Evaluation practices that bring about improvements in teaching and learning.
My approaches to assessment have always been assessment for learning rather than learning for assessment. Assessment should be about gaining of the necessary skill and knowledge to be successful classroom practitioners. In recent years my focus has been on providing student with diagnostic and formative assessment concentrating on providing feedback to help students to refine their work before producing a final product (Black, 1993).
Diagnostic Assessment Diagnostic assessment is designed to position students in their learning and determine their prior knowledge. In class I determine their existing science knowledge modelling tools that students can then use in their classrooms. For example, I use tools such as predict, observe and explain, a concept cartoon (where students choose an answer from the answers of a character in a picture and align them with this position), brain storm or concept maps to elicit their knowledge and then this can be used to craft further experiences. An activity that students enjoy is ‘My Body’ where I ascertain their prior knowledge about body systems. One student lies on a very large piece of paper and another student draws around them with a marker. Then all the students in the group try to determine which key body organs (respiratory, circulatory, excretory and digestive) are where and how large they are relative to the outline. The results from this activity in 2015 indicated a wide variety of prior knowledge among the groups of pre-service teachers (Support Material 21).
As an assessment task in 2nd year, that I designed, students are asked to complete a diagnostic assessment in the form of an interview with a child. Designing good questions is an important skill that students need to master to become successful educators. Students research a science topic, create 10 interview questions, interview a child and record the answers. When transcribing the interview students identify misconceptions or preconceptions that the child expressed and consider how to address them.
I get it now what you meant about finding out what children know, I can see the importance of asking good questions
(273 Student, 2014)(Support Material 7).
Formative Assessment Formative assessment enables me to determine students’ understanding and remediate or re-examine concepts based on the students’ understanding. In the 1st year unit students create unique inquiry projects and become ‘experts’ in their area of interest. This 3000 word report is due at the end of the semester. However, in order to support students a formative scaffolded report is submitted in week 4. Students are supplied with detailed feedback from tutors in the form of audio comments and track changes on their papers. This helps students to refine their questions and re-direct focus as required. In addition, I developed a one-on-one coaching model to enable students to refine their work individually. These sessions proved popular with more than 50% of the students meeting with tutors to discuss their progress. The production of written reports is an empowering experience for first year students and I celebrated their success in the form of a book that showcases their completion of extensive science inquiry (Support Material 28). In the second year unit, students are asked to prepare a 5 lesson plan. In the highly scaffolded process that I have devised, students plan against the 5 E model before they write their actual lesson plans. They bring their drafts to class and get feedback to ensure they are on track.
Diagnostic Assessment Diagnostic assessment is designed to position students in their learning and determine their prior knowledge. In class I determine their existing science knowledge modelling tools that students can then use in their classrooms. For example, I use tools such as predict, observe and explain, a concept cartoon (where students choose an answer from the answers of a character in a picture and align them with this position), brain storm or concept maps to elicit their knowledge and then this can be used to craft further experiences. An activity that students enjoy is ‘My Body’ where I ascertain their prior knowledge about body systems. One student lies on a very large piece of paper and another student draws around them with a marker. Then all the students in the group try to determine which key body organs (respiratory, circulatory, excretory and digestive) are where and how large they are relative to the outline. The results from this activity in 2015 indicated a wide variety of prior knowledge among the groups of pre-service teachers (Support Material 21).
As an assessment task in 2nd year, that I designed, students are asked to complete a diagnostic assessment in the form of an interview with a child. Designing good questions is an important skill that students need to master to become successful educators. Students research a science topic, create 10 interview questions, interview a child and record the answers. When transcribing the interview students identify misconceptions or preconceptions that the child expressed and consider how to address them.
I get it now what you meant about finding out what children know, I can see the importance of asking good questions
(273 Student, 2014)(Support Material 7).
Formative Assessment Formative assessment enables me to determine students’ understanding and remediate or re-examine concepts based on the students’ understanding. In the 1st year unit students create unique inquiry projects and become ‘experts’ in their area of interest. This 3000 word report is due at the end of the semester. However, in order to support students a formative scaffolded report is submitted in week 4. Students are supplied with detailed feedback from tutors in the form of audio comments and track changes on their papers. This helps students to refine their questions and re-direct focus as required. In addition, I developed a one-on-one coaching model to enable students to refine their work individually. These sessions proved popular with more than 50% of the students meeting with tutors to discuss their progress. The production of written reports is an empowering experience for first year students and I celebrated their success in the form of a book that showcases their completion of extensive science inquiry (Support Material 28). In the second year unit, students are asked to prepare a 5 lesson plan. In the highly scaffolded process that I have devised, students plan against the 5 E model before they write their actual lesson plans. They bring their drafts to class and get feedback to ensure they are on track.
Evidence of outcomes for Criterion 3
Process evaluation: In 2014 to support students’ needs and to plan and tailor learning experiences, I implemented a short on-line survey that examined their commitments and asked how they felt they could be best supported. The survey results indicated that students felt University was important but were juggling a number of aspects of their lives and indicated that tutor support was pivotal to their success. Acting on this information, I created a Scoop it site (http://www.scoop.it/t/science-sites ) which is accessible to all students. It is a public curation site of resources that remains accessible after the unit is complete (Support Material 12).
Outcome evaluation: In evaluating the success of the first year project I used surveys to gather information about the skills, confidence and perceived competence of all students across modes. The four surveys in 2013 and 2014 have enabled me to build a profile of 1st year learners and determine their experience in technological tools and their confidence in completing the science inquiry process. In total 1139 students in all iterations (Internal, OUA and Regional) have participated in the surveys and provided feedback to continue to refine the unit. It was found that 86% of all students in the unit were female and the Internal cohort was much younger (90% under 34 years old) whilst the OUA cohort 90% were under 44 years old. The majority of students in both cohort were daily users of the internet, email and social media and reported they felt confident in using these technologies.
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