A Learning Progression for Water Cycle from Fourth to Sixth Graders with Ordered Multiple-Choice Items

순위 정렬 선다형 평가 문항을 적용한 초등학교 4~6학년 학생들의 물의 순환에 대한 학습 발달 과정

This study investigated elementary students' (grade 4~6) learning progressions for water cycling drawn from iterative assessments using ordered multiple-choice (OMC) items. An assessment system, which consisted of construct map, item design, outcome space, and measurement model, was employed in this study to examine children's learning progressions. At the first stage of the assessment system, a construct map was designed on which children's conceptual understandings from naive to most sophisticated were represented. At the item design stage, 8 OMC items were drawn from the construct map. Each item option of the OMC items was scored from 0 to 3 according to its level of understanding at the stage of outcome space. As a measurement model, Rasch model, a branch of item response theory, was applied to interpreting the outcomes of the OMC items. This cycle of assessment system was furtherly implemented iteratively in order to elaborate on the first version of water cycling learning progression. In conclusion, children's understanding of water cycling could be described in two aspects: water distribution and water movement. We identified children's conjectural developmental pathways about water cycling existed from superficial and naive accounts to more complex and abstract accounts.