There has been much progress in the Faculty of Science at CUHK since UGC encouraged institutions to adopt the outcomes-based approach (OBA) in teaching and learning in the year 2005. Nowadays, the consensus of members of the Faculty have by and large hardened to the point where the most pertinent question is not whether it is worthwhile to implement the OBA but rather how to take ownership and develop optimal models and useful tools that are feasible and effective for implementation in the light of all cultural and resource constraints.
One hot topic for discussion in OBA context is assessment. Specifically, there generates grave concern and huge debate on the effectiveness and appropriateness of the criterion-referencing and the norm-referencing approaches, the measurement of outcomes that many teachers regarded as non-measurable, and the practical value and the difficulties in the construction of assessment rubric. Although some OBA proponents and educators contend that criterion-referencing approach is the essence of OBA with much emphasis on the importance of assessment rubric, the focal point of the Science Faculty during the past several years have advanced beyond the boundary of such behavioural objectives.
While we have no attempt to apply a straightjacket approach, the objectives of this project are
- to identify and consolidate the initiatives and wisdom from the frontline teachers,
- to explore and crystallize the meaning of assessment in science subjects in OBA context with a view to
- formulating feasible operational assessment model with specific tools that can be
- widely promoted and further disseminated to help achieve system-level enhancement in the assessment of science subjects.
