Think about Thinking, Learn about Learning, & Assess about Assessing

I currently work as a 'green job', which focuses on wildlife and environmental conservation. I am charged with writing and implementing various educational strategies for conservation education with the overall goal to teach students to become responsible citizens in society. I am now developing cross-curricular content, where technology in classrooms is part of my approach, but it does not overshadow researched best practice of previous years. You might wonder what is my vision.

"to educate ABOUT the environment, to educate IN the environment, to educate FOR the environment"

When I teach or create content, I try to not only focus on the scientific body of knowledge that students must attain, but also on their mindsets and the skills they must develop to make them successful learners. Metacognition is one of those skills that I hope students gain through their learning experiences.

Well, in order to do so, I must practice what I preach. Through this post, I will be assessing an assessment that I have used in my previous professional experience as a science teacher. For this assessment as a learning exercise, I have chosen the assessment below. This is assessment was designed for a grade 8 science class built on the foundations of blended learning.

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The sample above is used as an assessment for learning, or a formative assessment, which I believe is a major part of the students' learning path. Students would have learned about the different types of chemical reactions through multimedia hyperlinks and small group instruction. Upon completion of introducing this new chunk of content, students will be "assessed" through gamification and group work. The beauty of such an assessment, is that students don't feel as if they are being assessed, but rather as if they are playing a game. After students act it out, they are required to reflect and organize all the newly acquired knowledge they learned that week.

In my previous post, I summarized my views on assessment in three points. I believe the above assessment is a clear reflection of my beliefs.

1. Students must be given the opportunity to express themselves in multiple ways.

One size does not fit all with regards to instruction; consequently, this also applies to assessment. The incorporation of game design elements increases student engagement and requires them to practice communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. To sum up their learning experience, students are asked to submit a reflection using any means of expression that would best represent their thoughts. On the other hand, this exercise helps the instructor gather information on where the learners are, what misconceptions or gaps have arisen, and how best to close that gap.

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2. Assessment must be fair, valid, reliable, and authentic.

Students are led to believe that the team formations are done at random. This assessment is fair because it is free of any bias and students have sufficient exposure to the content prior to the task. This assessment is valid because it assesses the learner's knowledge to complete the task successfully and nothing else. This assessment is reliable because it is accurate and precise and will yield consistent results.

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3. The assessment criteria upon which a student is being assessed should always be clearly defined.

Students will be able to see the criteria and standards in which their work will be evaluated using the given rubric. This will also allow them to self evaluate themselves, which is another essential skill. In addition, the objectives and goals were stated in the overview of every module. Personalized feedback is provided so students will be able to understand the areas that they need to work on, their mistakes, and what they have mastered.

While creating the Act it Out: Reaction Charades formative assessment, there were some assumptions that I made about the learners. I assumed that:

• the instructor can interpret evidence of student understanding through observation

• students have the technical background to express themselves digitally

• students demonstrate their knowledge better by 'acting it out' or modeling information and skills they learned

• students understand the brief descriptions in the rubrics and will be able to differentiate between exceptional and good to self evaluate themselves

Through my experience, I once asked my students to highlight the most important concepts of each organelle in an animal cell from a chapter within their textbooks. The result was that most students highlighted the whole chapter except the titles and image captions. In science, I believe that high order thinking skills such as making connections are vital for understanding and remembering key concepts. This should be taught in parallel to teaching content. I constantly try to find new assessment types and tools for learning that I am comfortable with integrating into any educational setting.

Science contains a lot of big words, formulas, and laws that most students find difficult to understand. I have seen students judge science content by just skimming through chapters. However, I believe science is much more than that. Science is a mindset and the answer to most questions that start with ‘why’. People of all ages always wonder why? That being said, why not educate students about the facts, laws, and definitions by diving into real-world problems and contexts and in turn develop their 21st-century skills. Shepard (2000) argues in her article, that student learning should be authentic and connected to the world outside of school to develop cognitive abilities that can be applied to real-world contexts.

I believe in the social constructivist approach of assessment. However, eventually, a standardized test needs to be implemented in which the data will dictate the decisions made in schools and the wider community. It even has a phrase among educators, 'teach to the test'. When assessing students in the 21st century, it seems that most have preserved the methods used a century ago. Consequently, the landscape of skills and knowledge gained from historical and contemporary assessment does not sufficiently advance into the functional cognitive processes and social practices of today. This struggle drives me to think about how I assess and how I can enhance my design to provide unique learning experiences to my students. I will leave you off on this note, "Our aim should be to change our cultural practices so that students and teachers look to assessment as a source of insight and help instead of an occasion for meting out rewards and punishments" (Shepard, 2000, p. 10).

References

Shepard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4-14.