beatty-2008tia

Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment (TEFA) is an innovative pedagogical approach to secondary and post-secondary science instruction that uses classroom response system technology to teach in accord with educational research findings about effective learning environments. TEFA is built upon four core principles, which we label question-driven instruction, dialogical discourse, formative assessment, and meta-level communication. These are implemented in the classroom with an iterative question cycle. Mastering TEFA requires developing skill in five different areas: operating the technology, designing effective questions to pose to students, orchestrating whole-class discussion, modeling students and adapting to their needs, and integrating the TEFA approach with curricula and constraints. The details of how teachers learn, assimilate, and adapt TEFA are the object of a current research project.