A-Z Site Index

• Using the Teacher Resource Book
• Core Curriculum/ILOs
• Instructional Strategies
• Science Helps
• Starters
• I - Water Cycle
• II - Weather
• III - Rocks and Soil
• IV - Fossils
• V - Utah Ecosystems

Instructional Strategies

Inquiry Based LearningTechnology Integration Research, Journal Keeping and Writing
Information Sources, Resources and Assessment Science Fair and Other Programs Differentiation

Information Sources, Resources and Assessment

Student Portfolios

A portfolio is a collection of a student's work that connects separate items to form a clearer, more complete picture of the student as a lifelong learner. Portfolios can contain a number of assessments such as observation checklists, logs, journals, videos, cassettes, pictures, projects, and performances. These various types of assessments allow students to display every aspect of their capabilities. A portfolio contains several separate pieces that may not mean much by themselves, but when compiled, they produce a more accurate and holistic portrait of the student.

"A portfolio is more than a 'folder' of student work; it is a deliberate, specific collection of accomplishments." Portfolios come in the form of file folders, hanging folders, notebooks, boxes, or video-disks. They can include the work of one student or a group of students. They can cover one subject area or all subject areas. They can be sent home at the end of the year or they can be stored in the school and passed on from year to year. They can include anecdotal records, whole class profiles, parent surveys, formal test results, narrative report cards, or any number of items selected by both the teacher and the student.

Portfolios should be used in schools because they can serve many functions and purposes. Those include:

• Serving as tools for discussion with peers, teachers and parents
• Opportunities for students to demonstrate their skills and abilities
• Opportunities to set future goals
• Documentation of students' development and growth in abilities, attitudes, and expressions
• Demonstrations of different learning styles, multiple intelligences, cultural diversity
• Opportunities for students to make connections between prior knowledge and new learning

Teachers can use portfolios in many ways. They should, however, ask a number of questions before beginning such as:

• Why do I want to use portfolios?
• Row will I use it?
• How will I select items for inclusion?
• What specific items will be included?
• How will I use the portfolio in evaluating student progress?
• Row will the portfolio be organized?
• What role will students have in item selection?
• How will I use the information to report to parents?
• What overall expectations do I have about the portfolio?
• Is the portfolio use manageable and efficient?

A portfolio system cannot succeed without the teacher's forethought and planning. The teacher must begin by answering essential questions about the purpose, organization, and evalua of the portfolio. However, the ultimate responsibility may belong to the students who assume ownership of and take pride in their accomplishments. By working with the teacher to select and collect pieces to include in the portfolio, the students continually connect their prior knowledge with new learning. Through this active reflection, the portfolio becomes a true tool for lifelong learning.

Suggested ideas of what could be considered for inclusion in a portfolio are provided. Many other options and ideas are possible. (See Student Assessment Idea list). Ideas include:

• Journals
• Homework
• Quizzes and tests
• Group work and project samples
• Community projects
• Written work
• Rough drafts of written work to show process
• Cassettes of speeches, readings, singing, questioning techniques
• Questions for a conference
• Questionnaires about attitudes and opinions
• Interviews with other students
• Observation checklists
• Self-assessments
• Statement of future goals
• Pictures of performances such as speeches, plays, debates, historical reenactments
• Photographs
• Samples of artwork (or pictures)
• Videos of performances
• Free pick (no criteria given)

Common characteristics in alternative performance assessments may be diverse but they share a common vision. Common characteristics include the following:

• Ask students to perform, create, produce, or do something.
• Tap higher level thinking and problem solving skills.
• Use tasks that represent meaningful instructional activities.
• Invoke real world applications.
• People, not machines, do the scoring using human judgment.
• Require new instructional and assessment roles for teachers.

New assessment strategies encourage teachers to articulate their instructional goals clearly. As was mentioned previously, there is a need to assess not only process, but products. To distinguish between these the following comparison is made:

Student Assessment, Evaluation and Project Ideas

Advertisement Action project (service) Audio tape Annotated Art gallery Batik Bibliography Biography Blueprint Board game Bookmark Book cover Booklet Bulletin board Building something Card games Cartoon Ceramics Charcoal sketch Chart Choral reading Cinquam Coins Collage Collection with illustration Collections with narrative Comic strip Commercial Computer program Crossword puzzle Costume Courtroom trial Dance Debate Detailed illustration Diary Diagram Diorama

Drawing Discussion (group) Display Dramatic set Dramatic monologue Drama Editorial Essay Etching Experiment Experiment record Fable Fact file/sheet Fairy tale Family tree File (idea) index Filmstrip Game Glossary Graph Graphic design Greeting card Group project Guest speaker Haiku Illustrated story Journal Labeled diagram Large scale drawing Learning center Lecture Letter Letter to editor Lesson Limerick Line drawing Living picture

Magazine article Map with legend Mobile Model Model (working) Model (prototype) Monograph Montage Mosaic Movie Mural Museum exhibit Musical composition News report Newspaper article Novel idea Oil painting Oral report Package for a product Pamphlet Pantomime Paper weight Patchwork quilt Plan Pattern w/instructions Photo essay Photographs Picture dictionary Picture story for children Poem Pop-up-book Poster Pottery Puppet Puppet show Puzzle Radio show

Reader's theater Reenactment Reference file Relief map Rubbing Rule book Sand-casting Scene from a book Science fiction Story scrapbook Sculpture Short story Silk screening Skit Song Slide/tape presentation Small scale drawing Sonnet Stencil Survey Taped recording Terrarium Textbook Time line Totem pole Transparency Travelogue TV talk show TV documentary TV newscast Teaching others Video game Video tape Vocabulary list Watercolor painting Written report

Walkabout Challenges

In terms of student assessment and evaluation a promising performance-based method is The Walkabout Challenge . The Walkabout Challenge is an age-old rite of passage for youth in the aboriginal culture of Australia. Through their Walkabout, youth make a transition from childhood into adulthood. Our youth today need a similar type of experience geared to their needs. Maurice Gibbons (1974), of Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, wrote of the type of experiences that might be appropriate to youth today. In summary, today's "Walkabout" would include the following 5 areas of challenge:

1. Adventure: A challenge to the student's daring, endurance, and skill in an unfamiliar environment.
2. Practical Skill: A challenge to explore a utilitarian activity, to learn the knowledge and skills necessary to work in that field, and to produce something of use.
3. Creativity: A challenge to explore, cultivate, and express one's own imagination in an aesthetically pleasing form.
4. Logical Inquiry: A challenge to explore one's curiosity, to formulate a question or problem of personal importance, and to pursue an answer or solution systematically, and, wherever appropriate, by investigation.
5. Service: A challenge to identify a human need for assistance and provide it; to express caring without expectation of reward.

The task for students is to select a Walkabout challenge that is unique, personal, and mean to them. The process of completing a Walkabout Challenge is the ultimate goal. However, the recording and reporting of the journey is equally important. This is the student's opportunity to share with family, friends, and teachers the joys of discovery, the trials by fire, and the exhilaration of accomplishment.

Possible Walkabout Challenges
In order for a "Walkabout Challenge" to be meaningful, you have to develop a personal connection to the experience. Below you will find a list of possible "Walkabout Challenges." What would be a meaningful Walkabout for you? How would you document your experience? What would be one of your greatest challenges?

Adventure Challenges:

• Explore a part of your community you have not been in before.
• Investigate a new recipe for an exotic dish.
• Inquire what entropy is and how it affects energy and everything you do.
• Search the Internet for new teaching strategies or methods in your area of interest.
• Venture out and try something you have done before.

Practical Skill Challenges:

• Construct a device that completes a task using at least three simple machines.
• Apply a skill you have learned to solve a real-life problem.
• Demonstrate a new skill or talent you have developed.
• Show how to operate a new computer program, simulation, or CD-ROM.
• Develop a fact file or trouble-shooter's guide for use of technology in your classroom.

Creativity Challenges:

• Create a collection of original poetry.
• Design your own "illuminated" manuscript.
• Illustrate a travel guidebook of your area or state for other students.
• Craft an original film, mini-documentary, or video about an issue in your community or state.
• Compose and perform an original song or musical selection.

Inquiry Challenges:

• Define 10 important questions man asks but can't answer.
• Predict what would happen if world energy resources were unlimited? What ramifications would this have on society, government, and the economy?
• Analyze stock market trends. Predict what may occur over the next month.
• Estimate how long it takes for a new technology or invention to be implemented in American society? Give five recent examples.
• Hypothesize what impact the development of technological innovations such as polymers, microchips, and computers has had on our civilization? To what degree have these innovations created positive or negative results?

Service Challenges:

• Recognize a request for service and provide it.
• Volunteer to work with the elderly or handicapped in your community.
• Provide service to the "Boys and Girls Club" or your community.
• Schedule a community graffiti and yard clean-up day.
• Tutor a group of young at-risk students in your community.

Begin thinking what your next "Walkabout Challenge" will be.

 

Levels of Performance - Novice to Expert

The following Levels of Performance were recommended to be used by the Kentucky State Office of Education for students in their state. How would you respond if you were to be classified in one of these levels for a particular area of study?

Expert

• The student demonstrates full mastery of a concept, skill, or process.
• The student is able to competently teach others this concept, skill or process.

Distinguished

• The student completes all-important components of the task and communicates ideas clearly.
• The student demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the relevant concepts and/or process.
• Where appropriate, the student offers insightful interpretations or extensions (generalizations, applications, or analogies.)
  

Proficient

• The student completes most important components of the task and communicates clearly.
• The student demonstrates understanding of major concepts even though he/she overlooks or misunderstands some less important ideas or details.

Apprentice

• The student completes some important components of the task and communicates those clearly.
• The student demonstrates that there are gaps on his/her conceptual understanding.

Novice

• The student shows minimal understanding.
• The student is unable to generate strategy. Answers may display only recall effect, lack clear communication, and/or be totally incorrect or irrelevant.

 

Making Effective Tests

Why test? Ultimately, we test for a combination of the following reasons: to see if the learners have attained the objectives, to diagnose learning difficulties, to appraise the effectiveness of instruction, and to judge the effectiveness of the teacher.

Concerning standardized tests, research suggests that classroom teachers "should know how to: (1) select an appropriate standardized test of achievement, (2) administer and score the test, and (3) interpret results of standardized tests." While I agree, these areas are beyond the scope of this course -- you should pursue these independently or in other course work.

Sometimes, a test of actual performance may be the preferred format. This is particularly true in the case of fine arts, business education, industrial arts, and vocational and technical educa When tests of actual performance are to be used, teachers must make known to the students in advance what the criteria are which constitute a level of mastery of the particular skills.

While individual tests would be ideal, given the exigencies of mass education and the cogni nature of most of what goes on in schools, the group variety of pen-and-pencil test is the most economical and practical solution to testing cognitive achievement. There are two major types of paper-and-pencil tests: essay (subjective tests) and objective tests. A balance needs to be struck between essay and objective testing, since they do not fulfill the same functions.

An essay test may measure a limited amount of content, but in addition it may evaluate a student's ability to write coherently, to organize his thoughts, to describe situations, to make com to use English properly, to make applications of content, to demonstrate writing style, to summarize content, to cite research, and to elaborate reasons for positions taken. In short, essay tests test for depth.

Essay test items should communicate to learners exactly what they have to do and what degree of mastery is considered an acceptable performance. The tendency to dash off essay test items is very harmful since essay tests limit the number of items and therefore the learner's chances of demonstrating achievement.

In order to limit the variation that the scoring of essay tests typically shows (even by the same scorer at different times), a task of the teacher preliminary to any scoring is the construction of a key which outlines the points the learners should touch on in their answers. Without a key against which to compare a student's response the teacher is liable to forget significant points which he or she is supposed to be looking for and can also be unduly swayed and sidetracked by students who write well or at length but who fail to include significant points of content. Rate each item before going on to the next.

Remember that the more test items there are on a given test, the wider the sampling of the content. The single item test induces unnecessary anxiety in the learner. In addition, essay items can and should be constructed for each of the six major categories of Bloom's taxonomy.

Objective tests can sample breadth but not depth of content. A test is said to be objective if it eliminates the need for judgment on the part of the scorer. Nevertheless, subjectivity does enter into objective testing in two ways: (1) at the beginning the teacher must make subjective decisions on which items to include on a test and (2) in the process of scoring.

Good objective test items are not easy to write. It is difficult but not at all impossible to write objective test items, which measure cognitive behavior above the lowest levels of Bloom's taxonomy. One good practice for teachers would be to collect test items on a 3x5 card (one item per card), so that new items can easily be added, poor items removed, different items selected for different tests, notes can be made concerning specific items, or ambiguous items can be altered.

There are five major types of objective test items:

Recall Items. A recall item offers no choice of responses for the test taker and requires a direct answer that must be retrieved from the learner's memory. Recall items may take the form of direct questions (When did Columbus reach the New World?), commands (Give the nickname of New York State.), or completions (The 50th state admitted to the United States is __________
The teacher must exercise care in writing items so that students will respond the way he/she intends them too. For example, what is wrong with the test item, "George Washington was born in ___. ? and how could it be improved? All blanks on a completion test should be uniform length to prevent guessing. A single blank should always be used rather than a number of blanks equal to the number of words in the correct response. Note that recall items can only really test for lower level cognition.

Multiple Choice. A multiple choice test item provides students with a statement or question and a number of responses from which the student selects one or more responses, according to the directions with the item.

Guidelines for writing multiple choice items:

• As a rule of thumb, it is a good idea to provide at least four responses for each item. The answers to a multiple-choice test consisting of many items should not follow a consistent pattern that the student can guess. Responses should be the same or almost the same length and consistent in form.
• It is generally accepted not to put the correct response first in the sequence.
• While some teachers prefer to have the possibility of more than one correct response to multiple choice items, one of the primary advantages of multiple choice tests, the ability to best a wide variety of content in minimal time, may be defeated.

Alternative Response . Alternative response items provide the test takers two choices from which they must select one, the most common form being the True-False item. Their major disad lies in the fact that students have a 50 - 50 chance of guessing correctly.
True-False items can be made more difficult and therefore less objective if the student is required to state the reason for any false answer. Qualifiers such as "always," ~ ~ every, "all," and "no" should be avoided since they make it easy for a learner to guess the answer.

Matching and Rearrangement . Matching and rearrangement items are two varieties of objective items which provide a little stimulation and challenge on the order of puzzles and make for good variation. They are, however, more difficult to construct and score. (See www.puzzlemaker.com for several different puzzle types and answer keys to assist you.)

• Students should be exposed to all types of items if for no other reason than for stimulus variation that serves to heighten a student's interest.
• The affective domain may be assessed in a variety of ways. Among these techniques are observation, essays, and opinionnaires.
• Other evaluation techniques include observation of class participation, oral reports, written assignments, creative assignments, group work, and self-evaluation. The most techniques the teacher employs, the more complete his/her evaluation of individual students will be.