CLASSIFICATION OF ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES IN AN EIGHTH-GRADE TURKISH SCIENCE TEXTBOOK ACCORDING TO PISA SCIENCE LITERACY PROFICIENCY LEVELS

Abstract

This qualitative study used a document analysis method to examine the assessment and evaluation activities at the end of each chapter and unit of an eighth-grade science course textbook according to the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) science literacy proficiency scale. The textbook was approved by the Turkish Ministry of Education as the only textbook to be used for a period of five years starting from the 2018–2019 academic year. Descriptive analysis of data obtained from the PISA science literacy proficiency scale was undertaken, expert evaluation was used as a measure of the proficiency level corresponding to each item. Chi-Square goodness of fit test was applied to determine the significance of these values. Intraclass correlation values were calculated to reliably determine the consistency among the opinions of the experts included in this study. The study found that the textbook included activities at proficiency levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; however, no assessment and evaluation activities were found to be included at level 6. It was also found that 62.23% of the activities were at level 1, 18.02% were at level 2, 11.15% were at level 3, 6.43% were at level 4, and 2.14% were at level 5. Additionally, adequacy levels of the activities were found to differ according to the corresponding units. It is recommended that the content and activities of the textbooks be reviewed again to develop high-level skills according to the PISA science literacy proficiency scale, and that activities used to measure high-level skills be included in the science textbooks. Article visualizations: