Biology teachers’ use of their interpretational frameworks for assessing students’ understandings in biology

Abstract

The study examined interpretational frameworks of six experienced biology teachers related to their roles in assessing students’ written answers to test questions. Data comprised in-depth interviews, sample tests, marking keys and student answers. Teachers’ interpretational frameworks depend on their expectations and are complex, three-dimensional, relational, predominantly visual and incorporate dynamic decision-making processes in forming judgments about students’ answers. Pedagogical Content assessment Knowledge (PCaK) is proposed as a major organising feature.