Which assessment you choose depends upon your assessment goals and often different types of assessment are used at different times. Self-assessment encourages students to reflect upon their own learning and to take a proactive stance towards their progress. Informal assessments reveal and build understanding in the context of learning and are formative in nature. Formal assessments often give a summative picture of what students have learned. All of the assessments on this site focus on guiding students to think about causal patterns in the context of science and whether formative or summative, they can all be used diagnostically.
