A Science Portfolio.

Summary The use of portfolios has had a pos-itive impact on students, faculty, and the program in the chemistry department at Berea College. The portfolio allows for the inclusion in the curriculum of activities that occur outside of the classroom and offers a convenient means to moni-tor student participation in those activities. In addition to guiding students through the curriculum, the portfolio is a document that summarizes their skills, a vehicle through which they can interact with faculty, and a model for pro-fessional development. Because tasks outlined in the portfolio are linked to programmatic learning goals, portfolio assessment guides faculty in curricular development. The greatest strength of the port-folio, as it has been implemented, is as a device for program-level assessment that requires all stu-dents to attain acceptable levels of skill. ■ References Adamchik, C.F., Jr. 1996. The de-sign and assessment of chemistry portfolios. Journal of Chemical Education 73 (6): 528–29. Alexander, J.G., S.W. Craft, M.S. Baldwin, G.W. Beers, and G.S. McDaniel. 2002. The nursing portfolio: A reflection of a pro-fessional. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 33 (2): 55–59.Barrow, D.A. 1992. The use of port-folios to assess student learn-ing. Journal of College Science Teaching 22 (3): 148–53.Blocher, J.M, J. Echols, and L. Sujo de Montes. 2003. Shifting from instruction to contruction: A personal meaningful experience. Action in Teacher Education 24 (4): 74–78.Borko, H., P. Michalec, and M. Timmons. 1997. Student teach-ing portfolios: A tool for pro-moting reflective practice. Jour-nal of Teacher Education 48 (5): 345–57.Bowers, S.P. 2005. The portfolio process: Questions for imple-mentation and practice. Col-lege Student Journal 39 (4): 754–58.Collins, A. 1992. Portfolios for science education: Issues in purpose, structure, authentic-ity. Science Education 76 (4): 451–63.Etkina, E., and K.A. Harper. 2002. Weekly reports: Student reflec-tions on learning. Journal of College Science Teaching 31 (7): 476–80.Gilbert, S.W., and C.L. Mason. 2004. A time for change: Pro-gram-level performance assess-ment. Journal of College Science Teaching 33 (5): 5–9.Naizer, G.I. 1997. Validity and re-liability issues of performance-portfolio assessment. Action in Teacher Research 18 (4): 1–9.Phelps, A.J., M.M. LaPorte, and A. Mahood. 1997. Portfolio assess-ment in high school chemistry: One teacher’s guidelines. Jour-nal of Chemical Education 74 (5): 528–31.Reis, N.K., and S.K. Villaume. 2002. The benefits, tensions, and visions of portfolios as a wide-scale assessment for teacher education. Action in Teacher Education 23 (4): 10–17.Russell, J.D., and C. Butcher. 1999. Using portfolios in educational technology courses. Journal of Technology and Teacher Educa-tion 7 (4): 279–89.Ryan, L.B., and J.J. Krajewski. 2002. The journey toward be-coming a standards driven and performance based teacher prep-aration program: One college’s story. Action in Teacher Educa-tion 23 (4): 59–68.Schon, D.A. 1987. Educating the reflective practitioner. San Fran-cisco: Jossey-Bass.Slater, T.E. 1997. The effectiveness of portfolio assessments in sci-ence. Journal of College Science Teaching 26 (5): 315–18.Teixeira-Dias, J.J.C., H. Pedrosa de Jesus, F. Neri de Souza, and M. Watts. 2005. Teaching for quality learning in chemistry. International Journal of Science Education 27 (9) 1123–37.Wigle, S.E., and G.T. White. 1998. Conceptual frameworks, port-folios assessment and faculty mentoring: Bridges to stan-dards-based teacher education programs. Action in Teacher Education 20 (3): 39–49.Willis, E.M., and M.A. Davies. 2002. Promise and practice of professional portfolios. Action in Teacher Education 23 (4): 18–27.