Using Assessment for Learning in Teaching Biology to Develop Deep Understanding and Evaluative Thinking among Secondary School Students

This investigation aimed at developing deep understanding of Biology and evaluative thinking among First year Secondary stage students by using Assessment for Learning. The research sample comprises 76 of first year secondary students who were divided into an experimental and a control group. The materials and instruments of the study include the teacher’ s manual for teaching the unit entitled “The Chemical Basis of life” using Assessment for Learning, the students’ activities book, the Deep understanding Test of The Chemical Basis of Life, the Evaluative Thinking Test. The study employed the Quasi experimental design of two groups: the experimental and the control. The results of the study indicated that there is a statistically significant difference at the level (0.05) between the mean of scores of the experimental and control groups on the post administration of the Deep Understanding Test in favor of the experimental group. There is also a statistically significant difference at the level (0.05) between the mean of scores of the experimental and control groups on the post administration of the Evaluative Thinking Test in favor of the experimental group. The results also indicated that using Assessment for Learning in teaching Biology has a considerable effect on promoting students’ understanding of Biology and on developing first year secondary students’ evaluative thinking. The research recommends training pre-service and in- service Science teachers on using Assessment for Learning in teaching Science. It is also recommended that evaluation for learning is important in teaching Science.