Reflections: Formative Assessment Design 2.0

I previously posted my formative assessment design 1.0 and now I want to revisit and build on my initial thoughts. In this post, I would like to focus on the purpose of this formative assessment and how it is designed to be an integral part of the learning process. With the bigger picture in mind, this formative assessment will help me assess student work, provide effective feedback, and allow students to show their knowledge growth. In turn, student performance in the Building Blocks of Life assessment will provide me with valuable feedback on the effectiveness of tools and instructional strategies used in the classroom.

According to Understanding by Design, I would like to start with the end goal in mind. So, the first component I would like to revisit in my 2.0 design, is the purpose of this assessment and then work backward from there.

Name of assessment: Building Blocks of Life

Objectives: The standard from the NGSS that I will be focusing on is MS-LS1-2. From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes.

Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function.

Students will be able to:

• describe the relationship between structure and function.

• describe the structures of the animal cell and its specialized functions.

• develop a model that represents the processes of an animal cell.

Purpose: As mentioned above this is a formative assessment and by definition, that means the purpose of this assessment is to assess student understanding and adjust teacher instruction to address misconceptions and close student learning gaps. In order to achieve these points, this assessment is not a final product, but rather part of the students' learning path. Even though science involves many phenomena and interactions that are visible around us, there are many concepts that must be taught that are abstract and unfamiliar to students. I would like this assessment to allow students to transfer the scientific knowledge they will learn about animal cells to new contexts in the real world. They will be asked to apply the relationship between structure and function. That being said, this assessment will increase students' scientific literacy and develop the 21st-century skills that they need to become successful citizens of tomorrow. In order to build this understanding, students must be able to test, compare, and organize their ideas. As this assessment is designed to be part of the learning process, students will learn new concepts that they can add or edit to their ideas as they progress. This would be like the design process itself, which includes defining the goal, exploring ideas, creating models, testing, and incorporating feedback. By the end product, students would have had the opportunity to reflect on their work and show levels of increased learning.

Assessment Description & Instructions: The formative assessment design asks students to create a city with various organizations/jobs that will be fully functional and stable. They will also design buildings or areas within their cities that match the function of that entity. For example, a fire station usually has a pole installed to allow firefighters to respond to emergencies faster. The end goal is that students make connections between their design of their city and the structure of an animal cell. In turn, I believe that this assessment for learning will assess students, not only on their ability to recall scientific knowledge, but also develop their cognitive skills. Edits have been made to the instructions to better articulate the relationship between structure and functions of organelles within an animal cell and relate that to structures in the world around them. The assessment instructions are now divided into three parts to help guide student learning. The first part will have them write their initial ideas in which they will discuss with their peers. Then, they will start on their second version and dive deeper into the reasoning behind their ideas and the concepts they covered. Once they receive feedback from the teacher, they will then submit their final work. Check it out below:

Pre-Assessment: With the goals clearly defined, instruction will complement and prepare students for success in the assessment. Prior to instruction students will be asked to brainstorm organizations and/or jobs they believe are important for their city to be comfortable for its residents. Students will then learn all about the structure and functions of the different organelles using interactive simulations to explore the different structures that are not visible to the naked eye. During this learning process, students will be asked to check if there are any connections with their initial city designs and the components of an animal cell. Part of the instruction will include a think, pair, share an activity with their colleagues to discuss their ideas and how their cities resemble the structure and functions of a cell. This will be a form of peer feedback for students that they will incorporate into their work.

Post-Assessment: I would like to not only provide students with feedback on how they performed, but also feedback aimed at the processes underlying the task. I would hope that they reflect on their work after receiving such feedback so that they can show what they learned. For example, feedback would be based on the following:

1. Have they justified the reason(s) for the jobs/organizations that they decided to include in their city?

2. Have they related it and backed it up with functions of organelles with an animal cell?

3. Are there valid examples of why the structure and function are closely related?

Student reflections should include reasons as to why that particular job is important for the stability and fully functional city with references to how an animal cell functions. For instance, they can include that they decided to include a government so that they can enforce the law and provide an adequate place to live for the people of the city. They would then relate this to the nucleus of the cell and how it regulates all cell processes within the cell and is crucial for the stability of the environment in the cell. They could then discuss that both contain powerful information on how to run the city/animal cell. A government contains the laws and the nucleus contains the DNA. After they make the final iterations, student work will provide me with the data I need to adjust or address any learning gaps. If there is a common trend of misunderstanding, I could show a video of an animal cell and pause as each organelle is described to share the great ideas from different cities of student work to re-explain parts of the animal cell.

Future Technology: Since this assessment is on-going throughout the lesson, I would like students to receive feedback as they progress. In order to effectively do so, I thought of having them work in Google Docs. This will allow me to share helpful resources and valuable written feedback. Students will be able to submit their initial designs final iterations by uploading their work to Padlet.