Transcript Who’s Doing the Thinking?

Who’s Doing the Thinking?
ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING
=EQUALS=
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Effective teaching requires knowing what students
are learning
Substantive body of research shows:
 Formative assessment can significantly improve
student learning
 Features of formative assessment that affect student
achievement are missing from many classrooms
 There is a need in our classrooms for purposeful &
varied assessment techniques (connected with
instruction & learning)
Knowledge is constructed and connected to other
knowledge
There is a need to find a balance between:
Assessment OF learning
with
Assessment FOR learning
Effective assessment practice requires immediate
feedback to students
Teachers need guidance:
 To understand the opportunities that exist to
formatively assess their students
 To remember that students bring a variety of
different ideas to their learning
 To connect student thinking with specific ideas from
the standards
 To provide learning experiences that bridge students’
thinking & the scientific concepts
Get students thinking about their thinking
Teachers need to spend more time understanding what
students think prior to instruction and using that
information to design learning opportunities….
Why don’t they?
Ultimately, this helps students develop deeper
conceptual understanding.
Teachers are the most important link in the chain that connects
Assessment – Instruction - Learning
Teachers need to provide ongoing feedback and
stimulus for deep thinking
via
Rich formative assessment techniques
to
Inform instruction & affect learning
Need a focus shift from effective teaching to
effective student learning
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Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques
FACTs
Purposefully designed and used to examine student
thinking
Used to get kids thinking about their thinking
Makes student thinking ‘visible’ – to themselves,
peers, & teacher
Allows the teacher to continuously gather
information on student thinking & learning
More Facts about FACTs
 Easily embedded into classroom instruction
 Used to assess before & throughout learning process
 Improves student learning
 Provides opportunities to learn
 Accommodates a range of learning styles
 Can be used to differentiate instruction
 Encourages classroom discourse
What does a Formative Assessment Centered
Classroom look like?
4 Classroom Examples:
1.
What do all of the classroom snapshots have in
common?
1.
Do the strategies in each example serve an
instructional, assessment or learning purpose?
1.
What is the evidence that students are learning?
Uncovering Student Ideas
Examples of FACTs and Probes
1. Whiteboarding – Batteries, Bulbs, & Wires probe
2. Four Corners – Ice Cold Lemonade probe
3. Card Sort – Is it Melting? probe
4. Commit & Toss – Solids & Holes probe
5. Human Scatterplot – Mirror on the Wall probe
6. Sticky Bars – Giant Sequoia Tree probe
7. P-E-O-E – Ice Cubes in a Bag probe
Uncovering Student Ideas
Batteries, Bulbs, & Wires
Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She wonders how many strips of
wire she will need to connect the battery & the bulb so that the bulb will
light. What is the smallest number of wire strips Kirsten needs to make
the bulb light up?
A. One strip of wire
B. Two strips of wire
C. Three strips of wire
D. Four strips of wire
Draw a picture to support your thinking.
Uncovering Student Ideas
Ice Cold Lemonade
It was a hot summer day. Mattie poured herself a glass of lemonade.
The lemonade was warm, so Mattie put some ice in the glass. After 10
minutes, Mattie noticed that the ice was melting and the lemonade was
cold. Mattie wondered what made the lemonade get cold. She had three
different ideas. Which idea do you think best explains why the
lemonade got cold?
A. The coldness from the ice moved into the lemonade
B. The heat from the lemonade moved into the ice
C. The coldness & the heat moved back & forth until the lemonade
cooled off.
Uncovering Student Ideas
Is It Melting?
The strips of paper you have in front of you each list
a situation that causes changes in materials.
Organize the strips into 2 categories:
Melting and Not Melting
Uncovering Student Ideas
Solids & Holes
Lance had a thin, solid piece of materials. He placed the material in
water and it floated. He took the material out and punched holes all the
way through it. What do you think Lance will observe when he puts the
material with holes back in the water?
A. It will sink.
B. It will barely float.
C. It will float the same as it did before the holes were punched
into it.
D. It will neither sink nor float. It will bob up & down in the
water.
Explain your thinking. Describe the ‘rule’ or reasoning you used to
make your prediction.
Uncovering Student Ideas
Mirror on the Wall
Adrienne placed a small, flat mirror against a wall. Standing close to
the mirror, Adrienne could see her face from her eyebrows to her chin.
Adrienne backed up five steps away from the mirror. Adrienne is now
farther away from the mirror. How much of her face will Adrienne see
in the mirror this time?
A. She will see more of her face.
B. She will see less of her face.
C. She will see the same amount of her face.
Explain your thinking. How confident are you in your response?
Uncovering Student Ideas
Giant Sequoia Tree
The giant sequoia tree is one of the largest trees on earth. It starts as a
small seedling and grows into an enormous tree. Five children can
stretch their arms across the width of the trunk of one of the large
sequoia trees!
Where did most of the matter that makes up the wood and leaves of this
huge tree originally come from?
A. sunlight
B. water
C. soil
D. carbon dioxide
E. oxygen
F. minerals
G. chlorophyll
Uncovering Student Ideas
Ice Cubes in a Bag
You are having an argument with your friend about what happens to
the mass when matter changes from one form to another. To prove
your idea, you put three ice cubes in a sealed bag and record the mass
of the ice in the bag. You let the ice cubes melt completely. Ten minutes
later you record the mass of the water in the bag. Which of the
following best describes the result?
A. The mass of the water in the bag will be less than the mass of the ice in
the bag.
B. The mass of the water in the bag will be more than the mass of the ice
in the bag.
C. The mass of the water in the bag will be the same as the mass of the ice
cubes in the bag.
Types & Purposes of Assessment
What’s the difference?
Diagnostic
Formative
Summative
Take Home Messages
 Probes are assessments for learning
 Be clear about your purpose before choosing a probe
and assessment strategy
 To be formative, you must not only gather data, you
must use it!
 Work toward creating a classroom where all ideas,
regardless of whether they are right or wrong, are
valued
 Start small – keep it simple
Reflection of Formative Assessment
I Used to Think
But Now I Know
References
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Keeley, Page. Science Formative Assessment : 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and
Learning. New York: Corwin P, 2008.
Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Lynn Farrin. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science : 25 Formative Assessment Probes.
New York: National Science Teachers Association, 2005.
Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Lynn Farrin. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science : 25 More Formative Assessment
Probes. Danbury: Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, Incorporated, 2007.
Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Chad Dorsey. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science : Another 25 Formative
Assessment Probes. Vol. 3. New York: National Science Teachers Association, 2008.