Introduction

AAAS Project 2061 is recruiting high school science teachers who are able to pilot test assessments with their students between April 24 and June 16, 2017. The topics for this study include Biology ideas (including Natural Selection, Heredity, Speciation, Human Body functions, homeostasis, cellular respiration). 

Please register no later than April 14th, 2017.
Background:

AAAS Project 2061 is developing NGSS-aligned assessments to measure what students understand about biology. We are currently interested in learning how students respond to these assessments so that we can continue to improve on them and design new assessments.

We are recruiting high school science teachers willing to pilot test multiple-choice and short-response questions with their students between April 24 to May 26, 2017. These assessments will be administered online and should take no longer than 45 minutes to complete.

About the tests:

Each student will take a test containing both multiple-choice and short-response test questions. Some test questions will contain follow-up questions which ask the students to explain their answer and provide feedback. Students should complete as many test questions as they can in a single class period. The pilot test will be administered through our web-based testing utility.

It is not necessary for your students to have had formal instruction on biology at the time of testing, nor must they be currently enrolled in a biology class. Our goal is to receive feedback from students with a wide range of understandings of this topic.

These tests are not intended to evaluate teachers or students. Individual student and teacher data will remain strictly confidential and individual students will not be identifiable. Our only interest is to learn how students respond to these test items so that we can design tests that are valid measures of what students know about important biology ideas.

In order to participate:
  • You must be a high school science teacher in the United States.
  • Your students must be in the 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
  • You must obtain permission to participate from the appropriate school or district personnel. Please do not register until you obtain permission.
  • You must reserve enough computers (desktops, laptops, or tablets) that have a reliable internet connection for all students in your classes on the day of testing (1 per student).
As a thank-you, each participating teacher will receive a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

If you have any questions about the study, please contact us at jhardcastle@aaas.org or at 202-326-7043.
( Privacy & Cookie Notice

T