A topic in teaching science
There are different modes of assessment used in education, including summative, diagnostic and formative assessment.
Formative assessment is also known as assessment for learning, and is the informal assessment carried out during normal teaching and learning activities. Formative assessment allows the teacher to monitor student developing thinking and skills whilst teaching can still be adjusted (whereas summative assessment takes place at the end of the teaching process when it is too late to make adjustments).
Formative assessment does not use formal tests, but relies on learning activities that offer opportunities to monitor student thinking.
Teaching-learning often fails when learners do not interpret teaching as the teacher intended and expected. Formative assessment offers the teacher greater insight into learner thinking, and so a more refined mental model of the learner to inform future teaching.
Suitable activities to allow formative assessment include:
