We hope to support Secondary Cycle 1 science teachers (Grades 7 and 8) from Anglophone and Francophone school boards to identify their students’ intuitive conceptions about the natural and technological world and use this information to improve their instructions to develop students’ understanding of science, technology skills, and problem-solving competencies.
Year 1: 2013 - 2014
The project team of secondary science teachers and researchers (from UQAM and McGill University) felt that the first task was to put together as comprehensive a collection as possible of questions related to the essential concepts in the Québec Education Program (QEP). The idea was that teachers could use efficient assessment tools to find out where their students’ thinking is on any given concept before they teach it, and then use these assessment questions afterwards to find out how effective their teaching activities were in developing scientific models. So the task of Year 1 was to develop this bank of diagnostic questions. The project team developed diagnostic tools specifically related to the 80-85 essential concepts and problem-solving competency in Québec Education Program (QEP) Cycle 1 Science and Technology program. These basic concepts provide an essential foundation for building students’ sophisticated understanding of advanced scientific concepts in accordance with the learning progression goals in Cycle 2.
Objectives: Specific objectives of the project activities during Year 1 were:
- to seek teachers’ views and any concerns about the relevance of the assessment items to the curriculum and its implementation in their own classrooms during the development and refinement of the instrument;
- to identify relevant assessment tools and teaching strategies; these assessment tools were developed in English and French.
In particular, the project team reviewed various existing conceptual inventories and items and constructed a diagnostic item bank including the test items from the following sources:
- The American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS, n.d.)
- Biological Concepts Instrument (Klymkowsky, 2010),
- Banque d'instruments de mesure (BIM, n.d.).
- Project MOSART (Sadler, n.d.)
Permission was obtained from these sources to adapt and translate their items into French. While some items were used as is, others were adapted in accordance with the QEP science content goals. As noted earlier, project team teachers from 2 Anglophone and 1 Francophone school boards worked together to study and adapt existing assessments from the this literature and organize them in accordance with the Progression of Learning (POL) and the 4 Worlds (add the 4 worlds) in the QEP. As these items were being reviewed by the team, they were invited to use them with their own classes before, during and after instruction to track students’ understanding of concepts and technology skills. This helped them refine, translate, and pilot-test as well as develop further items as needed.
Focus group discussions were also held with teachers to explore Anglophone and Francophone teachers’ perspectives on the efficacy of the conceptual assessments and technology rubrics in terms of gauging their students’ initial ideas and skills.
Year 2: 2014 – 2015
Specific objectives of the project activities during Year 2 were:
- to work with science consultants and project team teachers to support them in using these diagnostic instruments and inquiry- oriented problem-based activities related to the essential concepts in the Secondary Cycle 1 curriculum;
- to work with project team members to develop and adapt evidence-based targeted interventions that would help improve students’ conceptual understanding of science.
Since the overarching goal of this project was to develop a training program to support Secondary Cycle 1 teachers, once the diagnostic instrument was put together by the project team, the teachers came in to review how to use the questions in their classrooms and to share ideas on activities they were using or planned to use. During this year, the project team worked as a group (science consultants, teachers from the Francophone and Anglophone boards, researchers from McGill, UQAM, STIC and LEARN Quebec) to adapt and develop evidence-based strategies to address students’ alternate conceptions diagnosed through the assessment tools. In addition, project team teachers and researchers from McGill and UQAM reviewed the science education research literature to identify and adapt evidence-based interventions related to the concepts included in the diagnostic assessment tool. Back in their classrooms, the teachers implemented the diagnostic tool and used targeted inquiry-oriented interventions involving the essential concepts, problem-solving competencies, and technology skills in QEP. Project team teachers used these instructional practices in their classrooms to (1) effectively address students’ intuitive concepts, (2) explore meaningful changes in students’ alternative concepts, (3) develop students’ conceptual understanding of science, and (4) help students use the accepted scientific models to explain, predict, and solve problems.
Year 3: 2015 – 2016
Specific objectives of the project activities during Year 3 were:
- Work with science consultants and teacher leaders to engage in professional development of other science and technology in their school boards using the training materials developed during the first two years (conceptual assessments tool and teaching interventions);
- to collect teachers’ feedback and experience of using these assessment tools and evidence-based interventions in their classrooms;
- to develop resources for teachers and share them through our website, blog and conference presentations.
By the third year the prototype diagnostic instrument was well developed and ready to use. Permissions had been granted from the various organizations that had created the questions and the items were translated into French. It was now time to concentrate professional development time in the schools themselves. The science consultants from two partner school boards and the university researchers worked with selected teams of teachers in the schools to use the conceptual assessment tool and teaching interventions in their classroom to help their students to develop a robust understanding of accepted scientific models. Paper and online versions of this diagnostic tool were developed so that teachers could obtain students’ responses efficiently. Together they planned and reviewed the questions and the teaching activities needed to address the issues that the diagnoses revealed. Some activities and lesson plans developed by the teachers are shared on this website.