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Should science process skills be used to determine final grades? This was a question that I posed to my students after helping them to understand the value of using science process skills. Assuming you consider 'academic grades' a form of data, the use of science process skills may be useful in determining student growth and assist you in making informed decisions (such as pacing, differentiation, type of summative assessment), . What do you think? If you want to see the results my student survey on this topic let me know, I would like to discuss the results with those who are interested.

I think that students see that science process skills are as relevant as science content knowledge. For example, they know it is important to know how and when to use the electronic scale, thermometer, microscope, etc., and it is important to determine how to measure in grams and newtons, degrees F and degrees C, follow a paramecium around under a microscope slide, etc. Students probably agree that they need to be able know how to measure and observe in the context of the content they are learning about. I am thinking that your students wanted to be graded on their process skills. I am interested in knowing what they said, Mario. Please share.

Hi Carolyn, thanks for your post. My original question to the thread was 'Should science process skills be used to determine final grades?' The skill that they felt teachers should use when collecting 'grade data' is a tool which is consistent, accurate, and universally accepted. This response is no different from someone use a meter stick to measure length. 96% of my students felt that my grading should use an accurate tool. This feedback told me that my students
1. understand the value in using science process skills outside of science.
2. understand why I use an even distribution scale instead of the traditional '100' point scale.

Thanks for clarifying and getting me back on track with your question, Mario. If I had only read you post in the discussion thread: Evaluation and Assessment > Grading Scale first.
I linked it here so that perhaps there will be some more discussion on grading systems here. It would be interesting to know what others think about the system you have adopted. In that discussion thread you said, 'Three years ago I moved form the traditional grading scale to the even distribution scale. The main reason I did this was based on what I learned from Robert Marzano's book on Grading and Assessment'.

Could you provide additional information about this system for anyone not familiar with it? I think it is appropriate to share how and why we teachers grade the way we do. Kudos for doing so, Mario!
One thing that I started doing in one of my courses was to provide (for the same assignment) two different rubrics for students to choose from. One rubric placed more emphasis on application of concepts/content and the other placed more emphasis on grammatical and superficial elements. I was pleasantly surprised when students wanted to be assessed using the more rigorous/demanding rubric.

'Could you provide additional information about this system for anyone not familiar with it? I think it is appropriate to share how and why we teachers grade the way we do.'

Great question- and here is the simple answer
1. The 'traditional' scale was not meant to be used in education, it was a tool use by the US military to screen recruits.
2. If you consider the 100 point scale and how grades are distributed, there is a higher chance of failure (59-0).
3. To compensate for the uneven distribution, a teacher needs to do a various number of things such as grade on a curve, provide extra credit, grade non academic factors to buffer the harm of the scale.

This doesn't make any sense to me logically if the grading scale is a tool which communicates academic accomplishment. Even distribution scales are used by many colleges and universities to report grade/gpa, why should high schools be any different? Here is another thing to consider, since my grade reflects 95% performance on summative assessment, using the traditional 100 point scale would not allow my students to recover from getting an F, the hole would be to deep to get out.

Process skills make up the foundation of the nature of science and as such, should be part of a student's grade. I think by highlighting the importance of process skills, students will be more careful in their work and will become better at observing, measuring, etc. The first time I give a lab practical to my seventh graders they were absolutely terrified, but many enjoyed the opportunity to "show" what they knew. It seems counterproductive to me to quiz a student on how to use the microscope unless the microscope is used during the assessment. I also found that there was a heightened awareness of the need to pay attention and to gain hands-on knowledge of the equipment once students knew that they would have to demonstrate their skills (in the past, some students were relying on their lab partner to focus the microscope). Those students who failed had an opportunity to be retested after additional practice.

Good insights Patricia and all who posted. I'm still trying to refine this area, thank you all for sharing.

One additional note on this - in Illinois, we have separate state science standards that address the process skills. Since we are teaching to the standards, we must assess students on both content and process skills.

I'm quite late to this party, but my thought on the original question is, yes, process skill should matter. The only way science acquires content is through competent technique and processing of the resulting data. For this reason, I also grade students' lab work for accuracy. For example, early in the year I give a graduated cylinder quiz that involves going into the lab and reading a graduated cylinder with proper accuracy and precision. Writing 18 mL when you should write 18.0 mL will cost you.

I like to give students an assignment with very little structure and guide. For instance have two inclined planes with two different marbles and ask, which has more momentum. Rather than the cookie cutter style lab of, Step one, place the marble on the plane, step two measure the time, step three measure the distance..... This way the students have to think about the proccess. The rubric is more about how the data was organized, presented, and thought out, rather than if they got the correct answer

I also agree that science process skills should be evaluated for a grade. Science process skill development is the development of scientific thinking. In addition, students need to develop the skills associated with the sciences - accurate measurement, accurate reporting of findings etc.... However, like content, it should be available for "practice" and be assessed with a formative assessment prior to being "graded." And like content, it needs to be taught - sounds silly, but I have seen teachers evaluate students on skills they "assumed" they should have by a "certain grade" without providing instruction or guidance first. I really like the discussion on traditional grading versus authentic assessment too. Is it possible to grade using an authentic scale when the majority, if not all, teachers in your school use a more traditional grading scale? I would love to initiate this in my classroom, but I am not sure if the district's grading scale (traditional) would allow it. Thoughts?

Interesting question Mario. I really like Carolyn’s responses, as always, they are well thought out. Process skills is the heart of Science learning. Without them, students are unskilled in the foundation of Science and we become like any other subject that can be learned by reading instead of doing. I have moved away from the percent scale entirely. I use standards based mastery learning with everything being based on the standards expected for their grade band. There are only 4 points, 4 is exceeding standards, which means they can do grade level work and show tendencies toward the next performance level. A 3 is meeting grade level expectations. A 2 is below standard where their work often lacks details, but they have the big idea. A 1 is where they really have no idea of the concept and may be able to provide an understanding of a concept one or two grade levels below standards. A 0 would indicate they are off prompt or have very little to no understanding. A student is expected to grow in their understanding and skill as they progress through the unit. It is perfectly acceptable for a student to be a 1 or 2 initially, but needs to move toward the 3 or 4 to show they are growing in their learning. I also use the term scoring versus grading because it seems less harsh for one, and two, the term seems to make more sense to my students. The good part about this type of scoring is students are able to do a lot of self assessment on their learning because they have something concrete to measure themselves against because the standards are clearly defined for them. The other bonus is I tell students I expect they shouldn’t be at a 3 or 4 level right away because that would mean I am teaching them things they already know. School is no fun if you are always learning what you already know. Each day you should be learning something new and challenging. My middle school students like this. Several have commented over the years how this makes them feel smart. One of the advantage to scoring process skills is students then see a reason to master the skill versus just haphazardly perform it. Students enjoy gaining new skills that they can carry into their next class and perform successfully. While electronic scales are easy and quick to use, they really enjoy the skill required to use a triple beam balance. I agree with Patty’s idea as well. Students coming from elementary skill don’t always have the opportunity to use the tools of Science, but have been given lots of quizzes on their parts. Many of our incoming 7th graders can name the parts of a microscope or paramecium, but the first time they get to use one for real and see the paramecium up close, learning takes on a whole new dimension and becomes engaging. I agree too, students tend to pay more attention to the instruction if they know what they are learning is something they are going to have to actual show you hands-on that they can do. I am like you as well Eric, I am all over precision and accuracy. I too take away points when they don’t account for the decimal. Sue, I am always the pioneer and going against the grain. Lots of administrators will stand up in front of parents and say we are a standards based, mastery learning school, but that can’t be true if you are percentage based. A student should be able to show that they have grown in their learning over time. I am looking for solid evidence of this through performance, content and the vocabulary of their daily conversations and assessment.

Does anyone have a good resource you can share on a form that uses science process skills or the new science practices to record what students are doing during an investigation? I teach elementary science methods and I would appreciate the wisdom of the group to pass on to my pre-service teachers.

Hi, Id love to know more about Sandy's 'mastery' approach to assessing that was discussed. Are there some specific articles or resources which you have found useful in developing your approach which I might use to find out more and refer other teachers to ? Sorry, I could not see how to message Sandy directly, but maybe its a question others have too ? Kind regards Jodie Green Canberra, Australia

Hi Jodie, I happen to live in a state that has standards set out by grade level in a way that makes it really easy to determine mastery of content. I am in Washington State where we spent a lot of time aligning our standards over the years to be really close to the national standards. The link to our standards is http://www.k12.wa.us/Science/Standards.aspx If you click on the K-12 Standards, it will download to a .pdf or Word file, your choice. When I am doing my lesson planning, I use these standards along with the national standards to determine the content and the rubric for scoring. I define the standards for my middle school students using a 4- exceeding standards; 3 – meeting standards; 2 – approaching standards; 1 – below standards, 0 – off topic, off prompt or no response, scale. I don’t give percents or A, B, C, D, F grades on work. I am forced to give students letter grades on report cards, which translate straight across, 4 = A, 3 = B, etc. To make sense of the scoring: A 4 would mean the student is not only working at grade level, but also shows knowledge and ability in the next grade level. A 3 would mean they are doing and showing they understand the material and content at their grade level, though there may be some minor misconceptions within the content that is easily “fixed”. A 2 would mean they may have a brief understanding of a concept, but cannot describe with much detail, has major misconceptions that will take re-teaching to overcome. A 1 would mean there are holes in their understanding. The student might be able to use some vocabulary of the topic but not be able to explain with examples or non-examples, responses are one, maybe two vague sentences or they have the ability to parrot back some memorized information, but again, can’t provide examples or other evidence of understanding. The 0 is a non-response or a response that is off the mark. Obviously the 4 and 0’s are the easiest to identify. It’s the fine line between the 3 and 2 that is a little harder to differentiate. This is where the rich and engaging group and classroom discussions really help solidify student understanding. Ultimately when I give a final grade for the quarter and semester, I have to consider, “If the student were sitting for the state exam, where would they score?” This is where having 22 years of experience really helps because I have the data of past students and how they did on the state exams to compare with. The other component to mastery learning that is often forgotten is, it is okay for a student to begin a unit with an understanding of a 1 or 2. What I am looking for is growth over time. If you think about it, initially we should have most of our students at a 1 or 2 level, otherwise why are we teaching it? If students already know the material and are getting 3’s and 4’s from the very beginning, then we aren’t really introducing them to new and challenging material. I also do not average scores over the period of time. Theoretically a student should go from 1’s and 2’s, to 2’s and 3’s, then to 3’s and 4’s. If I averaged the scores, I am punishing students for not knowing the material from the very beginning, which defeats the purpose of pushing students toward new learning. At the end of the unit, I look and see where the students are scoring and that is the grade they receive. For example, if a student’s scores were 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4 over the course of time, I would give them a final grade of 3 because that is where they are consistently showing understanding. I hope this makes sense Jodie. I have found once I have parents on board and they understand there are no points or averages, they are appreciative and oftentimes push their students toward higher level of expectations and success. As an FYI, if you want to send a message to anyone within NSTA that has posted within a forum, there are two ways you can accomplish this. One is to double click on the person’s name and you will be taken to their profile page where you will see a “Send Private Message” box that is burgundy in color on the left hand side of the page underneath their photo or where their photo should be. The other, quicker method if you are in a forum thread, is to use the same burgundy colored box, “Private Message …” located on the right hand side of the screen directly under their photo, number of posts and activity points. The message will be sent to their "My Private Messages" section under "My PD Tools Tab."

Wow lots of ideas here and yes I am really really late. In a quick internet search I turned this up

Teaching the Science Process Skills

and Science Process Skills

Maryland has process skills organized into grade level standards

With the NGSS now being used, this book chapter might be useful to see how the scientific and engineering practices are being used in science learning experiences: 5E(z) Guidelines for Designing Research- Informed Science Lesson Sequences
Starting on page 49 of Chapter 4, the author explains how to integrate the S & E practices into a 5 E inquiry lesson model.
Carolyn

The current issue of Educational Leadership has an excellent article on grading systems 'The Case Against Percentage Grades' I was surprises to learn that even on so called objective tests, there is significant variation in how teachers assign scores. In one study referenced in this article geometry exams were graded by 128 math teachers and with grades varying from 28-95. This is breath taking.
They also take up the various problems with percentage scores including logistics, accuracy, and meaning. The zero distortion has been one issue that has concerned me for some time. When I develop rubrics, I now adjust the scoring to conform to A, B, C, D, F with F being 50. I reserve zero for tree stumps or sentient being imitating tree stumps by not doing any work at all. (ie. failing to submit an assignment). I think it very unfair to punish students with poor work beyond the point of recovery.
Here what is advocated is a 0-4 point scale similar to what is used to calculate gpa.

I agree with many of the things you brought up, Pam. My daughter is in Law School - talk about unfair! In final year, and she is still being graded on the CURVE!
Getting back to the title of this discussion thread: Using Science Process Skills to Determine Grades - I came across an interesting article from October, 2010. It is called: Finding Learning Beneath the Surface: Monitoring Student Progress with Science Practice Learning Progressions. This is part of a series of activities. This one starts on page 69 of the journal article. A Boston teacher came up with a very interesting rubric and student science progress profile to help assess her students' progressing abilities using the science processes. It is worth reading for those teachers looking for new ideas on how to assess science practices.
Carolyn