This document discusses the role of formative assessment in inquiry-based learning. It explains that formative assessment involves gathering evidence of student achievement and using that evidence to enhance performance by adjusting teaching methods. The key aspects of formative assessment are obtaining evidence of student understanding through methods like observation and questioning, interpreting that evidence to evaluate progress towards educational goals, and providing feedback to help students take next steps. The overall goal of the session is to help participants design a formative assessment strategy to gather learning evidence for a student-centered chemistry lesson.

1. The Role of Formative
Assessment in Inquiry
Based Learning
Gathering evidence of
student achievement
and using it to
enhance performance
by Richard Zahra

2. After this session you should
be able to:
• Define formative assessment
• Explain the important role that
formative assessment plays in
Inquiry Based Learning
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3. • Understand the role of evidence-
gathering to assess student progress
towards educational goal
attainment
• Analyse a chemistry collaborative
activity and think of ways of
gathering evidence of student
achievement
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4. • Translate educational objectives
into observable and measurable
student success criteria
• Collaboratively plan an evidence
gathering strategy for a specific goal
within the observed chemistry
classroom activity
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5. • Appraise the benefits of using
formative assessment as a powerful
tool that both measures and
enhances student achievement
• Adopt a positive attitude towards
trying out formative assessment in
your chemistry classroom
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6. Inquiry Based Learning
IBL is a rich educational experience
for students, that allows them to
develop in all domains of learning:
2.Cognitive (thinking)
3.Psychomotor (doing)
4.Affective (feeling)
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7. Inquiry Based Learning
“Inquiry is central to science learning.”
Education should equip students not with just more
facts and skills, but with “the capacity to readily acquire
new knowledge, to solve new problems, and to employ
creativity and critical thinking in the design of new
approaches to existing problems”
(President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, 1997).
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8. Inquiry Based Learning
Effective learning however can take
place if the teacher knows where
students are along the paths towards
specific goals
Educational
Start goal
(where (where you
student is) want student to
reach)
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9. Inquiry Based Learning
Without this info,
teachers cannot
identify the next
steps that students
are capable of taking
towards the goal.
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10. Inquiry Based Learning
The more students
themselves are
involved, the more
likely it is they will
be able—and will
want—to take these
next steps.
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11. Inquiry Based Learning
These are the basic premises on which
formative assessment (Assessment for
Learning) is built.
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12. The Formative Assessment
Process involves:
gathering evidence about students’ skills,
concepts, and attitudes relevant to the
attainment of learning goals
interpreting this evidence in terms of
progress towards goals
deciding the next steps
finding ways of helping students take the
next steps
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13. Assessment for Learning
In summary, Assessment for Learning
is a procedure for regulating teaching
so that the pace of moving toward a
goal is adjusted to ensure the active
participation of the students.
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14. The Role of Evidence in
Assessment for Learning
All assessment
involves gathering
evidence,
interpreting it, and
using the result in
some way.
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15. Evidence leads to Feedback
As with all regulated
processes, feedback into
the system is the
important mechanism for
ensuring effective
operation.
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16. Role of Feedback
Feedback of information about
learning helps ensure that new
experiences are not too difficult or too
easy for students. In the case of
teaching, the feedback is both to the
teacher and to the students.
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17. Ways of obtaining evidence
Observing students—listening to how
they describe their work, their
reasoning for the explanations they
give, and so on
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18. Ways of obtaining evidence
Questioning—using open-ended
questions phrased to invite students
to reveal their ideas and reasoning
(e.g. “What do you think is
happening when the sugar is put into
the water?”)
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19. Ways of obtaining evidence
Asking students to communicate
their thinking through drawings,
artefacts, actions, role playing, and
concept mapping, as well as writing
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20. Ways of obtaining evidence
 Discussing key words and how they
are being used
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21. Summary of Summaries
Where I
Attainment of Goal want to
reach
5
4
Graded
3 success
criteria
2 (Bloom)
1
Starting level of
Where I am
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22. Our Common Goal:
Acquire proficiency in designing a
formative assessment strategy
(involving gathering of learning
evidence) for a student-centred
Chemistry lesson.
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23. “Education is an admirable
thing, but it is well to
remember from time to time
that nothing that is worth
knowing can be taught.”
Oscar Wilde
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24. Many thanks to
Ms Joanne
Grima for her
help in
organising this
training
session and for
providing much
of the
information on
AFL
Thanks for your attention
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