All good things must come to an end
You are wrapping up an amazing 5E model unit, and all that is left is the evaluation. Hopefully, you have been preparing students for this evaluation since Day 1 because you used a Backwards Design Unit Plan! ...Right? Let's face it, not every assessment we give knocks their socks off. In fact, I find that assessments tend to fall somewhere on a continuum. These assessments range from the dreaded, state-mandated standardized assessments to Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style choice boards to relevant and engaging performance assessments. If I am honest with myself, many of my assessments tend to fall somewhere in the red.
Assessments that need work
While I have a plethora of assessments that I'm not particularly proud of, I'll only share one with you. I struggle with getting my AP Biology students to study outside of class. After bombing their first test, they requested that I assess them weekly on the concepts they should have mastered that week. Since a weekly test takes up a lot of precious time, I have started making these short, sweet, and digital. I post the usually multiple choice quiz on their Google classroom in a Google form. I create a response sheet for the form and their quizzes are graded automatically. This provides them with quick feedback, but there is no choice in how they can demonstrate their learning. Here is a sample weekly quiz.
![Picture](/uploads/3/1/3/9/31396141/published/405123427.jpeg?1492359783)
Students can only demonstrate mastery by answering the multiple-choice and sometimes short answer questions correctly. Due to the simplicity of the assessments, they generally only test knowledge, comprehension, or application. The students that succeed on these quizzes are traditionally successful students that take notes during lectures, do the required reading, and study throughout the week. Students that don't tend to do as well are English Language Learners, students with disabilities, chronically absent students, kinesthetic learners, and those that refuse to do the reading or study. While some students may understand the knowledge, this form of assessment limits some learners from showing their comprehension.
This type of assessment does little to encourage students to be STEM learners. They are pigeon-holed into answering only two types of questions and there is no room to access technology, engineering, or mathematics skills. I wish I could make these assessments more cross-curricular and relevant for students. I wish they could be learning while taking the assessment, rather than just demonstrating their knowledge. Enough about less than stellar assessments, lets look at some better ones.
Awesome assessments
I would love to see some of the assessments you are proud of! In the meantime I'll share a couple of mine.
In my Environmental Science course we explore climate change by graphing global temperatures and carbon dioxide levels. Here is the plan for this lesson. Upon completion of the lesson, students have a choice of how they want to demonstrate their knowledge. Choice boards come in a variety of options, from menus to tic tac toe boards.
In my Environmental Science course we explore climate change by graphing global temperatures and carbon dioxide levels. Here is the plan for this lesson. Upon completion of the lesson, students have a choice of how they want to demonstrate their knowledge. Choice boards come in a variety of options, from menus to tic tac toe boards.
I chose to create a Tic Tac Toe board for this particular assessment. Students will complete three separate assignments. These assignments can occur in a row, column, or diagonally. Each of the activities is graded on a general rubric.
Another assessment that I enjoy I cannot take credit for. The AP Biology lab manual lays it out, but ultimately the students develop the assessment. One of the great things about AP courses is their emphasis on inquiry-based learning, and one of my favorite labs is the rate of photosynthesis lab. In this lab, students measure the rate of photosynthesis of spinach leaves by creating a vacuum in a syringe and determining how quickly the leaf discs float to the surface of water containing sodium bicarbonate. The faster the discs float, the faster photosynthesis is occurring.
Once students have perfected their technique and shown that the leaves will only photosynthesize (and thus float) in solutions containing carbon dioxide, they are ready to begin the inquiry portion of the lab. Students work with a partner and design and carryout their own experiment determining the effect of some variable on rate of photosynthesis. I have seen students do this with amount of light, type of light, color of light (shown below), amount of turbidity, temperature, etc. The students really come up with great ideas!
How do you assess a lab when all students are testing different things? Upon completion of their inquiry, they must make a research poster on chart paper. The poster and/or accompanying presentation must address the AP Science Practices. Their posters and presentations are graded based on a rubric. If students are uncomfortable writing and drawing graphs on the poster, they may create them digitally, print them out, and attach them to the poster.
So how are these assessments different from the multiple-choice, Google form quiz shown above? First the students choose how they demonstrate their knowledge. They get a choice in the tic tac toe board and they get free reign in the inquiry lab. Students have the option to demonstrate their knowledge creatively via cartoon strips and drawings or literally through assessing pre-existing graphs. These assessments appeal to a variety of content and skills including using technology, engineering experimental set ups, and/or using mathematical skills. Since students can show what they know through an avenue that is most comfortable for them, more learners tend to succeed. My English Language Learners and students with dyslexia and dysgraphia can choose assessments that they can better understand and complete. Students can draw upon content knowledge from the class, collaborate with their peers, and/or consult the internet or reference materials. Since both assessments are graded based on a rubric given to students ahead of time, they know how to achieve their desired grade. I wish I could include more choices, inquiry labs, and performance assessments in all of my classes. The largest downside is they take much longer than a typical multiple choice test, but as I mention elsewhere on this website depth is much more valuable that breadth.
So how are these assessments different from the multiple-choice, Google form quiz shown above? First the students choose how they demonstrate their knowledge. They get a choice in the tic tac toe board and they get free reign in the inquiry lab. Students have the option to demonstrate their knowledge creatively via cartoon strips and drawings or literally through assessing pre-existing graphs. These assessments appeal to a variety of content and skills including using technology, engineering experimental set ups, and/or using mathematical skills. Since students can show what they know through an avenue that is most comfortable for them, more learners tend to succeed. My English Language Learners and students with dyslexia and dysgraphia can choose assessments that they can better understand and complete. Students can draw upon content knowledge from the class, collaborate with their peers, and/or consult the internet or reference materials. Since both assessments are graded based on a rubric given to students ahead of time, they know how to achieve their desired grade. I wish I could include more choices, inquiry labs, and performance assessments in all of my classes. The largest downside is they take much longer than a typical multiple choice test, but as I mention elsewhere on this website depth is much more valuable that breadth.
Closing the book on assessments
The major thing I think all of my assessments are missing is more interdisciplinary learning. Interdisciplinary learning helps students form connections to previously held knowledge and form new, concrete ideas. I believe this approach also helps keep students from “playing the game of school.” It encourages connections between what is happening in science class to knowledge from other classes and ultimately the world. When they use critical thinking skills to connect related ideas, they are learning, whether they intend to or not. Furthermore, if assessments could be more like experiences, as with the case of performance assessments, we are creating more experiences and knowledge for our students to draw upon.