Investigating Chemistry Teachers’ Assessment Knowledge via a Rubric for Self-Developed Tasks in a Food and Sustainability Context

Abstract

We investigated the competence of in- and pre-service chemistry teachers and teacher mentors in designing sustainability- and systems-oriented online tasks for their students. Using a dedicated rubric, we evaluated their assessment knowledge (AK) as reflected in the tasks they had developed. The rubric is based on four attributes: integration of sustainability and chemistry, diversity of thinking skills, the variety of system aspects, and diversity of visual representations. Implementing a qualitative case study approach, we tracked the professional development of three purposefully sampled teachers in addition to using the rubric to score their tasks. Combining the rubric scorings and the qualitative investigation via feedback questionnaire revealed new insights. Besides the teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge, the case studies’ context and relevance to the teachers were found central to their ability to assess learning. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of AK of teachers with different backgrounds and professional experiences. The methodological contribution stems from the analysis of self-developed tasks based on a designated rubric, which should be further validated.