ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors begin by discussing the different purposes of assessment because this should be clear for us as teachers from the outset. They provide a range of strategies that exemplify the ways in which the authors monitor what our students understand and what they can do in science. The authors set out to challenge many of the preconceived ideas evident in some spheres of education about what assessment of students’ scientific understanding looks like in the classroom and the types of tasks traditionally associated with the assessment of school science. As an assessment task, portfolios can be used as formative or summative assessment, depending on how the teacher sets this up with the students. The authors deliberately set out to challenge the notion that assessment occurs at the end of a teaching sequence and is solely for measuring and recording students’ marks for reporting purposes.
