Purposes and Procedures for Assessing Science Process Skills

Science process skills are inseparable in practice from the conceptual understanding that is involved in learning and applying science. Nevertheless, it is useful to identify and discuss the skills which can apply to different subject-matter because of their central role in learning with understanding, whether in formal education or throughout life. That role is also the reason for the importance of assessing the development of science process skills. This paper argues that it is a content-dominated view of science education rather than the technical difficulties that has inhibited the development of effective procedures for assessing process skills to date. The discussion focuses on approaches to process skill assessment for three purposes, formative, summative and national and international monitoring. In all cases the assessment of skills is influenced not only by the ability to use the skill but also by knowledge of and familiarity with the subject-matter with which the skills are used. Thus what is assessed in any particular situation is a combination of skills and knowledge and various steps have to be taken if these are to be separated.