Abstract

The theoretical study presented here focuses on issues related to the interconnection of formative assessment and inquiry-based education in school practice and approaches the issues jointly for mathematics and science subjects (specifically natural history). On the basis of common features of inquiry-based education in both subjects, and using a communication model for describing on-the-fly assessment interactions, we created a new general model designed to describe formative assessment interactions during inquiry-based education. The resulting theoretical model is introduced through a collection of diagrams that generally describe the course of lessons with inquiry tasks from the perspective of formative assessment, and through a newly-established communication model (called the double ESRU model) that aims to code various types of formative assessment interactions. The possibilities offered by the theoretical model are illustrated by detailed analysis of two virtual lessons with an inquiry task; the first lesson is in mathematics, the second in natural history. From the perspective of educational research, the model that is presented offers a tool for detailed apposite analysis of formative assessment during inquiry-based education. From the perspective of teachers and future teachers, the model offers a tool for supporting the implementation of formative assessment and inquiry-based education into their own teaching practice. The visualisation of the interconnection of the two approaches and the independence of the model from the school subject should help to provide an understanding of the possibilities that formative assessment offers for inquiry-based education.