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Performance assessment in science focuses on measuring achievement of problem solving, higher-order thinking, and application of skills and knowledge. Descriptions of how performance assessment tasks are linked to science curriculum objectives are given, along with criteria for and examples of performance assessment tasks. Criteria for developing scoring procedures are considered. Throughout the discussion, the role that computers and related technology can play in problem-based performance assessment is described.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS This paper describes methods of assessing the impact on students of a teacher's use of skills learned in a training program. Although we describe a particular set of training materials and methods for measuring their effectiveness, the intention is to illustrate evaluation designs that have wide application for assessing the effects of using teaching skills in terms of student outcomes.

SOME DEFINITIONS The idea that learning is cumulative or hierarchical is a commonsense notion. Intuitively one feels that a learner must master arithmetic before tackling algebra or must learn to distinguish certain letter sounds before learning to read. As a result, certain school courses may be listed as prerequisites for other courses. A group of topics may be ordered in sequence within courses under the assumption that one topic should be studied before another. Efforts have been made also at sequencing instruction on a level more detailed than courses or topics within a course. The aim has been to develop sequences of learning tasks at a level of single performance outcomes.