Literacy Assessment Ability of Creative Thinking in 21

Century

Science Learning

Ridwan Jusuf, Wahyu Sopandi, Ana Ratna Wulan, dan Udin Saefudin Sa’ud

Basic Education Department, Universitas Khairun,

Chemistry Education Department, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Biology Education Department, UPI

Education Administration, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia,

Keyword: 21

Century literacy assessment.

Abstract: This study aims to determine the student teachers' literacy skill in creative science thinking assessment. The

method used in this study is a survey method in the form of documents of creative science thinking

assessment literacy questions that have been validated by education experts consisting of creative thinking

indicators: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.The subjects in this study werethe eighth-

semester students of elementary school teacher education program.The results of the study obtained fluency

(41%), flexibility (33%), originality (29%), elaboration (46%). Whereas, based on the standard indicators of

assessment literacy it was obtained: selecting the assessment method (20%), developing the assessment

method (12%), managing the assessment results (14%), using the assessment results when making decisions

(16%), developing assessment procedures ( 15%), communicating the results of the assessment (13%), and

recognizing unethical valuation methods (10%).This illustrates that the assessment skills of creative science

thinking assessment of the elementary student teacher candidates are still in the low category. The lack of

understanding of the creative thinking assessment is due to the lack of reading resources about creative

thinking assessment literacy held by students and the basic education study program curricula that have not

yet accommodated indicators of creative thinking, especially learning evaluation courses.

1 INTRODUCTION

An assessment needed on 21

century learning is an

assessment functioning as learning. By using an

assessment as learning system, teachers are able to

integrate both in a learning process. A quality

teaching can be seen also in the quality of

assessment instrument arranged by teachers, and

vice versa, the quality of the instrument mentioned

can illustrate the quality of learning process

conducted(Kemendikbud,2016).

In the learning process, an assessment is needed

to determine the characteristics and provide an

assessment to students. Assessment can be used for

a variety of purposes, such as determining student

classes, national accountability, monitoring systems,

allocating resources to an area, placing or

monitoring students, determining interventions,

improving teaching and learning, or giving

individual feedback to students and parents or

guardians. Newton (Suurtamm et,al, 2016).

Rotherdam & Willingham (Wijaya & Nyoto,

2016) noted that the success of a student depends on

century skills, and one of the life skills that must

be possessed in the 21

century is the ability to think

creatively. Creative thinking skill is the ability or

thought process to provide new ideas that can be

applied in problem solving (Munandar, 2012).

Students must learn to acquire it; therefore, the

current learning activities must be adapted to the

development of knowledge in the 21

century that

integrates literacy skills, knowledge skills, skills and

attitudes, and technology mastery. Literacy becomes

an important part of a learning process. Students

who can perform literacy activities to the maximum

will certainly get more learning experiences

compared to other students (Kemendikbud, 2013).

Based on the results of interviews with a lecturer

who teach elementary learning evaluation courses, it

was found that as long as the lecturer taught the

subject he had never taught or measured the creative

Jusuf, R., Sopandi, W., Wulan, A. and Sa’ud, D.

Literacy Assessment Ability of Creative Thinking in 21st Century Science Learning.

DOI: 10.5220/0008896600110017

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Teaching and Learning (ICTL 2018), pages 11-17

ISBN: 978-989-758-439-8

thinking skills of students (the student teachers),

because the lecture process was only referring to the

description in the curriculum of the elementary

school teacher education program (PGSD). This is

supported by documentation on questions of mid-

term exam, final exam and course descriptions in the

curriculum in PGSD. Specifically, for elementary

learning evaluation subject, the material and

evaluation of students' creative thinking skills have

not yet to appear. As a result, the student teachers

passed with an understanding of inadequate key

assessment concept (for example, validity, bias, etc)

and low self-efficacy to use judgment (Volante &

Fazio, 2007). Therefore, elementary school teacher

candidates (the students) must be prepared as early

as possible in their assessment literacy skills, so that

they have good knowledge as a provision to become

teachers later. For this reason, the problem in this

study is: how is the ability of elementary school

students, teachers to understand the creative science

thinking assessment in elementary school for

century learning?

In this 21st century, the human resources needed

are human resources that possess 21

century

competencies. These competencies include critical

thinking skills, creative thinking skills,

communication skills and collaborating skills. Thus

the four competencies of the 21

century can be said

as a generic goal of the learning process and based

on this, the assessment that must be developed has to

be an assessment that can be used to support the

achievement of these objectives. Learning

assessment is data collection executed by adhering

to certain principles. Assessment should be carried

out by adhering to the six general assessment

principles as stated below:(1) The main purpose of

the assessment; (2) the assessment criteria; (3) the

assessment must be carried out fairly; (4) the

assessment must be professionally developed; (5)

the assessment must be delivered clearly and

continuously; and (6) the assessment must be open,

continually reviewed, evaluated, and systematically

corrected (Abidin, 2016).

Literacy assessment is present when a person has

knowledge and skills related to the assessment

needed for competent performance, people's

responsibility "(Popham 2009). Literacy assessment

requires an understanding and use of appropriate

judgments based on basic theoretical and

philosophical knowledge of student learning

measurements (Volante & Fazio, 2007).

Literacy understanding of creative thinking

assessment is important to be developed in higher

education, because students' assignments generally

tend to be more directed at solving problems in the

real world context. Students are not only introduced

to theories / concepts in the scientific field, but are

also encouraged to deal with relevant problems

around them which require a higher level of

thinking. Learning in higher education is essentially

a planned and patterned activity to create an

atmosphere and provide services so that students

learn effectively. For the lecturers, the main task that

must be executed is to plan and perform learning

and make an assessment of every material that has

been taught. The three are inseparable unity systems.

Effective and meaningful learning requires an

appropriate and comprehensive assessment system.

The standard literacy assessment proposed by

Sanders & Vogel (1993) are as follows:

1.1 Teachers Must Be Skilled in

Choosing an Appropriate

Assessment Method for Instructional

Decisions

Teachers who meet this standard will have the

conceptual skills and applications following it. They

will understand how valid assessment data can

support instructional activities such as providing

appropriate feedback to students, diagnosing group

and individual learning needs, planning individual

education programs, motivating students, and

evaluating learning procedures. Assessment choices

vary and include questions and tests submitted by

the text and curriculum, standardized criteria and

reference tests, oral assessments, spontaneous and

structured performance assessments, portfolios,

exhibitions, demonstrations, rating scales, examples

of paper writing and written tests, school work and

homework, peer and self assessments, student

records, observations, questionnaires, interviews,

projects, products, and opinions of others.

1.2 Teachers Must Be Skilled in

Developing Assessment Methods

That Are Appropriate for

Instructional Decisions

Teachers who meet this standard will have the

conceptual skills and applications following it.

Teachers will be skilled in planning information

collection that facilitates the decisions they will

make. They will know and follow the right

principles to develop and use assessment methods in

their teaching, avoiding common difficulties in

student assessment. Such a technique might include

ICTL 2018 - The 1st International Conference on Teaching and Learning

several options listed at the end of the first standard.

The teacher will choose a technique that is in

accordance with the intent of the teacher's

instruction. Teachers who meet this standard will

also be skilled in using student data to analyze the

quality of each assessment technique they use.

Because most teachers do not have access to

assessment specialists, they must be prepared to

carry out their own analysis.

1.3 Teachers Must Be Skilled in

Managing, Publishing, and

Interpreting the Results of

Assessment Method Produced

Externally and Those Produced by

Teachers

Teachers must be skilled in managing, publishing,

and interpreting the results of various assessment

methods. Teachers who meet this standard will have

the conceptual skills and applications following it.

They will be skilled in interpreting the results of

assessments made by informal and formal teachers,

including performances of students in class and

homework. Teachers will be able to use guidelines

for publishing essay questions and projects, stencils

for publishing response choice questions, and

performance rating scales. They will be able to use

this in a way that produces consistent results.

1.4 Teachers Must Be Skilled in using

the Results of Assessment in Making

Decision on Individual Students,

Lesson Plan, Curriculum

Development, and School

Improvement

Teachers who meet this standard will have the

conceptual skills and applications following it. They

will be able to use accumulated assessment

information to develop good instructional plans to

facilitate the development of student education.

When using assessment results to plan and/or

evaluate instruction and curriculum, the teacher will

interpret the results correctly and avoid general

misinterpretations, such as based on decisions on

scores that do not have curriculum validity. They

will be informed of the results of local, regional,

state, and national assessments and about

appropriate uses for improving student, class,

school, district, state and national education.

1.5 Teachers Must Be Skilled in

Developing a Valid Student

Assessment Procedure That Uses

Student Assessment

Teachers who meet this standard will have the

conceptual skills and applications following it. They

will be able to design, implement, and explain

procedures to develop values that consist of various

things from various tasks, projects, classification

activities, quizzes, tests, and/or other assessments

that they may use. The teacher will understand and

can articulate why the values they provide are

rational and fair, so that they reflect their preferences

and judgments. The teacher will be able to recognize

and avoid incorrect assessment procedures such as

using value as a punishment. They will be able to

evaluate and modify their assessment procedures to

improve the validity of interpretations made by them

about student achievement.

1.6 Teachers Must Be Skilled in

Communicating the Results of

Assessment to Students, Parents,

Other General Audiences, and Other

Teachers

Teachers who meet this standard will have the

conceptual skills and applications following it. The

teacher will understand and be able to provide a

precise explanation of how the interpretation of

student assessment must be moderated by other

socio-economic, cultural, linguistic, and background

factors. The teacher will be able to explain that the

results of the assessment do not imply that these

background factors limit the development of the

student's final education. They will be able to

communicate with students and their parents or

guardians how they can assess the progress of

student education.

1.7 Teachers Must Be Skilled in

Acknowledging Unethical, Illegal,

and Inappropriate Assessment

Method and Information

Teachers who meet this standard will have the

conceptual skills and applications following it. They

will know the laws and case decisions that affect the

practice of assessing classes, school districts, and

assessing their country. The teacher will realize that

various assessment procedures can be misused or

used excessively so as to cause harmful

Literacy Assessment Ability of Creative Thinking in 21st Century Science Learning

consequences such as humiliating students, violating

students' rights to confidentiality, and not using the

standard achievement test scores of students to

measure teaching effectiveness.

The assessment carried out by the teacher in the

implementation of the 2013 curriculum experienced

many obstacles including the aspects that must be

assessed. The assessment carried out together with

the learning process, so that the teaching and

learning process became less effective and felt

burdened because they had to sum up each student's

overall value and then describe the value. This

indicates that elementary school teachers experience

difficulties in applying 2013 curriculum especially

those relating to assessment in 21

century learning.

The issue of 21

century skills is of concern to

observers and education practitioners. The North

Central Regional Education Laboratory (NCREL)

and The Metiri Group (2003) identified the

framework for 21

century skills, which are divided

into four categories: digital era proficiency,

inventive thinking, effective communication, and

high productivity. The 21

century competency

framework shows that core subject is inadequate;

students must be equipped with; 1) creative-critical

ability, (2) strong character, (3) support for the

ability to utilize information and communication

technology (Dadan, 2012)

Partnership for 21

Century Skills (2002)

identified six key elements for 21

century that are

encouraging learning: (1) emphasizing core subject

knowledge; whatever skills developed must be based

on knowledge of the contents of the main subject

matter and an understanding of the main

characteristics; 2) emphasizing learning skills;

students need learning skills consisting of three

skills, namely skills related to information and

communication, thinking and problem solving skills,

interpersonal skills and self-regulating skills. A

teacher needs to integrate these skills in learning

intentionally, strategically and to the greatest extent;

(3) using the 21

century tool to develop learning

skills; students need to learn how to use tools that

are essential for everyday life and to be productive

at work. The ability to utilize ICT is very necessary

in the 21

century;(4) Teaching and learning in 21

century context; students learn material through

examples, applications, and real-world experiences

both inside and outside the school; (5) teaching and

studying the contents of 21

century; educators need

to integrate knowledge and skills in the 21

century.

(6) Using the assessment of 21

century that

measures 21

century skills; to measure skills in the

century, high-quality assessments are needed so

that they can measure student achievement in 21

century elements. For effective instruments to be

used, they must be made appropriately.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

The type of research used was descriptive qualitative

research. Qualitative descriptive research was used

to describe the problem under study. The study was

conducted in the Department of Basic Education in

the faculty of teaching and education in Khairun

Ternate University, with the research subjects of the

2015/2016 elementary school student teachers with

total 26 students and the instrument used to obtain

data was creative science thinking assessment

literacy questions, interviews and documentation.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Results of Creative Science Thinking

Skill Test

The learning process includes planning,

implementation, and assessment. Assessment is one

of the instruments used to determine the extent to

which achievement of learning objectives has been

set previously. One of the skills that must be

possessed by student teachers is creative thinking

assessment literacy to deal with changes in the 21

century learning. The implementation of the science

thinking skill test for 2015-2016 PGSD students

based on indicators of creative thinking resulted:

Table 1: Creative Thinking Test Results.

No.

Indicators of creative

thinking

Test

results

1. Fluency 41%

lexibilit

33%

3. Ori

inalit

29%

4. Elaboration 46%

Based on the results of the creative science

thinking literacy ability test above, it can be

concluded that the ability is still in very low

category. This means that the understanding of

students as student teachers is still very low,

therefore they should be given a good understanding

ICTL 2018 - The 1st International Conference on Teaching and Learning

early on (starting at college), so that they can apply

that knowledge to the real world.

There are many aspects used in assessing student

learning outcomes, but I emphasize more on the

presence, activity, and honesty of students in

working on the problem. However, the mastery of

theory or knowledge will follow naturally if students

achieve those 3 qualities “ (Hidayati, 2016).

Figure 1: Understanding of Students / Prospective

Teachers.

The learning process includes planning,

implementation, and assessment. Assessment is one

of the instruments to determine the extent to which

achievement of learning objectives has been set

previously. Course competencies will also be

achieved well because students tend to be more

disciplined in teaching and learning activities.

Nonetheless, authentic assessment actually

emphasizes the quality of learning outcomes and

does not focus on how high the students' value is.

Assessment of learning outcomes as a process of

gathering and processing information to determine

the achievement of learning outcomes students need

data as information that is relied upon as the basis

for decision making (success/failure of students in

achieving a competency). To assess this learning

outcome, lecturers are not only required to

determine what aspects need to be assessed, but also

know how to assess these aspects.

In general, student assessment programs were

conducted by lecturers in the realm of knowledge,

attitude, and skills. Knowledge domain assessment

is done by assessing daily assignments, daily

examinations, midterms, and final semester

examinations. The instrument used in measuring the

ability of students in the realm of knowledge was in

the form of a description question with regard to the

level of Bloom's Taxonomy, so that students have

the ability to think higher in answering the questions

given. Observing student attitudes both inside and

outside the classroom, such as motivation to learn,

responsibility in doing assignments, discipline,

politeness, and honesty in doing assignments or

examinations was a way to do the assessment in

affective domain. In the other hand, the assessment

of the psychomotor domain was conducted by

assessing the active participation of students in the

learning process such as active questions, expressing

opinions, and presentation performance, as well as

the creative results of students' work.

Learning outcomes assessment provides

information to lecturers and students. For lecturers,

the information is one of which can be used to

determine the extent to which learning goals have

achieved based on the predetermined goals. While

for students, this information can be used to

determine their learning achievements after

attending lectures.

Stiggins (1991) noted that educated educators

must know "What they value, why they do it, how to

best assess achievement of interest, how to produce

good performance samples, what can be wrong, and

how to prevent problems before they occur".

Literacy assessments are very important so that

educators can support and measure teaching and

learning. In recent years, "given the increasing

importance of both large-scale and classroom

assessments, developing assessment literacy in the

needs of prospective teachers is an explicit

component of teacher education programs" (Deluca

& Klinger, 2010).Literacy assessment of student

teachers is seen as a key link in the relationship

between assessment of quality and student

achievement (Mertler, 2002) and teachers must have

an adequate level of assessment literacy (Popham,

2006).

3.2 Result of Literacy Assessment Skill

Test

The implementation of the assessment literacy skill

test with an instrument developed based on the

description of the indicators of the Literacy

Assesment Standards (SLA) for students of the

2015/2016 prospective teacher obtained the

following results.

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

41%

33%

29%

46%

Science's creative thinking

understanding

Fluency

Flexibility

Originality

Elaboration

Literacy Assessment Ability of Creative Thinking in 21st Century Science Learning

Table 2: Literacy Test Results Assessment Creative

Thinking.

No Assessment Literacy

Standard (SLA)

Test results

1. Choose an assessment

metho

20%

2. Develop assessment

methods

12%

3. Mana

e assessment results 14%

4. Use assessment results to

make decisions

16%

5. Develop assessment

rocedures

15%

6. Communicate the results of

the assessmen

13%

7. Recognize unethical

valuation methods

10%

From the results obtained above, it can be seen

that the ability to choose the valuation method has a

higher value, even though it is still in the very low

category range, this means that the student teachers

already understand the various assessment methods

that will be used to develop the assessment

instrument. This is in line with the opinion of

Popham (2009) and Mardapi (2008) that the

selection of a good assessment method will have an

impact on the learning process and become a

reference for further policy. Likewise in the case of

developing assessment instruments, students need to

be provided with the development of assessment

instruments that can be carried out while attending

the evaluation course, so that they have a good

understanding of the development of assessment

instruments. Sugiyono (2008) & Gable (1986) said

that a less developed product is a learning

assessment instrument

Figure 2. Assessment Literacy Understanding

Teachers are required to be able to choose and

use appropriate and useful evaluation tools in

providing positive feedback for educators and

schools so that, ultimately, learning assessment from

schools or institutions, where the learning process

takes place, can be a positive value for the quality of

the school itself.

In the end the students (students) who carry out

the evaluation can better prepare themselves in

facing various tests, either pre-test or post-test,

summative or formative tests, evaluations conducted

by evaluators from outside or inside. Those will not

be the worrisome main factor in the learning

assessment for their evaluation results.Stakeholders

now expect teachers to be able to provide a notion

for the assessment tools they use. Unfortunately,

most teachers nowadays know little about

assessment because they are traditionally not trained

for it (Popham, 2004, 2009a). In fact, "one of the

most serious problems in the education profession

today is that the level of Literacy assessment of the

educators is very low" (Popham, 2010).

These skills help teachers engage in instructional

adaptations where they "... use insights from

assessment to plan and revise instructions and

provide feedback that explicitly helps students see

10%

15%

20%

12%

14%

16%

15%

13%

10%

Understandingassessmentliteracy

Chooseanassessmentmethod

Developassessmentmethods

Manageassessmentresults

Useassessmentresultstomakedecisions

Developassessmentprocedures

Communicatetheresultsoftheassessment

Recognizeunethicalvaluationmethods

ICTL 2018 - The 1st International Conference on Teaching and Learning

how to improve ..." (Shepard, Hammerness, Darling-

Hammond, & Rust, 2005). Significantly, Wiggins

and McTighe (1998) also argued that this skill needs

to be explicitly taught inasmuch as it does not

appear naturally to every teacher. Clearly, there are

many things that can be achieved by improving

teachers’ literacy assessment. This offers several

guarantees that teachers can choose assessment tools

that show students making adequate progress

towards the country's learning standards (Gardner,

2006; Popham, 2011; Stiggins, 2005).

4 CONCLUSION

1. Elementary school student teachers' ability to

understand creative science thinking

instruments is in the low category for all

indicators of creative science thinking.

2. Elementary school student teachers' literacy

assessment ability is in the very low category on

all indicators of the Literacy Assessment

Standard (SLA).

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Literacy Assessment Ability of Creative Thinking in 21st Century Science Learning