Developing a Framework for Science Performance Assessment.

The purpose of this study was to develop a Framework for Performance Assessment in Science Education (F-PASE). Science educators in the past have paid more attention to science curriculum and teaching strategies than assessment. In recent years attention has turned toward performance assessment which addresses the concerns of science curriculum and instruction and which is consistent with goals of science education at various levels of interests. Science educators are trying to do performance assessment, yet they don't have a highly qualified framework in terms of science educational objectives for the future and advantages of performance assessment. The paper has developed a framework for performance assessment in science education, which may be useful for science teachers to understand and assess their students' abilities. Seven domains, covering students' various abilities, are the important objectives of science performance assessment and can be grouped into three categories: General, Science specific, and Intermediate abilities. A F-PASE, with three dimensional solid figured structure, was developed and illustrated as the configuration of a corn. F-PASE is useful for science teachers to develop and select a science performance assessment as well as have a more advanced understanding of their students' abilities. It is a creative and novel assessment framework in terms of a structure, a configuration, functions and meanings. It also suggests a new vision of an assessment framework in science education. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/CCM)