REVISED TOOL: Steps to Designing a Three Dimensional Assessment

Posted on March 26, 2020

In the new Framework vision for science education, science assessments should help educators better understand how learners are braiding together three dimensions of science learning — science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. At the same time, meaningful three-dimensional science learning is also deeply tied to student interests and identities. How can educators build assessments that incorporate all five of these aspects of science learning?

We have newly revised STEM Teaching Tool #29 to support educators as they work to assess the interweaving of student interest, identity, and use of the three dimensions of science learning to understand phenomena and solve problems. The updated version of the tool is designed to support a small team as they develop a single extended task to be used as part of a unit test. It includes steps to support educators in creating tasks that are accessible and engaging to learners from non-dominant communities and/or with identified learning differences.