The main purpose of this study was to explore the influence of using "scientific inquiry ability scoring rubric" to be the learning scaffold and self-assessment stratagem in experiment curriculum on students' scientific inquiry ability. A quasi-experimental study was implemented in a university for one semester. Of the two classes participated in this study, one received the designed teaching stratagem and the other the traditional experiment curriculum. Students' reports were scored and sufficient data of quality were collected after each experiment to test the differences of the two classess, further analysed the self-assessment data and learning-questionnaire to assess students¡¦ perceptions. In addition, the influence of students' motive on learning was also investigated. The results obtained from this study are summarized as follows: 1. Among six abilities studied those belonging to "Nature of scientific inquiry" and "Communication"¡]¡¨forming a question¡¨, ¡¨the completeness of procedures¡¨, ¡¨the sufficiency of data¡¨, ¡§the organization of data¡¨, ¡§transferring data¡¨, ¡§reviewing and evaluating¡¨¡^had a greater progress under this stratagem. 2. Students changed step by step on four inquiry-ability dimensions (i.e., bring up self inquiry questions, try to transfer data to improve science communication etc.) during this investigation period. 3. The correlation between assessments of teachers' and those of students' increased gradually, but there was no significant difference in performance between hit and miss self-assessors. 4. Students had positive attitudes toward the self-assessment questionnaire. About 80¢Mstudents accepted that using the rubrics was beneficial for learning."Attitude" and "Science Learning Value" are the two items of students' motive that showed significant relation with their learning effects.

This essay examines rubrics for learning found in the learning platform Unikum and analyses their construction in relation to research on rubrics for learning. Formative assessment, variation theory and design for learning together with previous research are used as a framework for analysis. Jönsson (2017) says that rubrics for learning are used for formative assessment in order to answer Hattie’s (2007) three questions for feedback: Where am I going, how am I going and where to next? To be able to do that, rubrics should contain clear criteria and task-level specificity with several levels of quality which are differentiated by small, highlighted variations. The language should be adapted from the list of knowledge requirements in the national curriculum, to better suit the students. The analysis of rubrics for learning found in the learning platform Unikum, shows that very few of them followed these criteria. Only 18 out of 123 rubrics for learning matched all of the criteria. Most of the rubrics that match the criteria, contain a mix of descriptive and evaluative language making it harder for students to understand what is expected from them. A topic for further research might be to find a common terminology that could help define a rubric for learning thus making them easier for teachers to construct and use. It would also be interesting to

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Writing is necessary to participate in public discourse. Much of today's communication is based on information, yet many students do not adequately learn how to write expository text. Learning to write is difficult, but expository text can be especially difficult as it requires knowledge of both a subject and special text structures. The purpose of this study was to give teachers a research-proven method for teaching students to write expository text and to give more information on how to evaluate students' writing. In this quasi-experimental quantitative research design, the expository writing of students before and after receiving a new science and literacy integrated curriculum combined with specific expository writing instruction was compared. Participants included 71 second-grade students and 3 teachers from a suburban public elementary school in a Mountain West state. Students came from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Measures included a holistic rubric that measured statement of purpose/focus and organization and conventions/editing, and an analytic rubric that measured introductions, facts on the topic, conclusions, word count, and the language mechanics of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. A paired-samples t test of total scores from the holistic rubric showed statistically significant improvement pre-instruction to post-instruction (p < .001, two tailed). A paired-samples t test of total weighted scores from the analytic rubric also showed statistically significant improvement between pre-instruction and post-instruction (p < .001, two tailed). Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests were used to examine the individual elements of each rubric. All rubric elements showed statistically significant improvement except for three elements of the analytic rubric: topic introduction (p = .664), concluding statement (p = .916), and spelling (p = .299). Findings indicated that teachers could use the instruction to successfully teach students to develop content knowledge about an expository topic and write expository text based on that knowledge. The ranks of scores for each rubric were also examined to see how the scores varied based on which rubric was used. The holistic rubric had fewer positive and negative ranks than the analytic rubric, and the holistic rubric had more tied ranks than the analytic rubric. It was therefore determined that the rubrics did not score similarly. Holistic rubrics give an overall impression while analytic rubrics allow the scorer to see the areas in which students excel and the areas which need improvement. Therefore, teachers and researchers should consider their purpose for scoring writing and use the rubric that will appropriately meet that purpose.

The promise of increased student achievement through educational reform is delivered still-born if teachers do not know how to implement complex instructional practices and sophisticated analysis of student performance. Metacognitive awareness is crucial to the adoption and application of proven educational initiatives. Teachers who successfully implement criterion-referenced assessment instruction, scoring rubrics, transfer to their students the metacognitive knowledge and skills of how to learn. This study is predicated on the research assumptions that metacognition and its attendant skills are critical to the successful implementation of scoring rubrics. A researcher-developed instrument, the Scoring Rubrics Inventory (SRI) and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) were distributed to core-subject teachers from three large public schools in Southwest Louisiana. From a population of sixty-eight (N=68) voluntary participants, eighteen teacher-participants self-reported as high implementers of scoring rubrics, thirty-nine as mid-level implementers and eleven as low-level implementers. From this population, twelve subjects were randomly selected (four high, four mid-level, and four lowlevel implementers) by an outside rater for double-blind observations and interviews. Pearson Product Moment correlations of the SRI and the MAI revealed five significant pairings using an alpha level of .05. The statistical results, coupled with the observation and interview findings from the sample-subjects established the consistency and stability of the Scoring Rubrics Inventory. Further, the totality of the results reported here support the research hypothesis of the study: H1: There is a significant correlation between the metacognitive awareness of secondary school core-subject teachers and the successful implementation of scoring rubrics. The results of the study indicated that secondary school core-subject teachers who successfully implement scoring rubrics possess a metacognitive awareness that transcends professional development training. The findings also suggested that teacher-participants who do not implement scoring rubrics either cannot or lack commitment to the innovation. Implications for teacher educators and school leaders indicated the need to: identify those persons who require additional professional development training; include operational strategies and modeling of successful implementation during training; and maintain a consistent training program in scoring rubrics. Recommendations for future research were offered.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers who teach aesthetic and practical subjects use different assessment rubrics in teaching. The study is based on phenomenographic theory, which makes this a qualitative interview study. Selection and delimitation are five teachers who work at junior high school in aesthetic and practical subjects and who use the digital school platform to report assessment and grades. The results indicate that all teachers use the general rubric as a documentation tool, as guidelines when concretizing goals and as a visual image that acts as support in conversations with students and guardians. Challenges are directed at its design, which contributes to a false image of equal value between all knowledge requirements. The task-oriented rubric is ​​used to clarify goals for students and support them in their work. It can contribute to student motivation and also clarify tasks so that students can be challenged at a higher level.  Some emerging conclusions are that the general rubric becomes central and important for the teachers and therefore might contribute to too much focus on teaching around grade criteria. Teachers also need more knowledge about task-oriented rubrics and students need to become more involved in the process of producing them.

This study investigates the assessment of creative essays in grade 10 Sesotho home language. Nine participants from a total of six schools took part in the research. For the purpose of this study, no literature was found on the assessment of Sesotho essays (or essay writing in any other African language) in general or specific to creative writing in high schools in South Africa. The literature on English first language teaching and English second language teaching were then used to theoretically contextualise the writing and assessment of creative writing essays in Sesotho home language in South African high schools. Data were collected through questionnaires completed by teachers, an analysis of a sample of marked scripts (representing above average, average and below average grades) and interviews with teachers (tailored to investigate the asset of creativity and the aspect of style in Sesotho creative writing essays). The researcher manually coded open-ended responses in the questionnaires. Interview responses were coded with Atlas.ti version 7. Frequencies were calculated for the close-ended questions in the questionnaire. Participating teachers perceived their assessment of essays with the use of the rubric and the correction to be standardised. This was evident in their awarding of marks. It was found in this study that teachers generally award marks around 60%. However, their report that they use comments as per their responses in the questionnaire was disproven by the lack of comments in the scripts analysed in this study. There was also no relationship observed between the correction code frequencies observed in the marked essays that were analysed and the marks granted for specific sections of the rubric. This study recommends use of the rubric in earlier drafts of the writing process. In addition, it proposes an expansion of the marking grid used to provide clearer feedback via the revised rubric to the learners. Due to the participating teachers’ evident lack of clarity on what style in Sesotho home language essays entail, it was inferred that teachers are not clear on the distinctions between different essay assessment criteria in the rubric. A recommendation was the development of a rubric guide, which would clearly indicate to teachers what each criterion of the rubric assesses.

This study investigates the assessment of creative essays in grade 10 Sesotho home language. Nine participants from a total of six schools took part in the research. For the purpose of this study, no literature was found on the assessment of Sesotho essays (or essay writing in any other African language) in general or specific to creative writing in high schools in South Africa. The literature on English first language teaching and English second language teaching were then used to theoretically contextualise the writing and assessment of creative writing essays in Sesotho home language in South African high schools. Data were collected through questionnaires completed by teachers, an analysis of a sample of marked scripts (representing above average, average and below average grades) and interviews with teachers (tailored to investigate the asset of creativity and the aspect of style in Sesotho creative writing essays). The researcher manually coded open-ended responses in the questionnaires. Interview responses were coded with Atlas.ti version 7. Frequencies were calculated for the close-ended questions in the questionnaire. Participating teachers perceived their assessment of essays with the use of the rubric and the correction to be standardised. This was evident in their awarding of marks. It was found in this study that teachers generally award marks around 60%. However, their report that they use comments as per their responses in the questionnaire was disproven by the lack of comments in the scripts analysed in this study. There was also no relationship observed between the correction code frequencies observed in the marked essays that were analysed and the marks granted for specific sections of the rubric. This study recommends use of the rubric in earlier drafts of the writing process. In addition, it proposes an expansion of the marking grid used to provide clearer feedback via the revised rubric to the learners. Due to the participating teachers’ evident lack of clarity on what style in Sesotho home language essays entail, it was inferred that teachers are not clear on the distinctions between different essay assessment criteria in the rubric. A recommendation was the development of a rubric guide, which would clearly indicate to teachers what each criterion of the rubric assesses.