hasfigured prominently in science education, yet it refers to at least three distinct
categories of activities—what scientists do (e.g. conducting investigations using
scientific methods), how students learn (e.g. actively inquiring through‘thinking
and doing’into a phenomenon or problem, often mirroring the processes used by
scientists), and a pedagogical approach that teachers employ (e.g. designing or
using curricula that allow for extended investigations).
The US National Science Education Standards (NSES) (National Research
Council 2000 ) recognised inquiry as both a learning goal and a teaching method.
To that end, the content standards for the Science as Inquiry section in
the NSES include both abilities and understandings of inquiry.
The NSES identifiesfive essential elements of inquiry teaching and learning that
apply across science education, namely: (i) Learners engage in scientifically ori-
ented questions; (ii) Learners give priority to evidence in response to questions;
(iii) Learners formulate explanations from evidence; (iv) Learners connect expla-
nations to scientific knowledge; and (v) Learners communicate and justify
explanations. However, the use of the term inquiry was discontinued in defining the
updated US framework for science education in 2013, Next Generation Science
Standards (NGSS) (National Research Council 2013 ). The NGSS developers
recognised that there was a widespread lack of understanding of the meaning of
inquiry and defined a new term‘science and engineering practices’. In addition, the
NGSS framework has focussed on and articulated the associated goals of assess-
ment of these practices:
“In the future, science assessments will not assess students’understanding of core ideas
separately from their abilities to use the practices of science and engineering. These two
dimensions of learning will be assessed together, showing students not only“know”sci-
ence concepts, but also that students can use their understanding to investigate the natural
world through the practices of science inquiry, and can solve meaningful problems through
the practices of engineering design.”It is generally accepted that there is a wide variation in school cultures and class-
room settings around the world in terms of inquiry teaching methods and approa-
ches to assessment. Educational assessment is a well-definedfield of research and
practice which deals with collecting, analysing and utilising data on students’
learning outcomes (Black et al. 2003 ). The large-scale international assessment
projects such as PISA have directed the attention of decision-makers to the
importance of assessment, and in many countries changes in national assessment
systems have been implemented. This process has increased the level of expertise in
assessment among teachers as well. However, large-scale assessments provide
system-level feedback, and the related analyses tend to have little impact on
everyday classroom practices. One of the reasons behind this limited transfer is that
immediate classroom-level assessment requires the use and deployment of different
methods and instruments in the learning context. A broader concept of assessment
is required to capture the breadth and extent of student learning, i.e.
826 O.E. Finlayson and E. McLoughlin