The purpose of this study was to explore alignment between reform-based Turkish primary science curriculum and alternative assessment practices of a classroom teacher. Observational case study approach was utilized. A classroom teacher with 32 years of experience and his 31 students participated in the study. The data were collected during one academic year via classroom observations, teacher interviews, instructional materials and a science teaching belief instrument. Analysis of the data indicated that the teacher"s use of traditional assessment activities was more dominant than alternative assessment activities although the latter was strongly emphasized by the curriculum. Moreover, implementation of alternative assessment activities was not in line with what the curriculum stated. Decisions of policy makers, lack of instructional time, exclusion of the curriculum by the teacher, inadequate pedagogical content knowledge and insufficient teacher training on assessment were found to be the elements that might have negatively affected the alignment negatively. Possible actions that may support a higher level of alignment were discussed.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of science instruction given through the game and physical activities course in accordance with interdisciplinary teaching approaches on students' science achievement and retention. The participants were 82 third grade students from a public elementary school. Three classes were chosen as experimental groups and one class was chosen as a control group in the school. The instruction period lasted for five weeks in all groups. The data were collected by an achievement test and an education portal achievement (EPA) test. The pretest-posttest control group design was used in the study. Data obtained from the tests were analyzed through one-way analysis of variance and post-hoc analyses. The findings indicated that some of the experimental groups were more successful than the control group with large effect sizes. The results suggested that the game and physical activities course incorporating interdisciplinary teaching approaches could be used in increasing students' science achievement and retention of science knowledge.

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