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Towards a Competence-Based View on Models and Modeling in Science Education pp 117–129Cite as

Assessing Modeling Competence with Questionnaires

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Part of the book series: Models and Modeling in Science Education ((MMSE,volume 12))

Abstract

Students’ as well as pre-service teachers’ and in-service teachers’ modeling competence is an important issue of research in science education due to its influence on both assessment and teaching. A large number of studies have used different methodological approaches, ranging from interviews to closed-ended tasks. In this chapter, we aim to provide an overview of the studies that have employed either open-ended tasks or closed-ended tasks as a way to elicit students’, pre-service teachers’, and in-service teachers’ understanding of models and modeling. We present different assessment instruments that contain, for example, multiple-choice, forced-choice, or rating scale tasks and summarize the main findings of studies on these instruments. As a second step, the results across these studies are compared, and, based on current standards for educational testing, the advantages and limitations of each of the instruments regarding the purpose of assessing and diagnosing perspectives on models and modeling in science are discussed. Bringing all aspects together, a variety of approaches for task and test development are illustrated, including concepts with regard to validation methods in particular.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Sabrina Mathesius & Moritz Krell

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  1. Sabrina Mathesius
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  2. Moritz Krell
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Correspondence to Sabrina Mathesius .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Biology Education, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Annette Upmeier zu Belzen

  2. Department of Biology, Biology Education, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Dirk Krüger

  3. Department of Education, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia

    Jan van Driel

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Mathesius, S., Krell, M. (2019). Assessing Modeling Competence with Questionnaires. In: Upmeier zu Belzen, A., Krüger, D., van Driel, J. (eds) Towards a Competence-Based View on Models and Modeling in Science Education. Models and Modeling in Science Education, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30255-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30255-9_7

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