Assessment of the modeling competence: A systematic review and synthesis of empirical research

•Modeling competence has not been assessed as a holistic entity in the existing research literature.•Modeling competence assessment approaches are often associated with specific dimensions of the competence.•Assessment tended to focus on meta aspects of the modeling competence.•There is a lack of assessment approaches for certain aspects of modeling and for modeling as a generative process.•There is a need for a more explicit and coherent theoretical framework for conceptualizing the modeling competence.

We provide an analysis of the existing literature on the assessment of modeling as a scientific competence focusing on empirical research findings. Out of 802 searched citations, a total of 23 publications from science teaching and learning met the inclusion criteria. The analysis was based on the types of instruments used (interviews, questionnaires, videos) to assess the different aspects of scientific modeling (e.g. modeling practices; modeling product; meta-knowledge; cognitive processes during modeling). The results indicate that specific aspects of the modeling competence tend to be evaluated by specific types of assessment instruments and that assessment of other important aspects of the modeling competence is scarce. We suggest that this may be occurring due to the lack of a unifying framework for conceptualizing the modeling competence. In addition, these findings provide insights into certain challenges and confounding factors involved in designing new assessment instruments for each aspect of the modeling competence.