An assessment perezhivanie: Building an assessment pedagogy for, with and of early childhood science learning

Abstract

Assessment for, with and of learning within the field of early childhood science education brings to the fore the child within their social and emotional context. In this chapter we seek to explore the wholeness of the assessment context where the learner and the social context are inextricably fused, in order to discuss the complexity of assessment in early childhood science education. We introduce an assessment perezhivanie and the concept of 'potentive assessment' as a complement to formative and summative assessment for early year's science and technology education. We draw specifically on cultural-historical theory to present our arguments and to highlight a framework which seeks to make visible an assessment approach which captures the dynamic relations between development and learning within the early childhood period, and, through this, provide an assessment approach which is centred upon illuminating children's science content knowledge and capability as located and understood within meaningful contexts.