Formative assessment, assessment used to inform subsequent learning, can have a powerful positive impact on student achievement, but little empirical work has been conducted to investigate the role of teachers' knowledge in its practice. This study investigated reciprocal relations between elementary science teachers' formative assessment practices and their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Data sources included video records and artifacts from a professional development (PD) program that engaged 11 teachers in collaborative analysis of their students' work. Analysis of the data showed that teachers' PCK was a resource in all aspects of their formative assessment practice, and teachers most frequently made use of their existing knowledge of instructional strategies and curriculum. It also showed that teachers constructed PCK through formative assessment by building and refining knowledge of curricular goals and student understanding over multiple PD sessions. Findings suggest that formative assessment can be a powerfulThe research reported in this paper was conducted as part of the study Effects of Content-Focused and Practice-Based Professional Development Models on Teacher Knowledge, Classroom Practice, and Student Learning.

Involvement of Indigenous people and knowledge in conservation science has become a clear directive in international covenants. Currently, approximately one-third of Australia is owned and managed by Indigenous people, including 84% of the Northern Territory coastline, making Indigenous-led and cross-cultural research highly relevant. Recently, the Yolŋu Senior Knowledge Custodians of the Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area in northern Australia expressed concern about the dieback of culturally significant coastal Melaleuca (paperbark) stands. A partnership between Senior Knowledge Custodians and Western scientists was used to develop an ecocultural research framework to investigate the dieback. Semistructured interviews about the likely causes were conducted with Senior Knowledge Custodians of five coastal flood plain sites where dieback occurred. At these sites, comparative ecological assessments of paired dieback and healthy Melaleuca stands were conducted to explore relationships between Melaleuca stand health, salt water intrusion, acid sulfate soils and feral ungulate damage. Melaleuca dieback was observed in three species: nämbarra (M. viridiflora), raŋan (M. cajuputi) and gulun’kulun (M. acacioides). The sociocultural and ecological research approaches similarly suggested that ~70% of Melaleuca spp. dieback was attributed to combinations of salinity and feral ungulate damage. An ecocultural approach heightened understanding of Melaleuca dieback because we detected similarities and differences in likely causal factors.

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