The purpose of this article is to address a major gap in the instructional sensitivity literature on how to develop instructionally sensitive assessments. We propose an approach to developing and evaluating instructionally sensitive assessments in science and test this approach with one elementary lifescience module. The assessment we developed was administered to 125 students in seven classrooms. The development approach considered three dimensions of instructional sensitivity; that is, assessment items should: represent the curriculum content, reflect the quality of instruction, and have formative value for teaching. Focusing solely on the first dimension, representation of the curriculum content, this study was guided by the following research questions: (1) What science module characteristics can be systematically manipulated to develop items that prove to be instructionally sensitive? and (2) Are the instructionally sensitive assessments developed sufficiently valid to make inferences about the impact of instruction on students' performance? In this article, we describe our item development approach and provide empirical evidence to support validity arguments about the developed instructionally sensitive items. Results indicated that: (1) manipulations of the items at different proximities to vary their sensitivity were aligned with the rules for item development and also corresponded with pre-to-post gains; and (2) the items developed at different distances from the science module showed a pattern of pre-to-post gain consistent with their instructional sensitivity, that is, the closer the items were to the science module, the larger the observed gains and effect sizes. ß 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 2012

Background: A growing part of the efforts to promote student engagement and success in undergraduate STEM are the family of Student Support and Outreach Programs (SSOPs), which task undergraduate students with providing support and mentoring to their peers and near-peers. Research has shown that these programs can provide a variety of benefits for the programs' recipients, including increased academic achievement, satisfaction, retention, and entry into STEM careers. This paper extends this line of inquiry to investigate how participation in these programs impacts the undergraduate STEM students that provide the mentoring (defined here as undergraduate mentor-teachers or UMTs). We use activity theory to explore the nature of metacognition and identity development in UMTs engaged in two programs at a public urban-serving university in the western USA: a STEM Learning Assistant program and a program to organize middle and high school STEM clubs. Constructs of metacognition and identity development are seen as critical outcomes of experiential STEM inreach and outreach programs. Results: Written reflections were collected throughout implementation of two experiential STEM inreach and outreach programs. A thematic analysis of the reflections revealed UMTs using metacognitive strategies including content reflection and reinforcement and goal setting for themselves and the students they were supporting. Participants also showed metacognitive awareness of the barriers and challenges related to their role in the program. In addition to these metacognitive processes, the UMTs developed their science identities by attaching different meanings to their role as a mentor in their respective programs and setting performance expectations for their roles. Performance expectations were contingent on pedagogical skills and the amount and type of content knowledge needed to effectively address student needs. The ability to meet students' needs served to validate and verify UMTs' role in the program, and ultimately their own science identities. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that metacognitive and identity developments are outcomes shaped not only by undergraduate students' experiences, but also by their perceptions of what it means to learn and teach STEM. Experiential STEM inreach and outreach programs with structured opportunities for guided and open reflections can contribute to building participants' metacognition and enhancing their science identities.

The need for a more robust, well-trained STEM workforce is becoming increasingly acute in the U.S., and there is a clear need to recruit and retain a larger and more diverse population of undergraduate STEM majors. While numerous efforts to improve engagement and support in the traditional P-16 classroom have been implemented successfully, it is also critical to explore other types of activities that have potential for high impact. The STEM Club Leadership for Undergraduate STEM Education, Recruiting and Success (STEM-CLUSTERS) project at our large public research university in the Mountain West presents an outreach model to engage undergraduate STEM majors in developing and facilitating activities in local middle and high school STEM clubs. Through case studies, built upon data from reflective journals and semistructured interviews, the project has identified a number of benefits to the first cohort of participants, which is comprised of eleven undergraduate students operating in interdisciplinary teams across five schools. In this paper we describe the essential elements of our outreach model and suggest benefits related to undergraduates' content knowledge, metacognition, communication skills, and identity as a future STEM professional.

Abstract:This study presents an 'education for sustainability' curricular model which promotes science learning in an elementary classroom through equity pedagogy. A total of 25 fourth-grade students from an urban, public school in Denver, Colorado participated in this mixed-methods study where concept maps were used as a tool for describing and assessing students' understanding of ecosystem interactions. Concept maps provide a more holistic, systems-based assessment of science learning in a sustainability curriculum. The concept maps were scored and analyzed using SPSS to investigate potential differences in learning gains of English Language Acquisition (ELA) and Gifted/Talented (GT) students. Interviews were conducted after the concept maps were administered, then transcribed and inductively coded to generate themes related to science learning. Interviews also encouraged students to explain their drawings and provided a more accurate interpretation of the concept maps. Findings revealed the difference between pre-and post-concept map scores for ELA and GT learners were not statistically significant. Students also demonstrated an increased knowledge of ecosystem interactions during interviews. Concept maps, as part of an education for sustainability curriculum, can promote equity by providing diverse learners with different-yet equally valid-outlets to express their scientific knowledge.