Introduction of Taiwanese literacy-oriented science curriculum and development of an aligned scientific literacy assessment

Abstract

This article reports on the introduction of Taiwanese new literacy-oriented science curriculum reform and the development of a measure of scientific literacy (SL). Curriculum reform has always been received increasing attention from educators in many countries around the world. Meanwhile, trends in science education policy have emphasized the importance of SL as a transferable outcome and the main goal of science education (Fives et al., 2014). It would seem reasonable, therefore, that the new science curriculum guidelines (NSCG) would be developed for grade 3-grade 12 in Taiwan for making progress toward the goal of SL. In this article, the authors (a) discuss the background of science education reform in Taiwan, (b) introduce and describe the features of NSCG, (c) evaluate the relative strengths and limitations of the present assessments, (d) describe a framework for aligning assessment with NSCG, and (e) conduct a pilot study for item analysis. For the 6th grade level, the pilot test reported an acceptable reliability coefficient, high item difficulty and good discrimination value of scientific literacy assessment (SLA). Further revision is necessary to make available a series of validated and reliable items being developed for assessing students’ SL at various science learning stages. Hopefully, SLA will finally fill the gap of the assessment part of the current science curriculum reform in terms of guiding educators to precisely evaluate students’ SL.