Efficacy of alternative assessment and evaluation approaches on science education: A study of metanalysis

Regardless of the fact that in 21st century's World it is easy to access information and there are a great number of devices, the accessed information has great importance of being comented and evaulated acurately. In this situation, instead of reaching the result of one by one studies, we can assume that combining and interpreting studies that have common aspects with appropriate methods will end up with more effective results. Hereby in the place of single stage evaluation, assessments and evaluations focused on process has started to be needed. Alternative assessment and evaluation embraces tools that aims not only know-how's of a student, but also evaluating by taking individual differences into consideration. The biggest advantage of this type of evaluations in Science lessons enables the student to reveal the relationship of own knowledge and skills in real life. The purpose of this study; to determine the current trend regarding alternative assessment and evaluation approaches, which have become increasingly important and used more in science education in recent years. Descriptive analysis and meta- analysis was applied. In practice, two separate forms were created as data collection tools: the descriptive analysis coding form and the meta-analysis coding form. In the study, first, all studies on alternative assessment and evaluation approaches in the field of Science education, conducted between 2000 and 2023 and published in Turkey, were scanned. As a result of the literature scan, 299 articles, 244 master's theses and 31 doctoral theses written about alternative assessment and evaluation in science education were included in the study. These were analyzed descriptively (year, sample group, content, etc.) and the findings were interpreted through the graphs created. Then, 44 studies (32 master's theses, 10 articles, 2 doctoral theses) that were experimental and used alternative assessment and evaluation only as an evaluation tool were separated and a meta-analysis was conducted by using the CMA (Comprehensive Meta Analysis) program. The effect size index was determined as the standardized difference between means (d) = 1.04. And this leads to the conclusion that the use of alternative measurement and evaluation tools as evaluation tools has a strong effect size compared to Hedges's g. As a result, although there are many studies in the literature on alternative assessment and evaluation approaches in Science education, no studies have been found that includes a comparative descriptive analysis and meta analysis of this evaluation. For this reason, it can be stated that it will be a guide for researchers who will work on identifying the missing areas on the subject. Key Words: Science Education, Science Curriculum, Assessment and Evaluation, Alternative Assessment and Evaluation Approaches, Meta-Analysis