, B., Harrison, C., & Willis, J. (2018). Supporting teacher responsiveness in assessment for learning through disciplined noticing. The Curriculum Journal, 29(4), 464–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erickson, F. (2007). Some thoughts on “proximal” formative assessment of student learning. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 106(1), 186–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erickson, F. (2011). On noticing teacher noticing. In M. Sherin, V. R. Jacobs, & R. A. Philipp (Eds.), Mathematics teacher noticing: Seeing through teachers’ eyes (pp. 17–34). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.

  • Furtak, E. M., Thompson, J. & van Es, E. (2016). Formative assessment and noticing: Toward a synthesized framework for attending and responding during instruction. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotwals, A. W., & Birmingham, D. (2016). Eliciting, identifying, interpreting, and responding to students’ ideas: Teacher candidates’ growth in formative assessment practices. Research in Science Education, 46(3), 365–388.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, C., Constantinou, C. P., Correia, C. F., Grangeat, M., Hähkiöniemi, M., Livitzis, M., . . . Viiri, J. (2018). Assessment on-the-fly: Promoting and collecting evidence of learning through dialogue. In J. Dolin & R. Evans (Eds.), Transforming assessment: Through an interplay between practice, research and policy (pp. 83–107). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

  • Hewitt, J., Pedretti, E., Bencze, L., Vaillancourt, B. D., & Yoon, S. (2003). New applications for multimedia cases: Promoting reflective practice in preservice teacher education. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 11(4), 483–500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, G., Busse, A., Hoth, J., König, J., & Blömeke, S. (2015). About the complexities of video-based assessments: Theoretical and methodological approaches to overcoming shortcomings of research on teachers’ competence. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 13(2), 369–387.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kang, H., & Anderson, C. W. (2015). Supporting preservice science teachers’ ability to attend and respond to student thinking by design. Science Education, 99(5), 863–895.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, D. M., & Richards, J. (2011). Learning to attend to the substance of students' thinking in science. Science Educator, 20(2), 1–11.

  • Luna, M. J. (2018). What does it mean to notice my students’ ideas in science today?: An investigation of elementary teachers’ practice of noticing their students’ thinking in science. Cognition and Instruction, 36(4), 297–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, J. (2002). Researching your own practice: The discipline of noticing. New York, NY: Routledge.

  • Merriam, S. B. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next generation science standards: For states, by states. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

  • Ogan-Bekiroglu, F. (2009). Assessing assessment: Examination of pre-service physics teachers' attitudes towards assessment and factors affecting their attitudes. International Journal of Science Education, 31(1), 1–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Otero, V. K. (2006). Moving beyond the “get it or don’t” conception of formative assessment. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), 247–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Özay, E., & Öztaş, H. (2003). Secondary students’ interpretations of photosynthesis and plant nutrition. Journal of Biological Education, 37(2), 68–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Primo, M. A. (2011). Informal formative assessment: The role of instructional dialogues in assessing students’ learning. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 37(1), 15–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Primo, M. A., & Furtak, E. M. (2007). Exploring teachers’ informal formative assessment practices and students' understanding in the context of scientific inquiry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(1), 57–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, D. R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science, 18(2), 119–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seago, N. (2004). Using video as an object of inquiry for mathematics teaching and learning. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Using video in teacher education: Advances in research on teaching (Vol. 10, pp. 259–286). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seo, K., Park, S., & Choi, A. (2017). Science teachers’ perceptions of and approaches towards students’ misconceptions on photosynthesis: A comparison study between US and Korea. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(1), 269–296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shavelson, R. J. (2003). On the integration of formative assessment in teaching and learning with implications for teacher education. Paper presented at the biannual meeting of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. Italy: Padova.

  • Sherin, M. G. (2004). New perspectives on the role of video in teacher education. In J. E. Brophy (Ed.), Using video in teacher education (pp. 1–27). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: JAI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherin, M. G. (2017). Exploring the boundaries of teacher noticing: Commentary. In I. E. O. Schack, M. H. Fisher, & J. A. Wilhelm (Eds.), Teacher noticing: Bridging and broadening perspectives, contexts and frameworks (pp. 401–408). London, UK: Springer.

  • Sherin, M. G., Jacobs, V. R., & Philipp, R. A. (2011). Mathematics teacher noticing: Seeing through teachers’ eyes. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.

  • Smith, C. L., Wiser, M., Anderson, C. W., & Krajcik, J. (2006). Implications of research on children’s learning for standards and assessment: A proposed learning progression for matter and the atomic-molecular theory. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 4(1–2), 1–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stahnke, R., Schueler, S., & Roesken-Winter, B. (2016). Teachers’ perception, interpretation, and decision-making: A systematic review of empirical mathematics education research. ZDM, 48(1), 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taber, K. S., Riga, F., Brindley, S., Winterbottom, M., Finney, J., & Fisher, L. G. (2011). Formative conceptions of assessment: Trainee teachers’ thinking about assessment issues in English secondary schools. Teacher Development, 15(2), 171–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Talanquer, V., Bolger, M., & Tomanek, D. (2015). Exploring prospective teachers' assessment practices: Noticing and interpreting student understanding in the assessment of written work. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(5), 585–609.

    Google Scholar 

  • Talanquer, V., Tomanek, D., & Novodvorsky, I. (2013). Assessing students’ understanding of inquiry: What do prospective science teachers notice? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 50(2), 189–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tekkumru-Kisa, M., & Stein, M. K. (2015). Learning to see teaching in new ways. American Educational Research Journal, 52(1), 105–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Es, E. A., & Sherin, M. G. (2008). Mathematics teachers’ “learning to notice” in the context of a video club. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(2), 244–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Aufschnaiter, C., & Alonzo, A. C. (2018). Foundations of formative assessment: Introducing a learning progression to guide preservice physics teachers’ video-based interpretation of student thinking. Applied Measurement in Education, 31(2), 113–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiland, I. S., Hudson, R. A., & Amador, J. M. (2014). Preservice formative assessment interviews: The development of competent questioning. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 12(2), 329–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, A. S. L., Cheng, M. M. W., Yung, B. H. W., Yip, V. W. Y., Chan, K. K. H., & Day, J. R. (2015). Prompting assessment for learning in junior secondary science through identifying students’ learning difficulties from secondary analysis of TIMSS and refining classroom learning and teaching practices [DVDs]. Hong Kong: The University of Hong Kong.

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to our student research assistants Dirac Sze Him Lam and Jonathan Kai Yin Kwok for their help with the data collection and data analysis, respectively.

Funding

This research was partly supported by the Early Career Scheme of the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project Number 27608717) and Seed Grant for Basic Research (Project Number 201604159008).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Hong Kong, Room 313, Runme Shaw Building, Pok Fu lam Road, Pok Fu lam, Hong Kong

    Kennedy Kam Ho Chan & King Woon Yau

Authors
  1. Kennedy Kam Ho Chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. King Woon Yau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kennedy Kam Ho Chan.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 14331 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chan, K.K.H., Yau, K.W. Using Video-Based Interviews to Investigate Pre-service Secondary Science Teachers’ Situation-Specific Skills for Informal Formative Assessment. Int J of Sci and Math Educ 19, 289–311 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-020-10056-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-020-10056-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation