Research Article

Comment on “Analyzing the Role of Science Practices in ACS Exam Items”

Published: 2017-6-13

Journal: Journal of Chemical Education

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00170

Abstract

This letter is a response to a recent article in this Journal (Reed, J. J.; Brandriet, A. R.; Holme, T. A. J. Chem. Educ.2017, 94, 3–10) about characterization of the presence of scientific practices in assessment items. We want to clarify and encourage the use of the 3D-LAP in its published form. For example, in the 3D-LAP, we claim that a question can only elicit evidence of the practice Developing and Using Models if it has all of the following features, the last being most important in our view: (1) Question gives an event, observation, or phenomenon for the student to explain or make a prediction about. (2) Question gives a representation or asks student to construct a representation. (3) Question asks student to explain or make a prediction about the event, observation, or phenomenon. (4) Question asks student to provide the reasoning that links the representation to their explanation or prediction. We find that the reasoning component is most often absent from the typical assessment tasks that we ask of students, and it is this component that was missing in our earlier version of the protocol which provided an “implicit” characterization of assessment items. Finally, we caution that the presence of a representation does not necessarily engage students in the practice of modeling. We are encouraged by the interest of our research community in developing, using, and analyzing assessments that engage students in scientific practices; we look forward to continuing this work together.

Faculty Members

  • Sarah E. Jardeleza - University Analysis, Reporting, and Assessment, Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland 21801, United States of America
  • Lynmarie A. Posey - CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of AmericaDepartment of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of America
  • Sonia M. Underwood - Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and STEM Transformation Institute, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, United States of America
  • Marcos D. Caballero - CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of AmericaDepartment of Physics and Centre for Computing in Science Education, University of Oslo, N-0316 Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48864, United States of America
  • Cori L. Fata-Hartley - College of Natural Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of America
  • Diane Ebert-May - Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of America
  • Justin H. Carmel - Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of America
  • Melanie M. Cooper - CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of AmericaDepartment of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of America
  • Rebecca L. Matz - CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States of America
  • James T. Laverty - Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States of America

Themes

  • 3D-LAP Framework
  • Assessment of Scientific Practices
  • Collaborative Efforts in Educational Research
  • Modeling in Science Education
  • Importance of Reasoning in Assessments

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