The purpose of this study is to develope and analyze a test for the assessment of physics inquiry experiment. To do this, three experiments about 'analysis of motion', 'the relation of force and acceleration', and 'free fall motion' in high school physics textbooks were chosen, and 5 scientific inquiry domains and 16 science process skills have been specified. For each experiments, test sheet of questions for assessing students' ability about physics inquiry experiment were developed on the basis of the scientific inquiry processes developed earlier. After instruction about 3 experiments mentioned above, a test was administered to the students who took experiment. After the adminstration of a test, the ratio of correct answers, discrimination index, and reliability were analyzed. Using the ratio of correct answers, we can determine item difficulty. Through the D.I(discrimination index), we can find which items can discriminate the students who took experiment well from those who took experiment badly, and we can also find the stability of a test result by the reliability analysis. The test developed in this study were also administered to the students who did not take experiments, and the results were compared with the those of the students who took experiments. With the comparison by chi-square method, we could find which items can discriminate the students who took experiments from those who did not take experiments.
Practical research, as well as theoretical research, about performance assessment is important for the successful application of performance assessment in school. To do this, two school teachers with professional educators studied theoretical basics of performance assessment for several months. As a result, 4 categories of issues for designing performance assessment were generated and described by teachers. Based on those issues, 5 directions for development were established, and finally, 7 types of performance assessment were developed. Developed items were disseminated to other two middle school teachers for application in school. After application during several months, interviews with them were conducted to obtain the informations and implications about the practical application of performance assessment.
This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an in-service training programusing computer interface and probes for science odified by 9 science teachers Then,27 science teachers participated in the 5 days of in-service training, which ran for three hours a day. The questionnaire for investigating the effectiveness of the program after the training showed that many teachers (1 ) voluntarily participated in this program with internal motivation,(2) were satished with the level of program difficulty, professionalism of lecturer, and classroom environment,(3) gave positive responses about the achievement of the purposes of this program,(4) showed strong intention for applying this program to their school teaching.