Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volume 4 25 New Formative Assessment Probes

Wouldn't it be helpful to know what your students' ideas are about a science concept before launching into a new lesson or unit? Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volume 4, offers 25 more formative assessment probes to help reveal students' preconceptions of fundamental concepts in science, bringing the total to 100 probes for the popular series by author Page Keeley. Teachers of grades K-12 will find short probes with grade-band specifics that provide easy-to-follow suggestions for addressing students' ideas by promoting learning through conceptual-change instruction. Volume 4 adds to the probes in physical, life, and Earth and space science with a new category called "unifying principles." Also covered is a discussion on balancing formative assessment with summative assessment.

Page Keeley is an internationally known leader in science education. She is the developer and primary author of the award-winning Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series and the Formative Assessment- Practical Strategies Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning series (the "FACTs books"). Her interest in teaching for conceptual understanding and understanding students’ thinking began in 1992 after reading the seminal article, Teaching for Conceptual Change- Confronting Children's Experience by Bruce Watson and Dick Konicek. Her very first assessment probe, The Mitten Problem, was based on that article. Her assessment probes and FACTs (formative assessment classroom techniques) are widely used by K-12 teachers, university professors, professional developers, and science specialists throughout the U.S. and internationally.