How the science of learning is changing science assessment

Mandated tests exert a strong influence both on what gets taught in schools and on how it gets taught. In the past, conventional multiple-choice tests have inclined educators towards broad content coverage rather than deeper learning in science as well as in other academic subjects. But over the last decade, the prerequisites for a major shift in the nature of science assessments have emerged. New frameworks and standards for science learning, such as the Next Generation Science Standards, are based on conceptions of science proficiency coming out of learning sciences research. In combination with advances in interactive, adaptive digital systems and psychometric modelling, this learning sciences conception of what it means to develop science proficiency is stimulating new ways to capture students’ science ideas, concepts and practices simultaneously in the context of rich, extended scientific investigations.