Effect Of Developmental Assessment Technique on Higher Order Thinking Skills of General Science Students at Elementary Level
Keywords:
developmental assessment higher order thinking skillsAbstract
This study was designed to explore the effect of developmental assessment technique on higher order thinking skills of students of grade 7. Griffin (2014) presented an approach of developmental assessment for creating evidence base intervention in teaching. Developmental assessment in this study, was independent variable, which helped identifying learning needs or current learning level for every student and focus of teaching, specifically targeting higher-order skills. The present research used qusai experimental design equivalent sample time series to implement a predetermined pattern of teaching. The study selected an intact group of at least 45 female students in Class 7, from a public school in Rawalpindi with mixed socio-economic status, ensuring homogeneity. Three units (Dispersion of Light, Water, Pollination) were selected because of their percentage of content to be taught in HOT skills. Students were assessed for their readiness levels in different higher-order thinking levels, based on these levels (application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation), through pre-test (total three) and then grouped accordingly. The pre-test results shape subsequent instructions and lessons were designed for the targeted learning level, supplemented with home activities tailored to individual levels. At the end of each unit a post test is conducted to assess improvements in HOT skills and this process is repeated for all three units. Across three units, significant improvement is observed in all sub levels of HOT skills for the experimental group. The repeated measure ANOVA and paired sample t-tests yielded a highly significant level of 0.00, indicating the experimental group's substantial improvement in HOT skills. The study reveals that planning teaching based on students' current achievement levels i.e. developmental assessment effectively enhances higher-order thinking skills.
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