The Assessment of Science Learning in Schools in Hong Kong: the status quo and future directions

Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 1, Issue 2, Article 2 (Dec., 2000)
CHENG May Hung, May; SO Wing Mui, Winnie; CHEUNG Wing Ming, Francis
The Assessment of Science Learning in Schools in Hong Kong: the status quo and future directions

Previous Contents Next

Factors influencing future changes
Having described the possible directions of development as suggested by the teachers, this section relates their concerns and factors that may influence the implementation of new assessment initiatives. At the primary level, the teachers shared two worries. Firstly, they found conducting experiments difficult in the classroom as one described,

"As I am teaching P4 students, I worry about the safety in the classroom. It is really important to beware of the matter of safety as they are too young and the classroom is crowded. Sometimes, I do the experiment and sometimes I let them work in a group as well. I have to say that we seldom have this chance. As time is insufficient, it is not that easy to allow them to do experiments by themselves. In general, they have the chance to do experiment but that is not so frequent." (P2T1I1)

Secondly, they were worried about providing more freedom for pupils to explore on new topics that were not taught in class and doubted their self-learning ability, for example,

"We should consider the ability of students once we assign them some student's work. Some of the student work may be below the average level, so they are unable to do them. Let me show you an example. I am teaching them the characteristics of air, but I haven't taught them the function of air. Students may draw conclusion according to their common sense. This wastes an opportunity for them to apply their knowledge. I must give them student work that they are able to do. It is like what I have told you before. I may ask them to do the workbook after my completion of a chapter or ask them to do the worksheet in the middle of their learning. I wouldn't assign them any work until they have learnt. It is quite dangerous since students may get poor results; or they are frustrated about their poor performance. Students may lose their confidence once they are unable to do the student's work. This will suppress them to raise their own questions. Finally, students will be depressed." (P1T3I1)

"Students must have some understanding on the topic before they do the student's work. They should have prior knowledge to do the work, it means that I give them student work after I taught them. It greatly depends on how much they have acquired. Once they are able to learn the knowledge, I will assign them some student's work. Basically, student's work here means workbook. Needless to say if we talk about exam. I am able to learn how well they have understood the topic from their workbook." (P2T3I1)

These teachers believed that pupils learnt by being told in class and that workbooks or examinations are the best way to tell how much their pupils acquired or understood. Workbooks and examinations provide summative information about student learning at the end of teaching a topic. The belief that students must be taught before a task can be assigned assumes a view of learning that students do not have any prior knowledge on the topic or even if so these knowledge are mostly "incorrect". The teacher's role is then either to help students to discover new knowledge or to correct students' misconceptions. These views of learning are largely different from a constructivist view of learning, which assumes that students held prior concepts before learning. The teacher's role is then to find out what the students think and to change or develop these concepts. With this role, the teacher needs to assess or find out students' conceptions before, during and after the teaching process. Tasks assigned before the learning are important as they provide information to the teacher about how to teach or change students' concepts. Students also take an important part in the learning process, as they have to be actively involved in thinking and developing their science concepts. The concepts cannot be simply discovered or transmitted from the teacher. These responses suggest that fundamental changes in beliefs about teaching and learning are needed if these teachers are to provide opportunities for pupils for self or independent learning. Moreover, these teachers need to develop self-confidence in guiding pupils to self-learning before they may succeed in developing this ability in pupils.

The teachers at the secondary level related concerns about the tight teaching schedule, the availability of teaching resources in school other than textbooks and the ability of students. Teachers at the secondary two level found that they were under the pressure of a tight teaching schedule and hence found themselves loosing precious teaching time as they conduct project work with their students,

"For those project-based topics, it is possible for us to produce a great project like one of the examples shown in the workshop. However, it really takes time to do this by both teachers and students. As a result, we are in a hurry to meet the schedule to compensate the time we lost." (S4T1I1 & T2I1)

Resources that are available in school would be another factor that teachers considered when designing tasks for students.

"In the present situation, there are limited lessons for science teaching. Project-based learning is a hot topic among the educational investigation... However, we just base on the textbook to teach as it is the main teaching resources we are using..." (S4T1I1 & T2)

Moreover, teachers at the secondary levels doubted the ability of students in engaging in self-learning tasks,

"If students have good learning bureaucracy and have good preparation, it is possible to do more projects with them. On the contrary, it is no good to give too many projects for students with poor quality." (S4T1I1 & T2)

The teachers also shared concerns on how the alternative forms of assessment can fairly reflect students' performance,

"Our school is discussing the possibility of swapping one or two exams with two projects. But the premise is that students should first have basic knowledge." (S4TII1)

"It is difficult to put into practice since there is no effective science evaluation practice established so far. Students would ask why I give him 58 and give the other 59 ...Not applicable to use grading for Form 3 since their marks would be decisive in their allocation. Parents would argue with you point to point." (S4T2I1)

These comments suggest that a change in the curriculum content or a re-definition of topics to be covered is needed. Besides, supporting materials for science learning and teaching that suggest alternative student work or assessment practices are essential. Furthermore, like the primary level, the students have to be equipped with basic skills for self-learning before they can embark on meaningful projects independently. A number of self-learning skills which may correspond to the generic skills depicted by the Curriculum Development Council (2000) like using the library, information technology skills, self-management skills, study skills as well as other ways to foster self-learning ability as exemplified by the PEEL project (Baird and Northfield, 1987) may be developed. Teachers would need support on setting criteria in formative assessment tasks and information on how these tasks may reflect students' learning.