Assessment of student work in Science

There is a shift in emphasis from summative to formative and continuous assessment in the recent education reform in Hong Kong (Curriculum Development Council, 2001). Assessment of student learning serves many other functions than just an evaluation of student performance; it also provides feedback for teaching as well as an opportunity to develop self-learning abilities and communication skills among students. In facing these changes and new demands in assessment, teachers need to be conversant with the conduction of self-assessment, the alternative forms of student work, and the setting and use of rubrics or scoring guides. In order to convince teachers the newly advocated approaches in assessment are practicable, this paper provides exemplars of students' work in science from different countries that address the above issues. The exemplars of students' work were collected by an international project "Schools Around the World" where teachers actively share and discuss their students' work such that professional development can be realized.