Exploring teachers' knowledge and skills to do formative assessment in chemistry teaching at secondary level in a public school of District Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan
Date of Award
7-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (MEd)
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
Assessment for learning has been given prime importance in K-12 education across the countries. This study aimed to explore the assessment practices and perceptions of two grade IX Chemistry teachers in a Government secondary school Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The study adopted qualitative case study design, where data were generated through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. The findings of this study highlight that the teachers perceive that effectiveness of assessment is determined by its potential to promote further learning. Such assessment practices not only improve student’ learning but also provide opportunities to teachers for reflection and improvement of their instruction. The participant teachers have knowledge about number of formative assessment techniques to gauge students’ learning during the class. Among them, questioning and feedback were the two key elements of participant teachers’ assessment practices. Teachers argued that extensive reason based questioning for assessment purposes provided a venue to students to share their science conceptions in class and get feedback on them by fellow students and teachers to check whether their own conceptions are in line with established scientific ideas. The study also identified that the teachers were very concerned about monitoring students’ learning. However, teachers’ assessment practices are much influenced by the local board examinations which are mainly based on regurgitation and time bound paper-pencil tests. Because of expectations from parents and school management, teachers were obliged to train students to get high marks in the board examination. Therefore, it is recommended that the teachers’ assessment during the course of study should be given some weightage in the cumulative board examination results. Teachers should also be given professional development extensive repertoire of assessment techniques including use of ICT. There should be consultative dialogue with parents to make them understand the importance of students’ creative work which may not reflect through their marks and grades.
Recommended Citation
Ali, N. (2017). Exploring teachers' knowledge and skills to do formative assessment in chemistry teaching at secondary level in a public school of District Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.