1. Who’s doing the thinking in your classroom? Using formative assessment to promote student learning Presented at the University of Louisville 2013 Celebration of Teaching and Learning Melissa L. Shirley, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Science Education

2. Welcome! Introduction: Why formative assessment? What IS formative assessment? What can we use FA to accomplish? Increasing cognitive engagement during lessons Processing content during lessons Collecting evidence of student understanding Some examples from my research studies Closing: How can you implement these ideas?

3. Why Formative Assessment? Based on my pre-doctoral experience teaching high school science I was doing all the thinking work in the classroom Too often, a class period would go by and I did not know what all students knew Led to a desire to improve my understanding of students’ understanding, and thereby my teaching

4. Why Formative Assessment? As instructors, it’s our job to enhance learning If we do not know what is going on in students’ heads, we can’t do anything to help the learning. Formative assessment gives us tools to find out what students are thinking

5. What is Formative Assessment? …the process used by teachers and students to recognize and respond to students’ learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning (Bell & Cowie, 2001) Formative because we use it to help students “form” or construct new knowledge

6. How does FA increase learning? Conceptual model ©2013 Melissa L.Shirley, University of Louisville. Please do not use without permission.

7. The bottom line… Start by ensuring that students are cognitively engaged during the lesson If they’re not thinking, there’s not much use in assessing students’ thinking Give students time and opportunity to process information during the lesson Collect evidence to gauge whether students are developing deep understanding of the content Address identified concerns in your lessons

8. Your Turn! Take an index card and answer the following: Agree or disagree: “If students are not asking questions when I give them an opportunity, this means that they are comprehending the material and I can move on.” Explain your thinking Share your ideas

9. Why don’t students ask questions? …they already understand just fine …they didn’t hear or pay attention to the question …they don’t know enough to be able to formulate a question …they are afraid or embarrassed to speak up So… WE need to ask THEM the questions! This is where FA comes in…

10. What can FA strategies impact? Increasing cognitive engagement during lessons Processing content during lessons Collecting evidence of student understanding

11. Increase Cognitive Engagement Asking higher-order questions Using extended questioning cycles Strategy: Think-Pair-Share

12. Higher Order Questions What are some reasons for…? How do we know…? What are some differences between…? Predict what would happen if… What are the essential features of… Why is ___ important for ___?

13. More Higher Order Questions Do you agree with ___? Why/Why not? How would you prioritize…? What is the importance of…? Why is ___ significant? How would you adapt or improve ___? What is the relationship between…? What is another example of…

14. Questioning Cycles Brief Teacher: Can someone tell me where energy in the ecosystem comes from? Student: The sun. Teacher: You are correct. Extended Teacher: What other ways can [organisms] be preserved? Student: Amber? Teacher: Yes, amber is one way. Tell us how it works. Student: A bug gets covered up really fast and it gets preserved. Teacher: Yes…There’s a picture of an insect covered in amber in your book.

15. Extending Questioning Cycles Start with higher-order questions/prompts Increase wait time Seek input from more students “Volleyball” rather than “Ping-pong” Follow up student responses Push students to generate deeper responses

16. Push for deeper responses How do we know that? What is your evidence? Tell us more about what you mean. What is another example? How does that relate to your own experience (or another class topic)? Explain your reasoning. What is a counterpoint to that argument?

17. Strategy: Think, Pair, Share Give students time (30 seconds-2 minutes) to think of a response Have them turn to a neighbor and take turns sharing their thinking Can also extend to think-pair-share-square (pairs share their ideas with another pair) or share out with the whole group Allows students to gather their thoughts before responding; increases amount and quality of responses

18. Your Turn! THINK What are some specific higher-level questions you could use with your class? OR What are some specific ways you could extend your questioning cycles? Then PAIR with a neighbor and SHARE your idea

19. Processing Content Strategy: 10 then 2

20. Strategy: 10 Then 2 Plan to pause after ~10 minutes of lecture Then give your class ~2 minutes to process information Summarize notes Solve a problem or respond to a higher-order prompt Create a mind-map or concept map Draw a diagram

21. Strategy: Draw a Diagram…

23. Your Turn! Think of a topic that you know students typically struggle with understanding Write a prompt to have students draw a representation of that concept OR Write a prompt to have students process that concept in writing

24. Collecting Evidence Collect any written responses generated during the lesson Read over quickly after class to find out what students are thinking Identify misconceptions or gaps in understanding Use as a springboard for beginning your next lesson If using “clickers” or similar technology, use to monitor comprehension during instruction

25. Strategy: Exit Ticket Short, focused questions Find out what students took away from the lesson Identify whether students grasped new material Ask students what questions they have about the material Collect as students leave class

26. Potential Barriers & Concerns You might uncover student questions… Be prepared to respond to them! But that does impact the timing of your classes and how much you can “cover” in a day Purpose is to uncover what students are thinking Not to increase your grading responsibilities Not to punish students for being absent What other potential barriers or concerns can you identify?

27. Next Steps Choose just one or two strategies that you can implement easily Develop a bank of content-specific applications of that strategy Explain to students how to respond and how you are using their responses (particularly for written strategies) Set a goal for implementing your strategy in the next few weeks I’d love to hear from you how it goes!

28. Your Turn! Please complete the Exit Ticket This is an example of a 3-2-1- Countdown strategy Leave them on a table as you depart for lunch Thank you for your participation today Contact me if you have questions or comments. Melissa L. Shirley (502) 852-7384 (office) (502) 233-7748 (VM/text) melissa.shirley@louisville.edu

29. References Strategies found in Keeley, Paige. (2008). Science formative assessment: 75 practical strategies for linking assessment, instruction, and learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. For deeper reading Jensen, Eric. (2006). Enriching the brain: How to maximize every learners potential. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. National Research Council. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (expanded edition). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Tokuhama-Espinosa, Tracey. (2011). Mind, brain, and education science: A comprehensive guide to the new brain-based teaching. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Walsh, Jackie Acree & Sattes, Beth Dankert. (2005). Quality questioning: Research-based practice to engage every learner. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.