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ASSESSMENT OF 21ST CENTURY SKILLS IN CHEMISTRY EDUCATION CONTEXT
Paper
Presented at First International Conference of Chemistry (1-ICCHEM),
Department of Chemistry Education Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science
Yogyakarta State University, September 28-30, 2018.
Dr. Harry Firman
Department of Chemistry Education, Indonesia University of Education
Jl. Setiabudi No. 229 Bandung 40154
email: harry.fman@hotmail.com
Abstract
The 21st
century skills have been main orientation of education practice globally, including chemistry
education. It comprises three core components namely thinking skills, actions skills, and skills for living in the
world. Learning chemistry in 21st
century is characterized by emphasizing higher order thinking skills, practising
collaborative and communication, strengthening digital and technology literacy, as well as insisting global
understanding and readiness for college and career. To make fully alignment among curriculum, instruction
and assessessment, assessment practices of chemistry in schools need to be widened from single-method of
testing into multi-method assessment, including performance assessment and self- and peer-assessment
methods.
Key word: 21st century skills, assessment, school chemistry.
1. Introduction
Life complexity and competitions in the 21st
Century create challenges for education sector to equip
young generation with skills needed to survive in the this century. Public Policy Research (2010)
defined 21st
skills as skills that students need to thrive in today’s global economy. Global education
world have responsed the challenge of 21st
century by defining 21st
skills as global education goals
by infusing it into school education.
Ministry of Education of Indonesia has infused some elements of 21st
skills into curriculum and
instruction of school subjects, including secondary school chemistry, those are “the 4Cs” (critical
thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication) as targets of the implementation of
Curriculum 2013. In accordance with that current education policy, learning process in chemistry has
been oriented to develop 21st
century skills. As a result 21st
century skills need to be dailly practiced
in chemistry learning.
Assessment as an integral part of education process need also respond new direction of
curriculum and instruction to support the development of 21st
century skills. The traditional ways of
assessment, particularly using testing that more focus on memorization and low level cognitive
abilities, are viewed not suitable to be practiced (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2007). Learning
assessment nowdays needs new framework and strategies that more emphasize on mastery of 21st
century skills.
The rest of this paper elaborates comprehensively the construct of 21st
century skills, features
of 21st
learning, and its implication for strategy and tools for assessing 21st
skills in school chemistry
in particular.

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2. Construct of 21st
Century Skills
There are various views about construct of 21st
century skills. As a synthesis of those views
Greenstein (2012) states that 21st
century skills comprise three big components, i.e thinking, acting
and living in the world. Thinking component covers critical thinking, creative thinking, problem
solving, and metacoginition. Acting component consists of communication, collaboration, digital
literacy, and technology literacy. While component of living in the world consists of citizenship,
global understanding, and college and career readiness. Moreover, Greenstein specifies some core
elemenst of thinking, acting, and living in the world as follows:
Thinking
 Critical thinking is the ability to actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,
sythesizing, and/or evaluating information, gathered from or generated by observation,
experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, for example: (1) Evaluates decision,
experiment, argument, product; (2) Interpretes information and draws accurate conclusions.
 Creativity is divergent thinking ability to use knowledge and underatanding to create new
ways of thinking in order to find solutions to new problems and to create new products and
services, for example: (1) Creates original, new, and unique ideas and products; (2) Applies
creativity to real-world problems.
 Problem solving is the ability to do the process of working through details of a problem to
reach a solution, including identifying problems to be solved, considering options, choosing
the best strategies, implementing the planned solution, and evaluating the result, for
example: (1) Gathers necessary and relevant information regarding the problem; (2) Solves a
variety of type of problems in the real world.
 Metacognition is the ability to manage and monitor one’s thinking in relation to self, others,
learning, and actions, including control over thinking and learning and using strategies for
enhancing learning and performance, for example: (1) Knows one’s own learning strengths
and styles; (2) Considers the effects of one choises and actions on others.
Acting
 Communication is the abilitiy to communicate effecticely in wide variety of foms and
contexts for a wide range of purposes (negotiation, instruction, advising, building
relationships, resolving conflicts) using multiple media and technologies, for example: (1)
Communicates clearly and effectively so that others can understand the message; (2)
Produces effective communication through multiple medium and technologies.
 Collaboration is the ability to work with other respectfully and effectively to create, use and
share knowledge, solutions, and innovations, for example: (1) Works together to solve
problems and create new ideas and products; (2) Participates respectfully in frank
discussion, debates, and disagreements.
 Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and analyze
information using digital technology, for examples (1) Access information from multiple
sources: (2) Uses the information to learn, produce, and create.
 Technology literacy is the ability of an individual, working independently and with others, to
responsibly, appropriately and effectively use technology tools to access, manage, integrate,
evaluate, create and communicate information, for example: (1) Uses multiple types of
electronic softwares, programs, and applications; (2) Applies technology to communicate
and network with others.

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Living in the world
 Citizenship is having knowledge and skills necessary to participate in civic engagement, for
example: (1) Works toward improving the quality of life for all individual; (2) Awares of the
wider implications of local decisions.
 Global understanding is awareness that the world is highly interconnected ecologically,
economically, and technologically, for example: (1) Familiar with ongoing and emerging
global events, issues, and challenges; (2) Participates in and makes a contributions to global
society.
 College and career readiness are having the academic skills, abilities, and qualities to be
prepared for any postsecondary education as well as to success in a career, for example: (1)
Develops a plan for personal and professional growth; (2) Demonstrates commitment to
development of mastery and ongoing learning.
3. Features of Learning of Chemistry in the 21st
Century
Implementation of chemistry learning to develop 21st
century skills of students will shift learning
process from traditional to new format (American Chemical Society, 2012) which are characterized
as follows:
 Enggaging students in inquiry learning process in which they collaborativel design scientific
investigations in chemistry, interpreting and making conclusions, preparing scientific report
enriched with ICT based illustration, as well as displaying the process of investigation and
presenting their results to the whole class members.
 Providing the opportunites for students to to deal with solving non-routine in balanced with
practicing algorithmic chemistry problems in which they are stimulated to identify the
problem, collect information from a number of sources, develop alternative route of
solutions, implement their plans and evaluating the results.
 StimuIating students to develop in-depth understanding of chemistry curricular content
knowledge through interactive discussions in classroom as well as independent learning
through avalilable information sources as well as doing scientific writing on specific chemical
issues that they interested in.
 Involving students in learning content through virtual environment, including online
simulation games to enhance student understanding on content knowledge particularly with
microscopic dimension of chemistry content knowledge.
 Integrating chemistry knowledge and skills with enginering, technology and mathematics
(STEM learning) to design a system, process and instalation for solving real-world authentic
problems as an application of chemistry to improve quality of life.
 Dealing with local and global issues related to chemistry such as environmental pollutions,
plastic wastes, and misuse of chemicals by society through group discussions, writing
position papers for their blog as well as group presentations.
4. 21st
Century Assessment in School Chemistry
Assessment of students skills and knowledge is an important part of instruction. It will provide
feedback to students, teachers, and parents on how well students are achieving expected learning
outcomes. Traditionally assessement in chemistry has been conducted through selected-respon
testing that focused mostly on knowledge of discrete facts, not the ability to apply knowledge in

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complex situations (Clark, T., Collier, A., Ryan, J., 2010). That tradisional ways to assess cannot cover
all component of 21st
century skills. Therefore enrichment of assessment strategy needs to be done
by using performance based assessment which more aligned with learning process and outcomes
that emphasis on high-order thinking like critical thinking, creativity, non-routine problem solving,
etc.
As mentioned above learning chemistry in 21st
century emphasis on hands-on activities in
which students investigating, writing report and paper, making presentation, debating their
conclusion and views. Evidence of how well student learning chemistry as well as learning 21st
century skills can be reflected from their performance quality demonstrated in process of learning,
including small group as well as classroom discussions, doing group investigations, presentations, as
well as the quality of product of learning like paper, reports, designs, prototypes, etc. The principles,
strategies, and tools for assessment of chemistry in 21st
Century are elaborated below.
Strategies:
 Integrated; Assessment of 21st
century skills should be embedded in the implementation of
curriculum (assessment is integrated with chemistry instruction). Assessment are to be
incorporated into day-to-day practice rather than as add-ons at the and of instruction or
during a single designated week of the school calendar. Questioning by teacher in class
concerning subject content is an example of important method to assess how well students
learn and provide direct information to improve chemistry instruction.
 Multi-methods; Assessment systems need to be based on multiple measures of students’
abilities that include 21st
century skills (using a variety of measures and methods). Beside
through their respond to test questions, students demonstrate their knowledge and skills
through more authentic tasks, such as project, writing, and performances. In this case
teacher observation and performance assessment need to be conducted in assessing
students.
 Alignment; Assessment methods need to be aligned with learning objectives and
instructional strategy.
 Communicated; Assesment data are used to communicate to others (usefull feedback),
including students as feedback on their learning progress, their strengths as well as
weaknesses.
 Quality instruments; Asessment procedure should be valid, dan reliable. Therefore
asessment need to focus on essential target learning outcomes and produce consistent
results.
 Students involvement; Student participation in conducting assessment through self-
assessment/reflection, and peer-assessment/review.
Methods:
Assessing Thinking Skills
Assessment methods and instrumens appropriate for assessing critical thinking, creativity and
problem solving are summarized in Table 1.

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Table 1. Methods and tools for assessing thinking skills
Type of thinking Assessment Method Main Assessment Tools
Critical thinking Testing/examination Essay and objective test
Student Paper/report Rubric for assessing paper/report
Teacher observation Observation Checklist
Creative thinking Performance assessment Rubric for assessing project & presentation
Testing/exam Essay questions
Problem solving Problem solutions Scoring scheme
Performance assessment Rubric for assessing project & presentation
Note: Rubric is scoring guide used to evaluate the quality of students performance or product
In preparing written tests for assessing thinking we need to make sure that the test should be
higher order thinking skills (HOTS) tests in which stimulus (stem) of the test provides introduction
information as problem to be taught which is new (novel) materials (have not been practiced in
classes) in order response of students reflect their critical or creative thinking and non-routine
problem solving. If multiple choice type of test is used we have to make sure that students can
choose right answer on the basis of critical thinking or creative thinking based arguments, as well as
result of problem solving and not by memorization. Some sample of test items to assess thinking in
chemistry are as follows:
Knowledge : Thermochemistry
Critical Thinking Skills: Evaluates an experiment
A student designs an experiment to determine the specific heat of aluminium.
The studend heats a piece of aluminiuum with a mass of 5.86 g to various
terperatures, then drops it into a calorimeter containing 25.0 mL of water. The
following data is gathered during one of the trials:
Initial temperatur of
Al (o
C)
Initial temperature of
H2O (o
C)
Final temperature of
Al + H2O (o
C)
109.1 23.2 26.8
(a) Given specific heat of water is 4.18 J g-1 o
C-1
and assuming its density is
exactly 1.00 g mL-1
, calculate specific heat of aluminium from
experimental data given.
(b) If the accepted specific heat of aluminium is 0.900 J g-1 o
C-1
, calculate
percent error of experimental result.
(c) Suggest two potential sources of error that would lead the student’s
experimental value to be different from the actual value.
(Source: The Princeton Review, 2016)
Knowledge : Separation of mixture
Creative thinking : Creating experimental procedure
Some properties of NaCl and glucose are described in table below:
Substance Appearance Melting
point (o
C)
Type of
bond
Solubility in
H2O at 100o
C
NaCl Crystalline
white solid
801 Ionic 36 g/100 mL
Glucose White solid 146 Non polar
covalent
500 g/100 mL

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State whether or not it is possible to separate a mixture of NaCl and glucose in
water. If so, describe the procedure. If not, justify your response.
(Source: Lebitz, 2016)
Problem solving skills ussualy assessed trough following students’ pathways in solving problems
as appeared in students’ answer to essay questions. If group problem solving task concerning real-
world problem, for example to constructing system of electrochemical cells made of lemons or other
fruits to produce electric direct currect with voltage more than 0.20 volt, creativity can be assessed
by using the rubric as shown in APPENDIX 1.
Assessing Actions
Actions component of 21st
century skills comprise communication, collaboration, digital literacy, and
technology literacy. Assessment methods and instrumens which are fitted for assessing
communication, colaboration, digital literacy and technology literacy are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Methods and tools for assessing actions
Type of Action Assessment Method Main Assessment Tool
Communication Teacher observation Observation checklist
Performance assessment Rubric for assessing communication
Collaboration Self-assessment Self-assessment rubric for collaborating
Digital literacy Self-assessment Rubric for self-assessing digital literacy
Technology literacy Self-assessment Self-assessment rubric for technology
application
To assess skills belong to action the most valid ways are teacher observation using observation
and performance assessment using obeservation checklist or rubric. However, large number of
students in class may restricts teacher to make carefull observation. For that reason teacher can
involves students in assessing his/her and/or peer performance. Sample of scale for self-assessing
collaboration in group project and rubric for self-assessing digital literacy skills are shown in
APPENDIX 2.
Assessing Skills for Living in the World
Skills for skills living in the world consists of citizenship, global understanding, and college and career
readiness. Assessment methods and instrumens that appropriate for assessing those kinds of skills
are summarized in Table 3.
Table 3. Methods and tools for assessing skills for living in the world
Type of Action Assessment Method Main Assessment Tool
Citizenship Performance assessment Rubric for assessing leadership and
responsibility
Global
understanding
Performance assessment Rubric for assessing paper on global
responsibility
College & career
readiness
Self-assessment Self-assessment rubric for self-assessing
personnal productivity
Assessmen of plan Success plan checklist
Performance assessment Work ethic rubric

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Students’ citizenship and global understanding can be observed from what his/her views and
opinions with regard to local and global issues expressed in his/her speech in discussions as well as
written papers. Hence those kinds of skills are valid to be assessed through performance assessment
(process and product). Whereas, college and career readiness can be assessed through observation
on student’s work ethics as well as student’s self-report regarding his personality and plan to
success. A sample of rubric for assessing students’ work ethics is shown in APPENDIX 3
5. Challenges
Shifting the practices of student assessment towards 21st
skills assessment could make problem for
practicioners in schools. Therefore it is necessarily for experts in cooperation with practicioners in
chemistry education field to develop models of procedure as well as instruments for implementing
new format of assessment, particularly assessment method for assessing the 4Cs and other 21st
century skills in chemistry. Experts are also challenged to create framework for development of
large-scale summative assessment for assesssing 21st century skills. Beside of that, local and central
goverment need to provide in-service training programs to make sure assessment of 21st
century
skills will be implemented at schools level.
References
American Chemical Society (2012). American Chemical Society guidelines for the teaching of high
school chemistry. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society.
Clark, T., Collier, A., Ryan, J. (2010). Assessment as a strategy to enhance 21st Century chemistry
education. In J. Ryan, T. Clark., & A. Collier (Eds.), Assessment of Chemistry. Tallahassee, FL:
Association for Institutional Research
Greenstein, L. (2012). Assessing 21st Century skills: A guide to evaluating mastery and authentic
learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Lebitz, M. (2016). Five steps to a 500 AP chemistry questions to know by test day. New York, NY:
McGraw Hill.
Partnership for 21st
Century Skills (2007). 21st
century skills assessment. Tucson, AZ: The Author.
Public Policy research Center (2010). 21st
century skills for students and teacher. Honolulu, HI:
Kamehameha Schools Research & Evaluation Division.
Shelton, M. (2016). Cracking the AP chemistry exam. Natic, MA: The Princeton Review.

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APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1
Rubric for assessing Problem Solving
Criteria Expert
[4]
Competent
[3]
Apprentice
[2]
Novice
[1]
Score/
Weight
Identify the
problem
Clearly describe
the problem
Describe the
basic of the
problem
Explain some of
the problem but
have trouble
understanding all
parts of the
problem
Have difficulty
recognizing and
defining the parts
of the problems
Identify
multiple
solution
Come up with at
least three
feasible solutions
Offers two
plausible
solutions
Describe one
possible solution
Have one solution
but not sure it is
right
Defends
solution
Analyses all the
solutions and pick
up the best one
Evaluate the
solution and pick
up that seems
solution
Give a simple
explanation for
the one choices
that make sense
Not able to
explain a solution
Source: Greenstein (2012)
APPENDIX 2
Self-Self Assessment of Collaboration in Group Project
S Assessment of Our Group Project
4 = strongly agree 3 = agree 2 = disagree 1 = strongly disagree
Explain your rating
Score
All members contributed to the group equally and fairly
Explanation:
Members of the group worked well together
Explanation:
When we disagreed, we were able to settle it promptly without hurting each other’s feelings
Explanation:
Group members encouraged each other toward achievement of goals
Explanation:
Source: Greenstein (2012)

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Rubric for Self-Assessing Digital Literacy Skills
(Self-reflection on hoax websites)
Skill/
Knowledge
Exemplary Proficient Basic Novice Skor/W
eight
Selects I am very skilled
at understanding
the partially of
source and able
to thoughtfully
select and
evaluate them
I have sufficient
understanding of
source bias and
can ussualy
select credible
siurces that
match my goals
I can pick out a
few good sources
but sometimes
cannot decide
which are better
for my topic
With help from my
teacher I can find
sources and figure
out ehether they
are good ones
Evaluates I am very good at
verifying the
author and the
source to make
sure they are
good ones
I can ussualy
check the
author’s
credentials and
make sure the
information is
consistent
Most sites look
pretty good to me,
but it’s helpful to
have a checklist or
guide
I’ve been fooled
by fake websites
and need help to
sort them out
Considers
source,
message,
effect
I am aware of the
persuasive nature
of electronic
sources and
understand why
they do have this
effect
I am aware that
sources may
have a bias that
could influence
my decisions
I am generally
accepting of digital
information but
can spot blatantly
incredible
information
I think most
websites provide
information that is
in my best interest
Source: Greenstein (2012)
APPENDIX 3
Work Ethic Rubric
Skills/
Knowledge
Exemplary Proficient Developing Rudimentary Score/
Weight
Accountabil-
ity
 Punctual,
prepared, and
organized
 Conscientious
and independent
worker who goes
beyond
requirements
 Usually on time
and ready to
learn
 Works
consistently
without
supervision to
achieve goals
 Assumes
minimal
personal
responsibility
 Needs
supervision to
complete tasks
 Late and
unprepared
 Has difficulty
working with
others and
with
completing
assigments
Attitude  Enthusistic and
cooperative
 Accepts and acts
on feedback
 Positive
attitude toward
people,
process, and
product, amd
feedback
 Somewhat
enggaged but
noncommittal
 Listens to
feedback
 Negative
attitude
towards work
and others
 Ignores
feedback
Work
product and
outcome
 Effectivelly using
time, effort, and
resources to
ensure
completion and
quality of work
 Final product
exceeds
requirements
 Uses resources
successfully
 Final product
meets
requirements
 Final product is
incomplete
 Doesn’t
demonstrate
understand-
ing or interest
in final
product
Source: Greenstein (2012).