COSEE California Communicating Ocean Sciences Session 10: Assessment

COSEE California Session 10 objectives Have the experience of being assessed as part of your exploration of the topic of assessment Gain information about testing and assessment and how this arena of education is changing Learn how you can use some newer principles and practices to support your students’ learning

COSEE California Quick Write How ave you been assessed in your college courses? Do these methods truly tell the instructor what you’ve learned?

COSEE California What do you think the goals of assessment in college are? What should they be?

COSEE California Assessment Carousel

COSEE California Goals of the Assessment Carousel to give students an experience with being assessed themselves as part of their exploration of the topic. to find out what the class has learned about the topics that have been addressed in the course. to find out what the class knows about the topics that have not yet been addressed in the course. to provide an opportunity for students to teach each other. to evaluate and adjust instruction in the course based on this information. to review the course topics before applying these strategies in designing their own lessons.

COSEE California Current Practice and Understanding Different kinds of “tests” assess for different kinds of knowledge. Create a balance of different kinds of tests so that we can test for a broader range of student knowledge. All forms of “tests” are currently referred to more generally as “assessment.” Assessment should occur before, during, and after learning.

COSEE California Relationship between Assessment/Instruction/Curriculum Assessment Instruction Curriculum

COSEE California Jargon Instruction: How a teacher teaches Curriculum: What a teacher teaches

COSEE California Assessment--> How should I teach? Assessment--> What should I teach?

COSEE California Multiple Purposes of Assessment AssessmentTeacher AssessmentStudent Assessment Parent AssessmentSchool AssessmentCommunity AssessmentNation

COSEE California Sandy Shore Quiz 1. Circle all the things that are true about a beach. A beach is _______. A. A special kind of shoreline B. Shorelines that people can walk on C. Covered in loose material D. Always by the ocean 2. Circle all of the things that sand can be made of A. Shells B. Rocks C. Water D. Trash 3. Erosion of rocks on the beach occurs when _________. A. Waves and wind slowly wear them away B. People make sand castles on the beach C. Rocks get covered with seaweed D. Animals nest on the rocks

COSEE California Sandy Shore Task What I Learned About the Shoreline Mini-book 1. Introducing the mini-book. Show the students the prepared blank mini- books. Tell them they will each get to write a mini-book about what they have learned about shorelines so far. It must be an informational text, but they can choose what it is about. They could write an encyclopedia about what you find on beaches or maybe what sand is made of and how sand is formed. 1. Components of the mini-book. a. Cover: author and title. Everyone decides on the title for the book & writes their name on the cover. b. Page 1: Table of Contents. c. Pages 2-4: These pages will include the information they have learned about shorelines. They should also include a drawing on each page of text. d. On back cover: Write about the author and illustrator (when they have completed all other parts of the book).

COSEE California Analyze the Two Kinds of Student Work Read and discuss the student work in each folder. What does each assessment tell you about the student’s level of knowledge? What does it not tell you?

COSEE California Assessment in Context What were you able to learn from looking at the student work from the “Sandy Shore Quiz?” From the “Sandy Shore Task?” What were the strengths of each assessment method? What were the weaknesses of each method?

COSEE California Sandy Shore Task Scoring Guide Level Four (highest level of work) Students wrote detailed descriptions about shorelines and included appropriate illustrations on all three pages. They also included at least two key concepts in their mini-book and used evidence to support their claims about shorelines. Level Three Students wrote detailed descriptions about shorelines and included appropriate illustrations on all three pages. They also included one key concept in their mini-book and used some evidence to support their claims about shorelines. Level Two Students included some details and drawings in their descriptions of shorelines. However, they did not use any evidence to support their claims. Level One Students did not include details in their descriptions or drawings of shorelines. They did not use any evidence to support their claims about shorelines.

COSEE California Criterion -referenced scoring: Student work is compared to specific criteria described in a scoring guide Norm-referenced scoring: Student work is compared to other students’ work

COSEE California Full Range of Learning Facts Basic Skills Complex Thinking

COSEE California Authentic assessment is not new. To get a driver’s license, we are asked to drive a car in the middle of traffic. When students apply to art school, they submit portfolios of their work. To try out for baseball teams, athletes demonstrate their pitching, hitting and fielding skills. Even teachers are evaluated on our performance in the classroom. So, how do we assess students? We give them tests and worksheets where they regurgitate facts; find the answers to problems but rarely explain them; and explore hypothetical situations that have little connection to what we teachers know is important. Ironically, authentic assessment is used everywhere in the real world, except for the field of education whose goal is to prepare students for tomorrow! --Elementary School Principal

COSEE California Examples of Assessment Strategies Story Writing Letter Writing Advertisements Reflections Game Playing Pre-Post Testing Model Making Explorations Experiments Investigations Conventions, Conferences, Debates Applications Teacher Observations