A Formative Assessment Sequence to Support Children’s Learning of Scientific Concepts with Images
摘要
This chapter introduces a formative assessment (FA) sequence aimed at helping teachers support primary school students in constructing representations to learn scientific concepts. Recognising the challenges teachers face in working with students’ conceptual learning, the FA sequence provides a structured method for teachers to work with student-generated representations. Drawing on the theory of multimodality, the sequence encourages teachers to engage with students' visual representations, helping them connect these ideas to formal scientific concepts. The key stages of the FA sequence—explore, work-on, and review—demonstrate how they assist teachers in facilitating students' understanding of complex ideas. By focusing on interpreting and extending students’ visual representations, this approach bridges the gap between students' initial ideas and formal scientific knowledge. A case example is used to highlight the practical application of the FA sequence, underscoring its value in fostering conceptual, representational, and epistemic growth in science concept learning. This chapter demonstrates the importance of guided support in representation construction for effective science education.