Assessing Science Problem-Solving and Inquiry Skills in a Game-Like Environment

Sunday, February 17, 2013
Room 308 (Hynes Convention Center)
Jody Clarke Midura , Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA
The Virtual Performance Assessment Project at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education (vpa.gse.harvard.edu) is studying the feasibility
of using virtual performance-based assessments for measuring science
inquiry skills that are situated in an authentic science problem. In
these assessments, students take on the role of a scientist and have
to explore the virtual environment to gather data around a problem and
then build a claim. This presentation will focus on (1) design of the
game-like tasks (2) results from reliability and validity studies that
study its effectiveness (3) feedback from teachers on using these
assessments in their classrooms.