 MOVING BEYOND UNDERSTANDING: Developing authentic learning tasks and assessments for problems based curricular approach in Family and Consumer Sciences NCACTE Summer Teacher Conference July 24, 2013 Greensboro, NC Dr. Cheryl Johnson, East Carolina University[Date]

Purpose of this Workshop  To improve teacher performance by building expanding knowledge on the use of authentic assessment.  Teachers will learn strategies that…  engage students in applying knowledge and skills as they are used in the "real world" outside the classroom  are performance based and go beyond basic understanding  comprises development of authentic tasks and assessments that are tied to the learner outcome and are clear to the students.

A Story: Why a Bee?

What assessment tools/strategies do you use?

Defining Assessment  Formative Assessment  A process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to help students improve their achievement of intended instructional outcomes  Summative Assessment  A measure of achievement to provide evidence of student competence or program effectiveness

Defining Assessment Continued…  Authentic Assessment  Measuring outcomes in ways that allow students to demonstrate they can do the real-life task or apply the knowledge or information

Authentic Assessment  Incorporates multiple intelligences  Requires the use of a variety of learning activities  Requires students to have a depth of knowledge  Requires critical thinking skills

Multiple Learning Styles: Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences  Naturalistic  Musical  Bodily/Kinesthetic  Linguistic-auditory  Interpersonal  Intrapersonal  Spatial-visual  Logical-mathematical

Process Skills  Thinking/Problem Solving  Critical  Purposeful  Reasoned  Communication  Experienced  Learned  Verbal  Nonverbal  Leadership  Purpose, goals  Participatory, shared  Responsible  Management  Setting goals  Planning  Implementing  Evaluating  Problem-solving  Decision-making

Suggested Steps When Teaching Process Skills  Select a process skill  Develop a definition  Identify what the process skill looks and sounds like  Cite a concrete example  List Appropriate instances in which the skill is used  Outline operations used to perform the skill  Develop graphic organizers  Develop a sample process skill lesson using your subject matter content  Expand students understanding with further applications to their lives

Reasoning Vocabulary  Contextual Factors  Alternative action choices  Consequences of each alternative action  Diverse values  “What should we do?” Questions

Contextual Teaching and Learning  Review Handout

Questions Framework  What are we doing now, or what is happening now?  How did the situation, condition, issue come to be this way?  Whose interests are and are not being served by the way things are?  What information and knowledge so we have or need to get that bear upon the issues  Is this the way we want things to be?  What are we going to do about it?

Evaluating Your Own and Others Thinking  Questions being asked  Points of view reflected  Information being used  Interpretations being made  Conclusions being drawn  Assumptions reflected  Results realized

Teachers report the importance of teaching thinking skills  1. Developing critical thinking skills is a learning process.  2. Critical thinking is a necessary skill for life.  3. Critical thinking helps students solve problems and make decisions.  4. Students using critical thinking skills is not a given in today’s society

Measuring Critical Thinking: Assessment Questions  What do I want students to know and be able to do?  What complex reasoning do I want them to follow?  What process skills do I want them to use?  What will be the outcomes that is used for assessment?  What specific competencies so I want to assess?

Active Learning Activity  Take the critical thinking worksheet.  Review each question with me.  In pairs, work through the critical thinking worksheet using a lesson topic to teach to a North Carolina objective.  Answer all questions together and be prepared to share.

 Dr. Cheryl Johnson, East Carolina University7/24/13 QUESTIONS ?

References  on/ on/   Mimbs, C. (2005). Teaching from the critical thinking, problem-based curricular approach: Strategies, challenges, and recommendations. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, 23 (2),  Smith, B. A. (2007). Contextual teaching and learning instructional strategies in family and consumer sciences. Family and Consumer Sciences Education Association, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA.