Problem-based assessment and its impact on pupils’ learning: The case of science subjects

Abstract

Problem-based learning is one of the teaching tools used in the organisation of learning and assessment activities to implement the competence-based approach. New institutional recommendations within Morocco’s formal education curricula, particularly at secondary level for science subjects and specifically for the natural sciences, emphasise the importance of problem-based learning and assessment activities in developing learners’ problem-solving skills (one of the 21st-century skills). However, international reports assessing learners’ ability to solve problem-based situations have highlighted the poor performance of Moroccan learners in solving scientific problems. This finding led us to examine the practice of problem-based assessment among science teachers   and to conduct research aimed at elucidating their conceptions of problem-based assessment.

We opted for a questionnaire as an exploratory research tool, administered to science teachers as a means of gathering information, with the aim of identifying the degree of consistency and discrepancy between what teachers actually believe and what they should believe, from a didactic perspective, regarding the assessment of learning through problem-based situations.

This research has revealed a certain discrepancy in the transfer of this strategy from the theoretical stage (didactic research) to the practical stage (teaching practice).

Keywords: Design – Assessment – Problem-based situation – Problem-posing – Problem-solving.

Received Date: December 20, 2025

Accepted Date: January 12, 2026

Published Date: February 01, 2026

Available Online at: https://www.ijsrisjournal.com/index.php/ojsfiles/article/view/1032