Developing a Scientific Literacy Assessment Instrument for Portuguese 3rd Cycle Students

Abstract

Teachers and researchers, in accordance with the main Portuguese curriculum documents in the area of Physical and Natural Sciences, agree that the development of scientific literacy is an integral part of basic education and report that the teaching of these skills is taking place in schools. However, few scientific literacy assessment instruments are available to assess students’ proficiency in using these skills. In this article, we describe the design and processes for gathering validity evidence for the development of the Avaliação da Literacia Científica Essencial (ALCE) instrument. The ALCE assesses scientific literacy skills of students at the end of the 3rd cycle of Basic Education, in the cognitive domains of understanding; analysing and evaluating phenomena; problems and everyday situations involving content knowledge and skills developed in the subjects of Natural Sciences and Physical Chemistry. Our validity argument, which includes the gathering of evidence based on the content and internal structure of the instrument and is grounded in the current literature on the validation of assessment instruments, supports the use of the instrument for the assessment of students’ scientific literacy level at the end of the 3rd cycle of Basic Education. The ALCE may be a useful tool to identify possible gaps between the teaching objectives and the students’ scientific literacy proficiency and reflect on the methodologies, lesson plans and strategies used in the classroom in order to change them to better develop the students’ scientific literacy.