Study of how students learn and develop big ideas in science has made it possible to track students’ learning progressions through the use classroom formative assessment tools that reveal student thinking. The Structure and Motion of Matter survey (SAMM) is a 15-minute classroom formative assessment tool designed to elicit students conceptual understanding through generative questions, about the particulate nature of matter in a gas context. Students write and draw responses to three scenarios about the diffusion of perfumes in a large room. The instrument was previously validated for use with students from the 8th grade through upper undergraduate levels. The goal of this study is to extend the research validity of the SAMM survey to lower middle school, 6th and 7th grade levels, for use in valuating students’ thinking about the particulate nature of matter in a gaseous medium. Data are analyzed from students at a participating school in an urban school district.  Student volunteers, fill out the SAMM survey with the consent of their parents and participating school. Their answers are analyzed for implicit assumptions about four concepts: structure of a gaseous solute (perfume), structure of a gaseous solvent (air), origin of motion of solute particles, and trajectories of solute particle. In this way, validity studies are performed to analyze students answers for useful information to validate or refute the use of the SAMM survey extended to 6th and 7th grades. This study is carried out because middle school teachers reported that the SAMM survey can be beneficial to them as a formative assessment to explore their students’ thinking about the particulate nature of matter. Implications for use will be reported based on 6th, 7th and 8th grade teachers’ impressions of the use of the SAMM survey during this study.<br/>

Validating the use of the SAMM survey as a formative assessment in the sixth and seventh grade science classrooms to elicit students’ thinking about the particulate nature of matter

255th National Meeting (2018)

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