Assessing - How do we get beyond the final exam and effectively assess what our students are learning? David Steer Department of Geology & Environmental Sciences University of Akron July 14-17, 2008

Just note difficulty level. Practical Application Complete the Introductory Exercise found on page 1 of the handout for the “Assessing - How do we get beyond the final exam and effectively assess what our students are learning?” session. Just note difficulty level. How did you decide difficulty?

Assessing Learning: Goal 1 To understand the features of Bloom’s Taxonomy - a framework for scaffolding learning. Level 0: I have never heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy (BT). Level 1: I can identify how many levels there are in BT. Level 2: I can place several levels of BT in correct order. Level 3: I can describe and name the six categories of BT. Level 4: I can explain how I might use BT in planning a lesson.

Conditions for Intellectual Growth Teaching and learning goals can be ordered using Bloom’s Taxonomy (revised version) memorization and recall getting the meaning of using knowledge taking apart information reorganizing information generating, producing Text Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating Conceptests Venn Diagrams Evaluation Rubrics Planning Exercises Open-ended questions can be used for all categories.

Scaffolding Learning: Goal 2 To analyze and generate exercises representing categories of Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 1: I understand where multiple choice questions and essay questions might place in BT. Level 2: I can classify a series of simple questions in BT. Level 3: I can analyze how to classify a series of exercises based on the categories of BT. Level 4: I can make up questions representative of the six categories of BT.

Become Familiar with Levels Complete the Bloom’s Taxonomy Exercise found on page 5 of the handout. Note that some exercises may cross the boundary between various levels. Select the one you think each example best represents. Work with a partner

Practical Application Setting: An introductory geoscience course Task: Construct simple assessments that a faculty member could use to assess student learning of core concepts in your field of expertise. Standard: Scaffold levels from understanding through creating.