Embedded Assessment in Project‐based Science Courses for the Gifted: Insights to inform teaching all students

Abstract

The present study of gifted students’ views of assessment is aimed at understanding how the employment of Embedded Assessment for Learning (EAfL) framework in science courses for the gifted affects the students’ views throughout the learning process. The participants were 86 students in three programmes for the gifted who elected project‐based science courses. The data included questionnaires, distributed at the beginning and at the end of the assessment processes in each science course, and in‐depth interviews with 12 students, which were analysed according to three main themes: general view of assessment; assessment modes; and relationships between assessment and learning. The students viewed the EAfL framework as an integral part of the learning process, and perceived it as a means of expressing autonomous learning and a range of performances; characteristics that correspond with the students’ unique needs. In addition, students addressed cognitive and social processes they had undergone. This implies that assessment which is explicitly designed to promote learning in science courses is a powerful tool for teachers as well as for students, and contributes to meaningful learning.