It should be integrated with learning and teaching throughout the course with the purpose of promoting their quality and effectiveness. .
I think it is good idea of introduce such a lot formative assessment. It is because formative assessment can provide feedback to the teacher immediately. Then teachers can make decisions about what should be done next to enhance students" learning and adopt an appropriate teaching method. Constant feedback allows the teacher to measure students" progress and to determine an individual student's needs.
Moreover, in formative assessment, teachers can provide feedback to students to promote assessment for learning, so that students understand how to plan and to take control of their learning. Students can be engaged in self-and-peer-evaluation during the process of learning. With the help of their teachers and making reference to the appropriate assessment criteria, students plan their course of study, evaluate their own progress and thus recognize their own competence and weaknesses. All these will promote active learning and in the end help students develop into life-long learners in science.
The formative assessments, which were suggested in the guide, are listed below.
Paper and pencil tests.
Paper and pencil tests have been widely employed as the major method of assessment in schools. However, the prolonged reliance on this type of assessment has a narrowing effect on both learning and teaching. Teachers should avoid testing only basic information recall and should try to construct test items that assess the understanding of concepts, problem-solving abilities and higher order thinking skills.
It seem that paper and pencil tests are obsolete. But, I want to point out some benefits of paper and pencil tests here.
Multiple choice, true or false, short answer, and short essay questions are the primary means that many teachers use to assess student knowledge in the cognitive domain.
