Re-imaging the goals of science education: What role should assessment play?

Abstract

The challenge and responsibility of summing up, or bringing to closure a book of this scope that brims with possibilities and bristles with challenges has weighed upon me since Michael and Deborah first asked me to write what would be the last chapter of this book, written for policymakers and tackling the urgent need to re-imagine assessment for Generation R. I was asked to approach this task from multiple standpoints, as mother, daughter, sister, friend, colleague, teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and person of faith, to name some of the most salient ones. In this essay, I hope to share some of the stories that fundamentally shape my view of assessment and our responsibility to re-imagine the nature and culture of science and assessment for Generation R.