In my past two blogs, I have been thinking and writing about the role of science on standardized tests. In my research, I have found that it is sometimes a struggle to teach successfully and to also have students do well on the tests. We want to still teach hands-on and inquiry based activities, but we also want the students to succeed on those multiple choice, vocabulary heavy tests. Where is the happy medium? I was lucky to come across an article here that followed a teacher who still led a hands-on science classroom and had students perform well on standardized tests. The two ideas do not have to be in conflict with each other.
Linda Whren, the teacher in the article, acknowledged that her students were not being tested on their thinking skills. Her students learn about observing, classifying, and predicting as well as cross-curricular lessons. Whren introduces her students to new vocabulary and has perform research on topics in order for students to further their knowledge from a hands-on activity done in class. Just as her students perform well on standardized tests in a hands-on classroom, similarly the article discusses research performed that showed that students from a hands-on classroom outperformed text-based classroom students on tests. The article also states that down the road, more performance or process based skill questions will be added to standardized tests.
It is a relief to know that students in hands-on classrooms are not at a disadvantage for standardized tests. Teachers are still able to teach their students without directly teaching to the tests in order for their students to succeed. This article and study gave many more positives and advantages for hands-on classrooms.
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http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4321
I think you raise some very valid points. Typical standardized, test questions DO NOT test the student on their thinking skills. It’s almost like, “Why do we even try to use higher order thinking skills in the classroom if our students are not going to encounter those questions on a standardize test’? We put that much stress on students when taking standardized tests. Hopefully, test creators can recognize the value and importance of questions that require higher thinking skills.
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