To articulate pedagogical assessment practices to learn in experimental sciences

Abstract

This article studies pedagogical practices that articulate formative and summative assessment in Portuguese middle school (students from 12 to 14 years old), involving students in Experimental Science activities. From an interpretive methodological perspective, it considers the case study of the teacher, Ms Eva. Data collection uses class observation, interviews, and documental analysis. The data analysis followed content analysis. Eva's pedagogical assessment practices are analyzed according to their intention, involvement and functionality. The results obtained show that Ms Eva develops a formative assessment practice in a structured and interactive way, and articulates it with the summative assessment, in actions at the service of learning. Ms Eva analyzes the performance of competencies in an investigative approach. To do this, she uses rubrics that make it easier for her to assess student needs and to rate their performance level. The teacher, Ms Eva, aligns her assessment of the student's work to the assessment criteria of the rubric, and according to its quality levels assigns a numerical value in the summative assessment.

Keywords

• articulação de práticas formativas e sumativas
• avaliação pedagógica
• rubricas de avaliação
• atividades práticas investigativas
• competências investigativas