<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<italic><bold>Introduction:</bold></italic> Assessment, historically, has been done in a summative manner in post-secondary education (HE). Whilst useful for the purposes of grading and assessment of competency, there is also increasing pressure from post-secondary education institutions to meet certain standards in terms of education quality and graduate numbers, putting pressure on teachers to produce evidence of students’ level of understanding and thus putting a greater emphasis on the use of summative assessments. The formative assessment approach for student learning is preferable in some fields, but how useful is this format for the science subjects?
<italic><bold>Purpose:</bold></italic> To discuss the utility of either summative assessments or formative assessments (or both) in science teaching at university level.
<italic><bold>Methods:</bold></italic> Exploration of the literature involving teaching science in university undergraduate courses (i.e., no formal search criteria).
<italic><bold>Conclusions: </bold></italic>A new category of assessment is needed - the integration of formative and summative assessment.
</abstract>

Introduction: Assessment, historically, has been done in a summative manner in post-secondary education (HE). Whilst useful for the purposes of grading and assessment of competency, there is also increasing pressure from post-secondary education institutions to meet certain standards in terms of education quality and graduate numbers, putting pressure on teachers to produce evidence of students’ level of understanding and thus putting a greater emphasis on the use of summative assessments. The formative assessment approach for student learning is preferable in some fields, but how useful is this format for the science subjects?
Purpose: To discuss the utility of either summative assessments or formative assessments (or both) in science teaching at university level.
Methods: Exploration of the literature involving teaching science in university undergraduate courses (i.e., no formal search criteria).
Conclusions: A new category of assessment is needed - the integration of formative and summative assessment.

One and Done, or a Bundle and Stumble? An Exploration of Assessment Methods in Undergraduate Science Curricula

Acta Educationis Generalis

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Introduction: Assessment, historically, has been done in a summative manner in post-secondary education (HE). Whilst useful for the purposes of grading and...

One and Done, or a Bundle and Stumble? An Exploration of Assessment Methods in Undergraduate Science Curricula

Published Online: Nov 15, 2022

Page range: 47 - 61

Received: May 23, 2022

Accepted: Jun 17, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/atd-2022-0023

Keywords
summative assessment, formative assessment, post-secondary education, science subjects

© 2022 Shelley Edwards, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

One and Done, or a Bundle and Stumble? An Exploration of Assessment Methods in Undergraduate Science Curricula

Published Online: Nov 15, 2022

Page range: 47 - 61

Received: May 23, 2022

Accepted: Jun 17, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/atd-2022-0023

Keywordssummative assessment, formative assessment, post-secondary education, science subjects

© 2022 Shelley Edwards, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
summative assessment, formative assessment, post-secondary education, science subjects