ABSTRACT
This chapter explores key concepts in assessment. It focuses on the use of assessment for responsive teaching. The chapter considers the role of moderation. It also explores children's understanding of a range of science concepts and their skills for working scientifically in the context of primary classroom practical activity. The reliability of teacher assessment is often questioned because it is open to teacher bias and inconsistency. All forms of assessment require evidence of learning. The Teacher Assessment in Primary Science (TAPS) focused assessment online database contains plans for assessing an element of working scientifically within a conceptual context. The approach embeds assessment within classroom primary science activities with the plans describing the activity, key questions and assessment indicators. The TAPS project has developed a pyramid-shaped structure to inform school assessment processes and an online database of focused assessment plans and examples. Such examples include a wide range of strategies for elicitation, self and peer assessment.
