Chapter 14: Assessing Learning Outcomes

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• Chapter 14 Assessing Learning Outcomes
• Objectives
• 1. Define traditional, alternative, authentic,
  and performance assessments
• 2. Describe effective classroom assessment
  programs
• 3. Describe various methods of science assessment
• 4. Explain scoring assessments and assigning
  grades

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• What is Assessment
• Plays a critical role in education
• Teachers plan to ensure students do well on
  assessments
• Students are motivated to learn content to do
  well on assessments
• Science Reform and Assessment
• Tradition assessment paper and pencil tests
• Hein and Price (1994) identified reasons for
  assessment reform
• Tests reveal what students dont know cant
  assess all outcomes
• Science education is now less about content, more
  about literacy
• Accountability of schools
• We know more about how students learn inquiry
  learning is better
• FYIBTW all children (?) know how to learn to
  speak? This is inherently a complex learning
  process and constructed. Why then do we change
  the rules of learning so much when children get
  into formal classrooms?
• Contemporary Science Assessment
• Alternative formats portfolios, journaling,
  concept mapping, etc
• Authentic real world situations doing what real
  scientists do
• Performance hands-on or creative tasks, rather
  than regurgitation
• Choosing appropriate assessment is challenging
  task

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• Other important assessment concepts
• Diagnostic assessment used to find out what
  students know before beginning a unit may
  include interviews, journals, pre-tests,
  elicitations w/ pre-lesson reflections, etc
• Formative assessment used during instruction to
  find out student progress and provide feedback to
  students, midpoint checks for learning
• Summative assessment final evaluation of
  learning achieved usually comprehensive often
  serves as the basis of a grade, should align with
  CAPT test topics?
• Reliability consistency or repeatability of an
  assessment tool confidence in the assigned grade
  depends on reliable assessment
• Validity does the assessment measure what it is
  supposed to content validity means asking the
  appropriate questions form validity means having
  students answer in an appropriate way
• Evaluation assessment collection of data
  evaluation using the data from assessment to
  make a decision about quality of work

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• Assessment Methods - need to match standards,
  learning activities
• Performance Tasks
• A laboratory practical exam is a performance task
• Using materials, equipment, models to demonstrate
  learning
• Teacher assesses by observing the process
• Logistics and management challenge the use of
  this assessment
• Use of stations throughout the room can help
• Assessing during regular lab activities
• Checklists allow timely use of performance
  assessments (p. 280)
• Computer simulations can allow for storing files
  of student work
• Open-Ended Problems
• Many and varied ways of arriving at a solution
• Usually, solution is presented in writing
• Often use real-world issues
• Students may use multiple resources to find a
  solution
• Examples
• Describe a method for removing nitrate
  contamination in well water
• Experiments to determine what gave someone food
  poisoning

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• Inquiry-Oriented Investigations
• Analyze problem, plan and conduct experiment,
  organize results, and communicate findings
  (Doran, 1998)
• Provide students with materials and directions,
  safety precautions
• Some teachers require approval of a plan before
  students start
• WOWBugs example p. 282 (behavior of wasps)
• Individual accountability (Reynolds, 1996)
• Group report, but individual reports allowed if
  student disagrees
• Group does investigation, but all students submit
  own report
• Individuals dont discuss results prepare
  separate reports
• Large scale investigations
• Can last over weeks or even a semester
• Assessment and instruction are intermixed
• Students get an idea of what real scientists do
• Students report various segments of the project
  over the time period
• McPherson College Undergraduate Research program
• Concept Maps
• Graphical method to show learning or to infer
  misconceptions
• Must provide instruction and practice before
  using as assessment

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• Observation
• Science teachers continually do this anyway
  write it down!!!
• Example safety goggles? correct technique?
  correct procedure?
• How to decide what to observe (Hein and Price,
  1994)
• Knowledge application how students solve
  problems
• Information assimilation how students relate new
  information to class
• Vocabulary listen to student conversation and
  discussion
• Challenges
• Many students per day
• Many learning objectives per student
• Checklists can help (p. 284, p. 285)
• Interviews
• Verbal questions from teacher to student
• Can be used before, during, or after instruction
• Open-Ended
• Teacher asks fewer, broader questions
• What do you know about?
• Can you explain how that is used outside of
  school?

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• Partially structured interview
• Written set of questions to probe specific
  knowledge
• Probing questions can help clarify the student
  response
• Can be particularly helpful with
  writing-challenged students
• In your own words, what is the theory of?
• What evidence supports to conclusion that?
• What did scientists learn from the study of?
• Challenges
• Not practical to get lengthy interviews of all
  students in large classes
• Interview a few students at a time, dispersing
  questions
• Interview before, after school, at lunch, during
  study hall, etc
• Tape student-student interviews
• Journals
• Assess attitudes, growth, and improve writing at
  the same time
• Can include free writing on a subject or specific
  questions
• Often overlook spelling/grammar to get at science
• Challenges dont have time to read them all
• Read randomly selected journals each week

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• Drawings
• Nonthreatening, simple, useful for
  reading/writing challenged
• May include written descriptions, summaries
• Provide evidence of conceptual change
• Portfolios
• Organization, synthesis, and summarization of
  student learning
• Formative, and Summative assessments included
• May ask for reflection by student on past
  assessments
• May include student written captions describing
  how assessment was used to demonstrate learning
• Involves student in the assessment process
• Looks at totality of the experience, rather than
  isolated data
• Student often allowed to choose a limited number
  of items
• Judgement
• Holistic on portfolio as a whole
• Analytic rating of individual items

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• Developing Assessments
• Challenges to using Contemporary Assessments
• Often harder than writing exams
• Often must construct them yourselves
• Authenticity and complexity of tasks
• Scoring rubrics is more subjective than scoring
  exams
• Step-by-step process Lewin and Shoemaker, 1998
• Be clear about skills, knowledge, standards
  targeted
• Be familiar with the traits of a strong
  performance
• Use a meaningful context within which you assess
• Write and rewrite the task clearly and concisely
• Assign the task with step-by-step instructions
• Provide examples of good work
• Score the task and then make revisions for the
  next use
• Rubrics
• Written criteria by which student work is judged
• Numeric scale is tied to specific performance

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• Student usually given the task and the rubric at
  the same time
• Tasks can be general and scores specific or vice
  versa (p. 290)
• Some teacher start with a generic rubric and
  adapt to a task (p. 291)
• Value of Rubrics
• Communicate what students know and can do
• Provide understandable performance targets to
  students
• How will I be graded? How am I doing?
• Resources of Assessment Tasks
• Textbooks often include suggestions of
  contemporary assessments
• Internet
• Performance Assessment Links in Science
  http//pals.sri.com/
• Links http//www.col-ed.org/smcnws/assesstask.htm
  l
• Journals and tradebooks
• National Science Teachers Association
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development
• The Science Teacher
• Science Scope
• Educational Leadership

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• Grading and Reporting Grades
• Importance of Grades
• Impact lives of students by evaluating success
  and failure
• Compare students with each other
• Determine scholarship or even acceptance to
  further education
• Types of Grading
• Criterion-referenced judged relative to
  established criteria
• Allow as many A, B, C, D, F grades as students
  earn
• Assumes all students can earn an A
• Does not ensure a normal distribution of grades
• Norm-referenced judged relative to other members
  of the class
• Assumes class should match a normal distribution
• Particularly difficult to defend with small class
  sizes
• Applied assessment rarely produce this on their
  own
• Curving grades adjusting grades to meet normal
  distribution
• Homogeneous classes (advanced placement) dont
  work

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• Assigning Final Grades
• Numerical average of all assessments is the
  traditional method
• Some argue criterion-referenced scores shouldnt
  do this
• Replace grades with statements of student
  attainment
• Norm-referenced scores must use numbers in any
  event
• Point and Percentage Systems
• Assign points for each assignment reflecting the
  importance to course
• Assign grades based on total points earned or
  percentage of points
• Flaw a percentage doesnt tell you specifically
  what was learned
• Fairness, Consistency, and Communication are Key
• Scaling adjusting letter cut-offs 90/80/70/60 ?
  88/78/68/58 for
• 5. Curving assigning grades based on a normal
  distribution

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