Task Context: People have many alternate conceptions about the scientific world. They think about what they do and see, building shared explanations of how objects and events work. The building of these ideas can often result in misconceptions.

Task Description: You are going to conduct a case study on a (pretend or real) student (Prep-Year 6) who has a (Chemical and Physical) scientific misconception and discuss how you will seek to modify this misconception as the child’s teacher. Your response will be in two parts as elaborated on below.

Task Elaboration (It is recommended that you use these sub-headings (in bold) in your response).

Part A - Case Study: Select a scientific concept from either the Chemical or Physical sciences sub-strand of the Australian Curriculum (Science) that is commonly misunderstood or poorly understood. Misconceptions can often be found in the media, in popular culture or during conversations with children.

Learner context: Identify a learner context that you choose to work with from Foundation (Prep) to Year 6. You can use an actual child or create an interaction using a pseudonym.

Comparisons between alternate conception and current scientific conception: Compare student understandings with current scientific understandings. Include examples, data and a comparison of the language.

Part B - Replacing Alternate Conceptions: Develop a learning sequence that works to modify the alternate conception identified during Part A.

Discussion on research on teaching approach: The pedagogy used in your learning sequence must be linked to current research on effective teaching and learning practice and take account of the cognitive and language characteristics of the learner in the chosen age group.

Learning sequence – Should include the learning intention, success criteria, what the child will learn, materials needed (including ICT tool/s) and how it will be formatively assessed at the end of each lesson. You need to include a range of teaching strategies.

Presentation of work (Outcome) – How will the students present their understanding of their science learning?

Note: It is recommended to include a brief introduction and conclusion in your submission.

Task Description: You are to create or adapt two primary (or early childhood) teaching sequences (You are encouraged to adapt your units from Primary Connections units) to use in your future teaching of both physical and chemical sciences. You then need to outline how you are planning to assess your students' learning. You need to use diagnostic, formative, and summative learning in these units and provide a research-supported discussion on why it is important to use all three forms of assessment in your future science teaching. There are two parts to this assignment as discussed below.

Part A: Assessment in Science

How can we effectively assess students' science understanding using diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments? Draw from the course readings and high-quality research to present a discussion on each of these three forms of assessment as they pertain to the teaching of Science.

Part B: Incorporating this assessment into your science teaching

· Choose two (Primary Connections) units, one from the Physical sciences sub-strand and one from the Chemical sciences sub-strand, taught in a primary school for any year level. (They can be from the same year level or different year levels).

· Provide a description of these teaching units along with how you will assess student understanding.
· Identify the types of assessment used in each unit and how they demonstrate student understanding.

· In light of current research around effective science assessment practice, identify the diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments used in these units of work.

· Make at least two recommendations for improvements in each of these Primary Connections units and include how you would incorporate assessment for each recommendation.

· These recommendations must be justified by links to current high-quality research about making reliable and consistent judgments on student learning.

While not explicitly stated, the use of an introduction and conclusion in your submission is a good idea. 

1. A research-supported explanation of the use of diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments in the science classroom is given.
2. An explanation of how the types of assessment used in the units of work demonstrate student understanding and motivate or engage students in their own learning.
3. The two units draw on effective science teaching principles to engage students in learning about physical and chemical sciences. 
4. Two appropriate recommendations are identified for improvement in the assessment items of each unit and justified by links to current research.
5. Cohesive writing is consistent with academic conventions. Extensive use of relevant and credible sources for an explanation of scientific concepts.