Portfolio Mac

Universidad Mariano Gálvez Facultad de Humanidades

Escuela de Idiomas

Techniques VI

Licda. Evelyn Quiroa

P O R T F O L I O

Carmen María Raquel Martínez Ortiz

I.D. Number 076-09-8502

November, 2011

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Chapter 9. Assessment Vocabulary

The definitions in this list were derived from several sources, including:

• Glossary of Useful Terms Related to Authentic and Performance Assessments. Grant

Wiggins

• SCASS Arts Assessment Project Glossary of Assessment Terms

• The ERIC Review: Performance-Based Assessment. Vol. 3 Issue 1, Winter, 1994.

• Assessment: How Do We Know What They Know? ASCD. 1992.

• Dissolving the Boundaries: Assessment that Enhances Learning. Dee Dickinson

• http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/terminology.htm

Accountability – The demand by a community (public officials, employers, and taxpayers) for

school officials to prove that money invested in education has led to measurable learning.

"Accountability testing" is an attempt to sample what students have learned, or how well teachers

have taught, and/or the effectiveness of a school's principal's performance as an instructional

leader. School budgets and personnel promotions, compensation, and awards may be affected.

Most school districts make this kind of assessment public; it can affect policy and public

perception of the effectiveness of taxpayer-supported schools and be the basis for comparison

among schools. It has been suggested that test scores analyzed in a disaggregated format can

help identify instructional problems and point to potential solutions.

Action Plans – The statement that indicates the specific changes that a given area plans to

implement in the next cycle based on assessment results. "The biology faculty will introduce one

special project in the introductory class that will expose the students to the scientific method."

"Career Services is implementing a software program called ‘1st Place’. This software will

allow better tracking of job openings."

Action Research – Classroom-based research involving the systematic collection of data in

order to address certain questions and issue so as to improve classroom instruction and

educational effectiveness.

Affective Outcomes – Outcomes of education that reflect feelings more than understanding;

likes, pleasures, ideals, dislikes, annoyances, values.

Annual Report: A report from each academic program based on its assessment plan that is

submitted annually, which outlines how evidence was used to improve student learning

outcomes through curricular and/or other changes or to document that no changes were needed.

Assessment – The systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational

programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and development. In general

terms, assessment is the determination of a value, or measurement, based on a "standard." We

often refer to this standard as a "target." Standard-based measurement, or assessment, is useful in

education for both the placement of students in initial course work and ascertaining the extent of

students' acquisition of skills/knowledge.

Assessment Cycle – The assessment cycle in higher education is generally annual and fits within

the academic year. Outcomes, targets and assessment tools are established early in the fall

semester; data is collected by the end of spring semester; results are analyzed during the summer

and early fall.

Assessment Tool – An instrument that has been designed to collect objective data about students'

knowledge and skill acquisition. An appropriate outcomes assessment test measures students'

ability to integrate a set of individual skills into a meaningful, collective demonstration. Some

examples of assessment tools include standardized tests, end-of-program skills tests, student

inquiries, common final exams, and comprehensive embedded test items.

Assessment Literacy – The possession of knowledge about the basic principals of sound

assessment practice, including terminology, the development and use of assessment

methodologies and techniques, familiarity with standards of quality in assessment. Increasingly,

familiarity with alternatives to traditional measurements of learning.

Authentic Assessment – A circumstance in which the behavior that the learning is intended to

produce is evaluated and discussed in order to improve learning. The concept of model, practice,

feedback in which students know what excellent performance is and are guided to practice an

entire concept rather than bits and pieces in preparation for eventual understanding. A variety of

techniques can be employed in authentic assessment.

Benchmark – Student performance standards (the level(s) of student competence in a content

area).

Cohort – A group whose progress is followed by means of measurements at different points in

time.

Course-embedded assessment – A method in which evidence of student learning outcomes for

the program is obtained from assignments in particular courses in the curriculum.

Course-level assessment – Assessment to determine the extent to which a specific course is

achieving its learning goals.

Course mapping – A matrix showing the coverage of each program learning outcome in each

course. It may also indicate the level of emphasis of each outcome in each course.

Criterion Referenced Tests – A test in which the results can be used to determine a student's

progress toward mastery of a content area. Performance is compared to an expected level of

mastery in a content area rather than to other students' scores. Such tests usually include

questions based on what the student was taught and are designed to measure the student's

mastery of designated objectives of an instructional program. The "criterion" is the standard of

performance established as the passing score for the test. Scores have meaning in terms of what

the student knows or can do, rather than how the test-taker compares to a reference or norm

group.

Curriculum Map – A matrix showing where each goal and/or learning outcome are covered in

each program course.

Direct Assessment – Assessment to gauge student achievement of learning outcomes directly

from their work.

Educational Goals – The knowledge, skills, abilities, capacities, attitudes or dispositions students

are expected to acquire as a result of completing your academic program. Goals are sometimes

treated as synonymous with outcomes, though outcomes are the behavioral results of the goals,

and are stated in precise operational terms.

Formative assessment – The assessment of student achievement at different stages of a course or

at different stages of a student’s academic career. The focus of formative assessment is on the

documentation of student development over time. It can also be used to engage students in a

process of reflection on their education.

General Education Assessment – Assessment that measures the campus-wide, general education

competencies agreed upon by the faculty. General education assessment is more holistic in

nature than program outcomes assessment because competencies are measured across

disciplines, rather than just within a single discipline.

Holistic Scoring – In assessment, assigning a single score based on an overall assessment of

performance rather than by scoring or analyzing dimensions or traits individually. The product is

considered to be more than the sum of its parts and so the quality of a final product or

performance is evaluated rather than the process or dimension of performance. A holistic

scoring rubric might combine a number of elements on a single scale. Focused holistic scoring

may be used to evaluate a limited portion of a learner's performance.

Indirect Assessment – Assessment that deduces student achievement of learning outcomes

through the reported perception of learning by students and other agents.

Institutional assessment – Assessment to determine the extent to which a college or university is

achieving its mission.

Learning outcomes – Operational statements describing specific student behaviors that evidence

the acquisition of desired goals in knowledge, skills, abilities, capacities, attitudes or

dispositions. Learning outcomes can be usefully thought of as behavioral criteria for determining

whether students are achieving the educational goals of a program, and, ultimately, whether

overall program goals are being successfully met. Outcomes are sometimes treated as

synonymous with objectives, though objectives are usually more general statements of what

students are expected to achieve in an academic program.

Measurable Criteria – An intended student outcome, or administrative objective, restated in a

quantifiable, or measurable, statement. "60% of biology students will complete an

experiment/project using scientific methods in fall 2003;" "75% of responding MU students will

indicate on a survey in fall 2003 that they have read materials about career opportunities on

campus."

Metacognition – The knowledge of one's own thinking processes and strategies, and the ability to

consciously reflect and act on the knowledge of cognition to modify those processes and

strategies.

Norm – A distribution of scores obtained from a norm group. The norm is the midpoint (or

median) of scores or performance of the students in that group. Fifty percent will score above

and fifty percent below the norm.

Performance-Based Assessment – Direct, systematic observation and rating of student

performance of an educational objective, often an ongoing observation over a period of time, and

typically involving the creation of products. The assessment may be a continuing interaction

between teacher and student and should ideally be part of the learning process. The assessment

should be a real-world performance with relevance to the student and learning community.

Assessment of the performance is done using a rubric, or analytic scoring guide to aid in

objectivity. Performance-based assessment is a test of the ability to apply knowledge in a real-

life setting or performance of exemplary tasks in the demonstration of intellectual ability.

Portfolio – A systematic and organized collection of a student's work that exhibits to others the

direct evidence of a student's efforts, achievements, and progress over a period of time. The

collection should involve the student in selection of its contents, and should include information

about the performance criteria, the rubric or criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student

self-refection or evaluation.

Portfolio Assessment – Portfolios may be assessed in a variety of ways. Each piece may be

individually scored, or the portfolio might be assessed merely for the presence of required pieces,

or a holistic scoring process might be used and an evaluation made on the basis of an overall

impression of the student's collected work. It is common that assessors work together to

establish consensus of standards or to ensure greater reliability in evaluation of student work.

Established criteria are often used by reviewers and students involved in the process of

evaluating progress and achievement of objectives.

Primary Trait Method – A type of rubric scoring constructed to assess a specific trait, skill,

behavior, or format, or the evaluation of the primary impact of a learning process on a designated

audience.

Process – A generalizable method of doing something, generally involving steps or operations

which are usually ordered and/or interdependent. Process can be evaluated as part of an

assessment, as in the example of evaluating a student's performance during prewriting exercises

leading up to the final production of an essay or paper.

Program assessment – Assessment to determine the extent to which students in a departmental

program can demonstrate the learning outcomes for the program.

Reliability – An assessment tool’s consistency of results over time and with different samples of

students.

Rubric – A set of criteria specifying the characteristics of a learning outcome and the levels of

achievement in each characteristic.

Self-efficacy – Students’ judgment of their own capabilities for a specific learning outcome.

Senior Project – Extensive projects planned and carried out during the senior year as the

culmination of the undergraduate experience. Senior projects require higher-level thinking skills,

problem-solving, and creative thinking. They are often interdisciplinary, and may require

extensive research. Projects culminate in a presentation of the project to a panel of people,

usually faculty and community mentors, sometimes students, who evaluate the student's work at

the end of the year.

Summative assessment – The assessment of student achievement at the end point of their

education or at the end of a course. The focus of summative assessment is on the documentation

of student achievement by the end of a course or program. It does not reveal the pathway of

development to achieve that endpoint.

Triangulation – The collection of data via multiple methods in order to determine if the results

show a consistent outcome

Validity – The degree to which an assessment measures (a) what is intended, as opposed to (b)

what is not intended, or (c) what is unsystematic or unstable

CLASS LOG

Date: July 9, 2011

Topic: Assessment Vocabulary

This Saturday I learned new concepts about asessment vocabulary. I realized that I was using a few words in a wrong way and that I was not so lost in the definition of others.

There are a lot of new vocabulary words that I will have to study and learn in order to use them correctly. I used to think that cohort was related to pair work, and now I understand that cohort referst to a group (more than two students) whose progress is measured constantly.

I realized that I need to learn how to do triangulations, because I don’t have an idea of how to do them correctly, in order to show a consistent and accurate result.

Raquel Martínez

TEACHING ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION

CONTENTS• Introduction .......................................1• Need for the Guide ............................1• What is Quality Teaching? ................. 2• Formative Assessment ...................... 2• Summative Evaluation ....................... 2• Overview of Assessment and

Evaluation Strategies:

1. Teaching dossiers ........................ 32. Student ratings ............................43. Peer observations ........................ 54. Letters & individual interviews ...... 65. Course portfolios ......................... 66. Classroom assessment ............... 7

• Classroom Assessment Techniques .. 8

The Teaching Assessment and Evaluation Guide© is published by the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning(SCOTL),York University www.yorku.ca/secretariat/senate/committees/scotl/ (revised January 2002)

INTRODUCTIONThe Teaching Assessment and Evaluation Guide providesinstructors with starting-points for reflecting on theirteaching, and with advice on how to gather feedback ontheir teaching practices and effectiveness as part of asystematic program of teaching development. As well, theGuide provides guidance on how teaching might be fairlyand effectively evaluated, which characteristics ofteaching might be considered, and which evaluationtechniques are best suited for different purposes. TheTeaching Assessment and Evaluation Guide is acompanion to the Teaching Documentation Guide (1993),also prepared by the Senate Committee on Teaching andLearning (SCOTL). The Documentation Guide (availableat the Centre for the Support of Teaching and on theSCOTL website) aims to provide instructors with adviceand concrete suggestions on how to document the varietyand complexity of their teaching contributions.

NEED FOR THE GUIDETeaching is a complex and personal activity that is bestassessed and evaluated using multiple techniques andbroadly-based criteria. Assessment for formativepurposes is designed to stimulate growth, change andimprovement in teaching through reflective practice.Evaluation, in contrast, is used for summative purposes togive an overview of a particular instructor’s teaching in aparticular course and setting. Informed judgements onteaching effectiveness can best be made when bothassessment and evaluation are conducted, using severaltechniques to elicit information from various perspectiveson different characteristics of teaching. There is no onecomplete source for information on one’s teaching, and nosingle technique for gathering it. Moreover, thetechniques need to be sensitive to the particular teachingassignment of the instructor being assessed or evaluated,as well as the context in which the teaching takes place. Ifmultiple perspectives are represented and differenttechniques used, the process will be more valued, theconclusions reached will be more credible, andconsequently more valuable to the individual beingassessed or evaluated.

Current practices at York University are varied. In mostdepartments and units, teaching is systematicallyevaluated, primarily for summative purposes. Individualinstructors are free, if they wish, to use the data sogathered for formative purposes, or they may contact theCentre for the Support of Teaching which providesfeedback and teaching analysis aimed at growth,development and improvement. Without denying thevalue of summative teaching evaluation, the mainpurpose of this Guide is to encourage committees andindividuals to engage in reflective practice through theongoing assessment of teaching for formative purposesand for professional development. Research indicatesthat such practice leads to heightened enthusiasm forteaching, and improvement in teaching and learning, bothof which are linked to faculty vitality.

S E N AT E C O M M I T T E E O N T E A C H I N G A N D L E A R N I N G ’ S G U I D E T O

Y O R K U N I V E R S I T Y

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consideration the level of the course, the instructor’sobjectives and style, and the teaching methodologyemployed. Nonetheless, the primary criterion must beimproved student learning. Research indicates thatstudents, faculty and administrators alike agree thatquality teaching:

• establishes a positive learning environment;• motivates student engagement;• provides appropriate challenges;• is responsive to students’ learning needs; and• is fair in evaluating their learning.

Concretely, indicators of quality teaching can include:• effective choice of materials;• organization of subject matter and course;• effective communication skills;• knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject matter

and teaching;• availability to students; and• responsiveness to student concerns and opinions.

Some characteristics are more easily measured thanothers. Furthermore, since instructors are individuals andteaching styles are personal, it is all the more important torecognize that not everyone will display the same patternsand strengths.

ASSESSMENT OF TEACHING FORFORMATIVE PURPOSESFormative assessment of teaching can be carried out atmany points during an instructional period, in theclassroom or virtual environment, to compare theperceptions of the instructor with those of the students,and to identify gaps between what has been taught andwhat students have learned. The purpose of assessment isfor instructors to find out what changes they might makein teaching methods or style, course organization orcontent, evaluation and grading procedures, etc., in orderto improve student learning. Assessment is initiated bythe instructor and information and feedback can besolicited from many sources (for example, self, students,colleagues, consultants) using a variety of instruments(surveys, on-line forms, etc. - see classroom assessmentbelow). The data gathered are seen only by the instructorand, if desired, a consultant, and form the basis forongoing improvement and development.

SUMMATIVE EVALUATIONSummative evaluation, by contrast, is usually conducted atthe end of a particular course or at specific points in aninstructor’s career. The purpose is to form a judgmentabout the effectiveness of a course and/or an instructor.The judgment may be used for tenure and promotiondecisions, to reward success in the form of teachingawards or merit pay, or to enable departments to make

WHAT IS QUALITY TEACHING?All assessment and evaluation techniques contain implicitassumptions about the characteristics that constitutequality teaching. These assumptions should be madeexplicit and indeed should become part of the evaluationprocess itself in a manner which recognizes instructors’rights to be evaluated within the context of their ownteaching philosophies and goals. First and foremost then,“teaching is not right or wrong, good or bad, effective orineffective in any absolute, fixed or determined sense.”¹Instructors emphasize different domains of learning(affective, cognitive, psychomotor, etc.) and employdifferent theories of education and teachingmethodologies (anti-racist, constructivist, critical,feminist, humanistic, etc.)². They encourage learning indifferent sites (classrooms, field locations, laboratories,seminar rooms, studios, virtual classrooms, etc.). Theyuse different instructional strategies and formats (usingcase studies, coaching, demonstrating, facilitatingdiscussions,lecturing, problem-based learning,online delivery, etc.),and they do thiswhile recognizingthat students havediverse backgroundsand levels ofpreparedness. In onesituation, instructorsmay see their role astransmitting factualinformation, and inanother as facilitatingdiscussion andpromoting criticalthinking.

As variable anddiverse as qualityteaching might be,generalizations maynevertheless be madeabout its basiccharacteristics asdescribed in the accompanying text box.

The criteria for evaluating teaching vary betweendisciplines and within disciplines, and should take into______1. Mary Ellen Weimer (1990). Improving College Teaching(CA: Jossey Bass Publishers), 202.2. Adapted from George L. Geis (1977), “Evaluation:definitions, problems and strategies,” in Chris Knapper etal Eds., Teaching is Important (Toronto: Clarke Irwin inassociation with CAUT).

QUALITY TEACHINGPut succinctly, quality teaching isthat activity which brings about themost productive and beneficiallearning experience for students andpromotes their development aslearners. This experience mayinclude such aspects as:• improved comprehension of

and ability to use the ideasintroduced in the course;

• change in outlook, attitude andenthusiasm towards thediscipline and its place in theacademic endeavour;

• intellectual growth; and• improvement in specific skills

such as critical reading andwriting, oral communication,analysis, synthesis, abstraction,and generalization.

Teaching Assessment and Evaluation Guide

1. TEACHING DOSSIERSA teaching dossier orportfolio is a factualdescription of aninstructor’s teachingachievements andcontains documentationthat collectivelysuggests the scope andquality of his or herteaching. Dossiers canbe used to presentevidence about teachingquality for evaluativepurposes such as T&Psubmissions, teachingaward nominations,etc., as they can provide a useful context for analyzingother forms of teaching evaluation. Alternatively, dossierscan provide the framework for a systematic program ofreflective analysis and peer collaboration leading toimprovement of teaching and student learning. For furtherinformation on how to prepare a teaching dossier, pleaseconsult SCOTL’s Teaching Documentation Guide(available at the Centre for the Support of Teaching andfrom the SCOLT website).

OVERVIEW OF STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSING AND EVALUATINGQUALITY TEACHING AND STUDENT LEARNING

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This section describes six strategies that teachers may use to assess and evaluate the quality of their teaching and its impacton student learning: 1) teaching dossiers; 2) student ratings; 3) peer observations; 4) letters and individual interviews; 5)course portfolios; and 6) classroom assessment. These descriptions draw on current research in the field (available at theCentre for the Suppport of Teaching, 111 Central Square, www.yorku.ca/cst) and practices and procedures at otheruniversities in Canada and abroad. All evaluation and assessment efforts should use a combination of strategies to takeadvantage of their inherent strengths as well as their individual limitations.

To focus on: Appraisal of instructor’s

teaching and learning context

Soundness of instructor’sapproach to teaching andlearning

Coherence of teachingobjectives and strategies

Vigour of professionaldevelopment, contributionsand accomplishments in thearea of teaching.

Benefits: Dossiers provide an opportunity for instructorsto articulate their teaching philosophy, review theirteaching goals and objectives, assess the effectiveness oftheir classroom practice and the strategies they use toanimate their pedagogical values, and identify areas ofstrength and opportunities for improvement. They alsohighlight an instructor’s range of responsibilities,accomplishments, and contributions to teaching andlearning more generally within the department, universityand/or scholarly community.

Limitations: It is important to note that dossiers are notmeant to be an exhaustive compilation of all thedocuments and materials that bear on an instructor’steaching performance; rather they should present aselection of information organized in a way that gives acomprehensive and accurate summary of teachingactivities and effectiveness._______For further information on teaching dossiers see:

Teaching Documentation Guide (1993, Senate Committeeon Teaching and Learning).Peter Seldin “Self-Evaluation: What Works? WhatDoesn’t?” and John Zubizarreta “Evaluating Teachingthrough Portfolios” in Seldin and Associates (1999).Changing Practices in Evaluating Teaching: A PracticalGuide to Improved Faculty Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions (MA: Anker Press).


informed decisions about changes to individual courses,the curriculum or teaching assignments.

At most universities, summative evaluation includes theresults of teaching evaluations regularly scheduled at theend of academic terms. However, to ensure thatsummative evaluation is both comprehensive andrepresentative, it should include a variety of evaluationstrategies, among them:• letters from individual students commenting on the

effectiveness of the instructor’s teaching, the quality ofthe learning experience, and the impact of both on theiracademic progress;

• assessments by peers based on classroom visits;• samples and critical reviews of contributions to course

and curriculum development, as well as ofcontributions to scholarship on teaching; and

• evidence of exceptional achievements andcontributions to teaching in the form of awards, andcommittee work.

One’s teaching dossier (see below) is an ideal format forpresenting these types of evaluation as a cumulative andlongitudinal record of one’s teaching.

Important note: It is crucial that the two processes –summative evaluation and formative assessment – be keptstrictly apart if the formative assessment of teaching is tobe effective and achieve its purpose. This means that theinformation gathered in a program of formativeassessment should not be used in summative evaluationunless volunteered by instructors themselves. It alsomeans that persons who are or have been involved inassisting instructors to improve their teaching should notbe asked to provide information for summative evaluationpurposes.

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2. STUDENT RATINGS OF TEACHINGStudent ratings ofteaching or studentevaluations are the mostcommonly used sourceof data for bothsummative andformative information.In many academic unitsthey are mandatory, andin several units, they arealso standardized. Forpurposes such as tenureand promotion, datashould be obtained overtime and across coursesusing a limited numberof global or summarytype questions. Suchdata will provide acumulative record andenable the detection ofpatterns of teachingdevelopment1. Information obtained by means of studentratings can also be used by individual instructors toimprove the course in future years, and to identify areas ofstrength and weakness in their teaching by comparisonwith those teaching similar courses. Longer and morefocussed questionnaires are also useful in a program offormative evaluation when designed and administered byan instructor during a course.

Benefits: The use of a mandatory, standardizedquestionnaire puts all teaching evaluations on a commonfooting, and facilitates comparisons between teachers,courses and academic units. The data gathered also servethe purpose of assessing whether the educational goals ofthe unit are being met. Structured questionnaires areparticularly appropriate where there are relatively largenumbers of students involved, and where there are eitherseveral sections of a single course, or several courses withsimilar teaching objectives using similar teachingapproaches.

Questionnaires are relatively economical to administer,summarize and interpret. Provided that students are askedto comment only on items with which they have directexperience, student responses to questionnaires have beenfound to be valid. While questionnaire forms withopen-ended questions are more expensive to administer,they often provide more reliable and useful sources ofinformation in small classes and for the tenure andpromotion process. Also, open-ended questions provideinsight into the numerical ratings, and provide pertinentinformation for course revision.

Limitations: While students’ perceptions providevaluable feedback to instructors, recent research hasidentified specific areas of teaching quality on whichstudents are not able to make informed judgments. Theseinclude the appropriateness of course goals, content,design, materials, and evaluation of student work.3 Thus,the use of a variety of techniques as described elsewherein this document can help to address the gaps andshortcomings in the student rating data.

Further, recent research indicates that care should be takento control for possible biases based on gender, race,discipline, and teaching approach, particularly for thoseusing non-traditional teaching methods and curriculum.Likewise, ratings can be affected by factors for which it isdifficult to control, such as student motivation, complexityof material, level of course, and class size. Care should betaken, therefore, to create an appropriate context forinterpreting the data in light of other sources of data andin comparison with other courses. One way to ensurefairness and equity is to ask students to identify thestrengths of the instructor’s approach as well asweaknesses, and to ask for specific suggestions forimprovement.

Teachers have such different perspectives, approaches,and objectives that a standardized questionnaire may notadequately or fairly compare their performance. Forexample, the implicit assumption behind the design ofmany evaluation forms is that the primary mode ofinstruction is the lecture method. Such a form will beinadequate in evaluating the performance of instructorswho uses different teaching methods, for examplecollaborative learning. One way to overcome thislimitation and to tailor the questionnaire to the objectivesand approaches of a specific course or instructor is todesign an evaluation form with a mandatory core set ofquestions and additional space for inserting questionschosen by the instructor.

Note: The Centre for the Support of Teaching has sampleteaching evaluation forms from numerous Faculties anddepartments, as well as books and articles which arehelpful resources for individuals and committeesinterested in developing questionnaires. In addition, webresources are posted on the SCOTL website._____For further information on student ratings of teaching see:

1. Cashin, William (1995), “Student ratings of teaching:The research revisited.” Idea Paper, Number 32 (KansasState University, Centre for Faculty Development)2. See, for example, The Teaching Professor, Vol. 8, No.4, 3-43. See also Theall, Michael and Franklin, Jennifer,Eds.(1990). Student Ratings of Instruction: Issues forImproving Practice, New Directions in Teaching andLearning, No. 43 (CA: Jossey-Bass Inc.).

To focus on: Effectiveness of instructor

Impact of instruction onstudent learning

Perceived value of the courseto the student

Preparation and organization

Knowledge of subject matterand ability to stimulateinterest in the course

Clarity and understandability

Ability to establish rapportand encourage discussionwithin the classroom

Sensitivity to and concernwith students’ level of under-standing and progress


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3. PEER OBSERVATIONSPeer observations offercritical insights into aninstructor’sperformance,complementing studentratings and other formsof evaluation tocontribute to a fullerand more accuraterepresentation ofoverall teaching quality.Research indicates thatcolleagues are in thebest position to judgespecific dimensions ofteaching quality,including the goals,content, design andorganization of thecourse, the methods andmaterials used indelivery, and evaluation of student work.

Peer observation may be carried out for both summativeand formative purposes. For summative evaluation, it isrecommended that prior consensus be reached about whatconstitutes quality teaching within the discipline, what theobservers will be looking for, and the process for carryingout and recording the observations. To ensure that a fullpicture of an instructor’s strengths and weaknesses isobtained, some observers find checklists useful and somedepartments may choose to designate the responsibility ofmaking classroom observations to a committee. Given therange of activities in a class, some observers find it helpfulto focus on specific aspects of the teaching and learningthat takes place. It is also advisable that more than onecolleague be involved, and that more than one observationtake place by each colleague. This will counteractobserver bias towards a particular teaching approach andthe possibility that an observation takes place on anunusually bad day. These precautions also provide forgreater objectivity and reliability of the results.

Before an observation, it is important that the observerand instructor meet to discuss the instructor’s teachingphilosophy, the specific objectives and the strategies thatwill be employed during the session to be observed, andthe materials relevant to the course: syllabus, assignments,online course components, etc. Likewise, discussions ofthe criteria for evaluation and how the observations willtake place can help to clarify expectations and procedures.A post-observation meeting allows an opportunity forconstructive feedback and assistance in the developmentof a plan for improvement.

Peer observation is especially useful for formativeevaluation. In this case, it is important that the results ofthe observations remain confidential and not be used forsummative evaluation. The process of observation in thiscase should take place over time, allowing the instructorto implement changes, practice improvements and obtainfeedback on whether progress has been made. It may alsoinclude video-taping the instructor’s class. This process isparticularly helpful to faculty who are experimenting withnew teaching methods.

A particularly valuable form of observation for formativepurposes is peer-pairing. With this technique, twoinstructors provide each other with feedback on theirteaching on a rotating basis, each evaluating the other fora period of time (anywhere between 2 weeks and a fullyear). Each learns from the other and may learn as muchin the observing role as when being observed. Fullguidelines for using this technique, as well as advice andassistance in establishing a peer-pairing relationship, areavailable from the Centre for the Support of Teaching.

Benefits: Peer observations can complete the picture of aninstructor’s teaching obtained through other methods ofevaluation. As well, observations are an importantsupplement to contextualize variations in student ratingsin situations, for example, where an instructor’s teachingis controversial because experimental or non-traditionalteaching methods are being used, or where other uniquesituations exist within the learning environment.Colleagues are better able than students to comment uponthe level of difficulty of the material, knowledge ofsubject matter and integration of topics, and they canplace the teaching within a wider context and suggestalternative teaching formats and ways of communicatingthe material.

Limitations: There are several limitations to using peerobservations for summative purposes. First, unlesssafeguards are put in place to control for sources of bias,conflicting definitions of teaching quality, andidiosyncrasies in practice, inequities can result in howclassroom observations are done1. For example,instructors tend to find observations threatening and theyand their students may behave differently when there is anobserver present. Also, there is evidence to suggest thatpeers may be relatively generous evaluators in someinstances. A second limitation is that it is costly in termsof faculty time since a number of observations arenecessary to ensure the reliability and validity of findings.Since observers vary in their definitions of qualityteaching and some tact is required in providing feedbackon observations, it is desirable that observers receivetraining before becoming involved in providing formativeevaluation. The approaches described above can help tominimize these inequities and improve the effectiveness ofpeer observation. Finally, to protect the integrity of this

To focus on: Quality of the learning

environment (labs, lecturehalls, online discussiongroups, seminars, studios,etc.)

Level of student engagement

Clarity of presentation, andability to convey coursecontent in a variety of ways

Range of instructionalmethods and how theysupport studentunderstanding

Student-instructor rapport

Overall effectiveness


6

technique for both formative and summative purposes, itis critical that observations for personnel decisions be keptstrictly separate from evaluations for teachingimprovement.______For further information on colleague evaluation ofteaching see:

1. DeZure, Deborah. “Evaluating teaching through peerclassroom observation,” in Peter Seldin and Associates(1999). Changing Practices in Evaluating Teaching: APractical Guide to Improved Faculty Performance andPromotion/Tenure Decisions (MA: Anker Press).

4. LETTERS AND INDIVIDUALINTERVIEWSLetters and/orindividual interviewsmay be used in teachingaward nominations,tenure and promotionfiles, etc. to obtaingreater depth ofinformation for thepurpose of improvingteaching, or forproviding details andexamples of aninstructor’s impact onstudents.

Benefits: Interviewsand letters elicitinformation not readilyavailable through student ratings or other forms ofevaluation. Insights, success stories, and thoughtfulanalyses are often the outcomes of an interview or requestfor a written impressions of an instructor’s teaching.Students who are reluctant to give information on a ratingscale or in written form, often respond well to a skilled,probing interviewer.

Limitations: The disadvantage of letters is that theresponse rate can be low. The major disadvantage ofinterviews is time. Interviews can take approximately onehour to conduct, about 30 minutes to arrange, and anotherblock of time for coding and interpretation. A structuredinterview schedule should be used to eliminate the biasthat may result when an untrained interviewer asksquestions randomly of different students.

5. COURSE PORTFOLIOSA course portfolio is avariant on the teachingdossier and is theproduct of focussedinquiry into the learningby students in aparticular course. Itrepresents the specificaims and work of theinstructor and isstructured to explainwhat, how and whystudents learn in a class.It generally comprisesfour main components:1) a statement of theaims and pedagogicalstrategies of the courseand the relationshipbetween the method andoutcomes; 2) ananalysis of studentlearning based on key assignments and learning activitiesto advance course goals; 3) an analysis of studentfeedback based on classroom assessment techniques; and4) a summary of the strengths of the course in terms ofstudents’ learning, and critical reflection on how thecourse goals were realised, changed or unmet. The finalanalysis leads to ideas about what to change in order toenhance student learning, thinking and development thenext time the course is taught.1

Course portfolios have been described as being closelyanalogous to a scholarly project, in that:

“a course, like a project, begins with significant goalsand intentions, which are enacted in appropriate waysand lead to relevant results in the form of studentlearning. Teaching, like a research project, isexpected to shed light on the question at hand and theissues that shape it; the methods used to complete theproject should be congruent with the outcomes sought.The course portfolio has the distinct advantage ofrepresenting – by encompassing and connectingplanning, implementation and results – the intellectualintegrity of teaching as reflected in a single course.” 2

Benefits: The focus on a specific course allows theportfolio to demonstrate student understanding as an indexof successful teaching. For instructors, course portfoliosprovide a framework for critical reflection and continuousimprovement of teaching, and deep insight into how theirteaching contributes to students’ knowledge and skills.

To focus on: Appropriateness of course

goals and objectives

Quality of instructionalmaterials and assignments

Coherence of courseorganization, teachingstrategies and modes ofdelivery

Comprehensiveness ofmethods for appraisingstudent achievement

Level of student learning andcontribution of teaching tostudents’ progress

Innovations in teaching andlearning

To focus on: Effectiveness of instructor

through detailed reflection

Impact of instruction onstudent learning andmotivation over the longerterm

Preparation and organization

Clarity and understandability

Ability to establish rapportand encourage discussion

Sensitivity to and concernwith students’ level ofunderstanding and progress


7

For departments, they can highlight cohesion and gapswithin the curriculum and enable continuity within thecourse over time and as different instructionaltechnologies are incorporated. As well, course portfolioscan collectively promote course articulation and providemeans of assessing the quality of a curriculum andpedagogical approaches in relation to the overall goalsand outcomes of a program of study.

Limitations: Because course portfolios focus on onecourse, they do not reflect the full range of an instructor’saccomplishments, responsibilities, and contributions (suchas curriculum development and work with graduatestudents) that would be documented in a teaching dossier.Also, course portfolios take time to prepare and evaluate,and instructors should not be expected to build a portfoliofor every course taught; rather they should concentrate onthose courses for which they have the strongest interest orin which they invest the majority of their energy,imagination and time.3______For further information on course portfolios see:1. Cerbin, William (1994), “The course portfolio as a toolfor continuous improvement of teaching and learning.”Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 5(1), 95-105.2. Cambridge, Barbara. “The Teaching Initiative: Thecourse portfolio and the teaching portfolio.” AmericanAssociation for Higher Education.3. Cutler, William (1997). The history course portfolio.Perspectives 35 (8): 17-20.

6. CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT*Classroom assessmentis method of inquiryinto the effects ofteaching on learning. Itinvolves the use oftechniques andinstruments designed togive instructorsongoing feedback aboutthe effect their teachingis having on the leveland quality of studentlearning; this feedbackthen informs theirsubsequentinstructional decisions.Unlike tests and quizzes, classroom assessment can beused in a timely way to help instructors identify gaps

between what they teach and what students learn andenable them to adjust their teaching to make learning moreefficient and effective. The information should always beshared with students to help them improve their ownlearning strategies and become more successful self-directed learners.

There are a variety of instruments for classroomassessment, either in class or electronically, such as one-minute papers, one-sentence summaries, critical incidentquestionnaires, focus groups, and mid-year mini surveys(see page 8). Generally, the instruments are created,administered, and results analysed by the instructor tofocus on specific aspects of teaching and student learning.Although the instructor is not obligated to share the resultsof classroom assessment beyond the course, the resultsmay usefully inform other strategies for evaluatingteaching quality.

Classroom assessment can be integrated into aninstructor’s teaching in a graduated way, starting out witha simple assessment technique in one class involving fiveto ten minutes of class time, less than an hour for analysisof the results, and a few minutes during a subsequent classto let students know what was learned from the assessmentand how the instructor and students can use thatinformation to improve learning. After conducting one ortwo quick assessments, the instructor can decide whetherthis approach is worth further investment of time andenergy.

Benefits: Classroom assessment encourages instructors tobecome monitors of their own performance and promotesreflective practice. In addition, its use can promptdiscussion among colleagues about their effectiveness,and lead to new and better techniques for elicitingconstructive feedback from students on teaching andlearning.

Limitations: As with student ratings, the act of solicitingfrank, in-the-moment feedback may elicit criticalcomments on the instructor and his/her approach toteaching. However, it is important to balance the positiveand negative comments and try to link negativecommentary to issues of student learning. New users ofclassroom assessment techniques might find it helpful todiscuss the critical comments with an experiencedcolleague.

______

Adapted from Core: York’s newsletter on universityteaching (2000) Vol 9, No. 3.

To focus on: Effectiveness of teaching on

learning

Constructive feedback onteaching strategies andclassroom/online practices

Information on what studentsare learning and level ofunderstanding of material

Quality of student learningand engagement

Feedback on course design


* “Classroom Assessment” is a term used widely byscholars in higher education; it is meant to include alllearning environments. For examples, see referenceson page 8.

8

ONE-MINUTE PAPERThe One-Minute Paper, or a brief reflection, is a tech-nique that is used to provide instructors with feedback onwhat students are learning in a particular class. It may beintroduced in small seminars or in large lectures, in firstyear courses or upper year courses, or electronically usingsoftware that ensures student anonymity. The One-Minute Paper asks students to respond anonymously to thefollowing questions:

One-Minute Paper

1. What is the most important thing you learnedtoday?

2. What question remains uppermost in yourmind?

Depending upon the structure and format of the learningenvironment, the One-Minute Paper may be used in avariety of ways:• During a lecture, to break up the period into smaller

segments enabling students to reflect on the materialjust covered.

• At the end of a class, to inform your planning forthe next session.

• In a course comprising lectures and tutorials, theinformation gleaned can be passed along to tutorialleaders giving them advance notice of issues that theymay wish to explore with students.

THE MUDDIEST POINTAn adaptation of the One-Minute Paper, the MuddiestPoint is particularly useful in gauging how well studentsunderstand the course material. The Muddiest Point asksstudents:

What was the ‘muddiest point’ for you today?

Like the One-Minute Paper, use of the Muddiest Point canhelpfully inform your planning for the next session, andsignal issues that it may be useful to explore.

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARIESOne Sentence Summaries can be used to find out howconcisely, completely and creatively students cansummarize a given topic within the grammaticalconstraints of a single sentence. It is also effective forhelping students break down material into smaller unitsthat are more easily recalled. This strategy is mosteffective for any material that can be represented indeclarative form – historical events, story lines, chemicalreactions and mechanical processes.

A SAMPLING OF CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

The One Sentence Summary technique involves askingstudents to consider the topic you are discussing in terms ofWho Does/Did What to Whom, How, When, Where andWhy, and then to synthesize those answers into a singleinformative, grammatical sentence. These sentences canthen be analyzed to determine strengths and weaknesses inthe students’ understanding of the topic, or to pinpointspecific elements of the topic that require further elabora-tion. Before using this strategy it is important to make surethe topic can be summarized coherently. It is best toimpose the technique on oneself first to determine itsappropriateness or feasibility for given material.For further information on these and other classroomassessment strategies see:

Cross, K. P. and Angelo, T. A, Eds. (1988) ClassroomAssessment Techniques: A Handbook for Faculty (MI: NationalCenter for Research to Improve Post-Secondary Teaching andLearning).

CRITICAL INCIDENT QUESTIONNAIRESThe Critical Incident Questionnaire is a simple assessmenttechnique that can be used to find out what and howstudents are learning, and to identify areas whereadjustments are necessary (e.g., the pace of the course,confusion with respect to assignments or expectations).On a single sheet of paper, students are asked fivequestions which focus on critical moments for learning ina course. The questionnaire is handed out about tenminutes before the final session of the week.

Critical Incident Questionnaire

1. At what moment this week were you mostengaged as a learner?

2. At what moment this week were you mostdistanced as a learner?

3. What action or contribution taken this week byanyone in the course did you find most affirmingor helpful?

4. What action or contribution taken this week byanyone in the course did you find most puzzlingor confusing?

5. What surprised you most about the course thisweek?

Critical Incident Questionnaires provide substantivefeedback on student engagement and may also revealpower dynamics in the classroom that may not initially beevident to the instructor.

For further information on Critical Incident Questionnaires seeBrookfield, S. J. and Preskill, S. (1999) Discussion as a Way ofTeaching: Tools and Techniques for a Democratic Classroom.(CA: Jossey Bass), page 49.


CLASS LOG #2

Date: July 16, 2011

Topic: Assessment and Evaluation Defined

On the second class, I learned that assessment is any activity that we do in

class (even a warm up can be considered an assessment). I understood

the concepts that we cover as:

Assessment: gathering information on a daily basis.

Any activity that let us know that the student understood the topic that we are teaching can be considered assessment.

Evaluation: (exam/test) culminating act of interpreting information

gathered about student’ learning and needs, often at reporting times (We

could say that this is the one that goes in the report card).

Types of assessment and Evaluation

Diagnostic assessment and evaluation: we do it at the beginning of the

year or unit.

It will help us plan our classes and contents.

Formative assessment and evaluation: this is continuous. We should give

feedback about this assessment.

These are part of our unit’s zone.

Summative assessment and evaluation: It is base on the curriculum

objectives.

This is our unit test.

In summative assessment and evaluation support one another.

Assessments are the activities (experiments, presentations, worksheets,

etc) and evaluations are the tests at the end of the unit.

Carmen Maria Raquel Martínez Ortiz

ID 076‐09‐8502

CLASS LOG #3

Date: July 23, 2011

Topic: Assessment and Evaluation

On my third class, I observed the examples of assessment and evaluation.

I really liked the one of CSI, about the Scientific Method.

I understood that we have to be very careful with the rules or guidelines

when we work activities that are not paper based, and that we must be

careful with the things that we ask stundents to bring from home.

The suggestions about the visit to the zoo were nice. I think that it is good

to take the students out of the school once in a while, and asking them

about information easy to collect, and that gives a purpose to the field trip

is very nice.

I like the use of technology in the classroom, but sadly in the school that I

am working at the moment those resources are not available, so I do a lot

of activities with posters, experiments, and presentations.


ID 076‐09‐8502

UNIVERSIDAD MARIANO GALVEZ DE GUATEMALA

TECNICAS DE EVALUACION

2011

No INDICATORS INEFFECTIVE DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE 1 Reflects on evidence of student

learning

Teacher does not examine and/or

analyze formal and informal evidence

of student learning to inform

professional growth.

Teacher occasionally examines and/or

analyzes formal and informal evidence

of student learning; professional

growth is only loosely aligned with the

needs of students.

Teacher regularly examines and

analyzes formal and informal evidence

of student learning; professional

growth is aligned with the needs of

students.

Teacher engages in an ongoing

examination and analysis of formal

and informal evidence of student

learning; professional growth is

aligned with the needs of students.

The teacher reviews the impact of

professional learning on student

achievement.

2 Communicates purposes and criteria

Teacher does not communicate

purposes of assessments, the

assessment criteria or the parameters

for success to students.

Teacher communicates purposes of

assessments, the assessment criteria or

the parameters for success to students,

but for some students, the explanation

is unclear.


assessments, the assessment criteria,

and the parameters for success, and

the explanation is clear to most

students.


assessments, the assessment criteria,

and the parameters for success clearly

to all students. Students are able to

explain purposes and criteria to

others.

3 Provides preparation and practice

Teacher does not prepare students for

assessment formats using authentic

curriculum and/or does not

appropriately modify assessments or

testing conditions for students with

exceptional learning needs.

Teacher rarely seeks out specialists to

ensure modifications to meet

individual student needs.

With limited success, teacher prepares

students for assessment formats using

authentic curriculum and modifies

assessments and/or testing conditions

for students with exceptional learning

needs. Teacher occasionally seeks out

specialists to ensure modifications

meet individual student needs.

Teacher prepares students for


curriculum and appropriately modifies



needs.

Teacher frequently seeks out

specialists to ensure modifications

meet individual student needs.

Teacher prepares students for


curriculum and appropriately modifies



needs. Teacher consistently seeks out

specialists/resources to ensure

modifications meet individual student

needs.

4 Provides assessment skills and strategies

Teacher does not equip students with

assessment skills and/or strategies.

Teacher equips students with some

assessment skills and/or strategies.

Some students apply the skills and/or

strategies when coached by teacher.

Teacher equips students with several

assessment skills and strategies.

Students apply the skills and strategies

when coached by teacher.

Teacher equips students with multiple

assessment skills and strategies.

Students independently apply the

skills and strategies.

5 Designs instruction using current levels of student understanding

Teacher does not use students’

responses to questions, discussion or

other work nor considers possible

misconceptions when planning

instruction.

Teacher uses students’ responses to

questions, discussion or other work,

and may or may not consider common


instruction.

Teacher uses students’ responses to

questions, discussion, and other work,

and considers common


instruction.

Teacher uses individual students’

responses to questions, discussion,

and other work, and routinely

considers common misconceptions

when planning instruction.

6 Designs learning experiences using prior knowledge

Teacher does not design learning

experiences that connect students’

Teacher designs some learning

experiences that connect prior content

Teacher designs learning experiences

that connect prior content knowledge

Teacher designs learning experiences

that connect prior content knowledge

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

GROUP ASSESSING:______________

GROUP BEING ASSESSED:_________

COMMENTS:

SCORE:___________________________

prior content knowledge to new

learning.

knowledge to new learning.

to new learning within and across

disciplines.

to new learning. Teacher plans

opportunities for students themselves

to make connections to prior learning

within and across disciplines.

7 Designs instruction to meet diverse learning needs of students

Teacher does not use a range of

instructional strategies to design

learning experiences that reflect the

experiences, strengths, and learning

needs of students.

Teacher uses few differentiated




needs of students. Teacher plans an

alternate strategy to adapt instruction

if needed.

Teacher uses several differentiated




needs of students with some

differentiation for different groups of

students and awareness of 21st

Century Skills. Teacher plans several

alternate strategies to adapt

instruction as needed.

Teacher uses several differentiated




needs of all students. Instruction is

differentiated, as appropriate, for

individual learners and incorporate

21st Century Skills. Teacher plans

alternate strategies to adapt

instruction in anticipation of various

levels of student understanding.

8 Plans for student strengths, interests, and experiences

Teacher does not plan instruction to

address the strengths, interests, and

experiences of students.

Teacher plans instruction to address

the strengths, interests, and

experiences of some students.



experiences of most students.



experiences of each student and is

able to adapt the lesson as needed.

9 Gives and receives constructive feedback

Teacher does not give or receive

constructive feedback to improve

professional practice.

Teacher inconsistently gives or receives

constructive feedback to improve

professional practice

Teacher regularly gives, receives and

acts upon constructive feedback to

improve professional practice.

Feedback to colleagues is conveyed in

a professional and supportive manner.

Teacher regularly gives, receives, and

reflects upon constructive feedback to

improve professional practice.

Feedback to colleagues is conveyed in

a professional and supportive manner.

Teacher encourages and engages in

peer assessment to improve

professional practice.

Liquid Hot Magma. Tungerahua Volcano, Ecuador Picture by Alcinoe Calahorrano

Volcanoes

Volcano Stats

• Definition of Volcano – Mountain that forms when molten rock (magma) is forced to the Earth’s surface

• Number of active volcanos = ? – 20 erupting right now

(50-60/year) (160/decade) • Number of volcanologists = 1,500

~75% world’s active volcanoes in Rin of Fire

Major Volcanoes Around the World

Volcanic Eruptions

• Nonexplosive Eruptions

• Explosive Eruptions

What is Lava? -magma that flows onto the Earth‛s surface

Lava fountain

Lava flow

Volcanoes form around vents that release magma onto the Earth’s surface.

Vents Lava

Magma chamber

The Composition of Magma Determines whether it is explosive or not!

• High water content – More likely to be !!!

• High content – More likely to be !!! –Why? • Silica has a thick, stiff consistency – Flows slowly – Tends to Harden in the volcano’s vent

The amount of silica (SiO2) controls the viscosity, or the resistance of a substance to flow. The higher the silica level, the more viscous the magma is; therefore, the volcano eruption is greater and more explosive. MORE SILICA => HIGHER THE VISCOSITY => GREATER THE EXPLOSION

Types of Volcanoes Shield volcano

Cinder cone volcano

Composite volcano

a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava

Craters, Calderas, and Lava Plateau Crater

• From explosions of material out of the vent and the collapse of material back into vent Caldera • Much larger depression that forms when magma chamber empties and its roof collapses

Lava Plateau • Forms when lava erupts from long cracks, or fissures, and spreads out evenly (thousands of km)

Mixtures

! A mixture is a combination of two or more substances.

! Substances in a mixture can be separated.

! This means that they are not chemically combined. Peas, carrots, and corn can be combined in a mixture.

! In fact, you can buy a bag of frozen mixed vegetables at the store. Each vegetable can be sorted into separate piles.

! The peas, carrots and corn taste the same whether they are separated or mixed together.

! All substances in a mixture that are separated out have the same properties as before they were mixed.

! Some substances can mix physically with other substances. The makeup of a mixture can vary. A mixture does not necessarily contain a specific amount of each substance.

! They are not joined together chemically, so each substance in the mixture keeps its own properties.

! You can separate the substances of a mixture, but you cannot change the properties of any of the individual substances.

Solutions

! In a solution, one or more substances are

dissolved in another substance. The most common kind of solution is a solid dissolved in a liquid such as slat in water. In this kind of solution, the substance that is dissolved is the solute. In a solution of salt and water, the salt is the solute

! A solvent is the substance that takes in, or dissolves the other substance. Usually there is more solvent than solute. In salt water, the solvent is the water.

! Ocean water is a solution. But a solution does not

have to be a liquid. The air you breathe, for example is a solution made up of gases. The steel used for buildings and cars is a solution. During the process of making steel, carbon and iron, two solids are melted into liquid form. The carbon is dissolved in the iron.

Solubility

! No matter what you do, you cannot make sand

dissolve in water. The ability of one substance to dissolve in another is called its solubility. Solubility is a measure of the amount of a substance that will dissolve in another substance.

! Since sand does not dissolve in water, the solubility of sand in water is zero. Sometimes you can speed up the process of dissolving the solute by raising the temperature of the solvent. This is true for most solutes that are solids. For example, you can dissolve more sugar in warm water than you can in cold water.

! A change in the size, shape, or state of matter is

an example of a physical change. A physical change does not change the particles that make up matter. The arrangement of the particles, however, may be moved around during a physical change.

! Breaking a pencil is a physical change. The pieces of the pencil are still made of wood and graphite. If you sharpen the broken ends, you can keep using the pencil. Another physical change is tearing. If you tear a sheet of paper into tiny pieces, it still is made of the same kind of matter.

Chemical Change

! If you leave an iron nail in a damp place, it will rust. Suppose you compare the rust with the iron nail. You will find that the nail and the rust have different properties. The color and harness of rust and iron are different. But is a different substance that results from a chemical change in the iron nail.

! Unlike a physical change, a chemical produces a

completely different kind of matter. In a chemical change particles of one substance are changed in some way to form particles of a new substance with different properties.

! INVESTIGATE How does matter change?

! Please follow the instructions on your worksheet

! C:\Documents and Settings\Edwin Del Cid\Escritorio\EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT\EXERCISE 1.doc

! INVESTIGATE How can you change the properties of glue?

! Mixing glue with another substance can change its properties.

! The properties of the new substance are different from the properties of the original substance.


! INVESTIGATE How do substances mix?

! Mixing candies with nuts can change its properties?


! Lets see how much information we were able to acquire from this lesson

! C:\Documents and Settings\Edwin Del Cid\Escritorio\EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT\LESSON SCIENCDE.docx

LESSON TEST

SCIENCE

Name: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Date: ________________________________________________________________________ Key: ________________

Chemical change density mixture physical change

solubility solute Solution solvent

Series 1. (1 point each) Vocabulary. Instructions: Use the vocabulary term from the list above that completes each

sentence.

1. ______________________ is the ability of one substance to dissolve in another substance.

2. The property that compares the mass of an object with its volume is ______________________.

3. In a solution, the ____________________ is the substance that takes in, or dissolves the other substance.

4. A change in size, shape, or state of matter is a ___________________________.

5. The substance in a solution that is dissolved s called the _____________________________.

6. the quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies in a coin purse are a ______________________________________.

7. New substances with different properties are formed by a __________________________.

8. In a _____________________________________, substances are dissolved in other substances.

Series 2. (1 point each) Instructions: Choose the letter that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1. A chemical change results in a ______________.

a. loss of matter or energy

b. solution

c. phase change

d. different kind of matter

2. You make a solution when you mix _____________.

a. salt and water

b. sugar and cinnamon.

h. vegetables in a salad.

g. cheese sauce and macaroni

3. Which would make a sugar and water solution more dilute?

a. Let water evaporate away

b. Add sugar and stir

c. Add water and stir.

d. Heat to boil away water.

4. Which mixture is most likely a solution? a. muddy water

b. cranberry juice

c, potting soil

d. milk

Series 3. (1 point each) Instructions: Using your crayons, match the concept with the given picture.

A physical change begins and ends

with the same type of matter. An 1.

example is folding paper.

A change of state is a physical change

From one state of matter to another. 2.

A chemical change forms a new

substance with different properties

from the original matter.

3.

HOW DO SUBSTANCES MIX? Mixtures You may have eaten a snack made from a mixture of nuts, dried apricots and raisins. Each ingredient is a mixture keeps its own taste and shape.

A mixture is a combination of two or more substances. Substances in a mixture can be separated. This means that they are not chemically combines. Peas, carrots, and corn can be combined in a mixture. In fact, you can buy a bag of frozen mixed vegetables at the store. Each vegetable can be sorted into separate piles. The peas, carrots and corn taste the same whether they are separated or mixed together. All substances in a mixture that are separated out have the same properties as before they were mixed.

Some substances can mix physically with other substances. The makeup of a mixture can vary. A mixture does not necessarily contain a specific amount of each substance. They are not joined together chemically, so each substance in the mixture keeps its own properties. You separate the substances of a mixture, but you cannot change the properties of any of the individual substances. Solutions If you stir salt and water together, you make a mixture. You cannot see the salt in a mixture because it has broken into very small particles. It has dissolved in the water. The salt and water is a special kind of mixture called a solution. In a solution, one or more substances are dissolved in another substance. The most common kind of solution is a solid dissolved in a liquid such as slat in water. In this kind of solution, the substance that is dissolved is the solute. In a solution of salt and water, the salt is the solute. A solvent is the substance that takes in, or dissolves the other substance. Usually there is more solvent than solute. In salt water, the solvent is the water. Common solutions Ocean water is a solution. But a solution does not have to be a liquid. The air you breathe, for example is a solution made up of gases. The steel used for buildings and cars is a solution. During the process of making steel, carbon and iron, two solids are melted into liquid form. The carbon is dissolved in the iron.

Solubility No matter what you do, you cannot make sand dissolve in water. The ability of one substance to dissolve in another is called its solubility. Solubility is a measure of the amount of a substance that will dissolve in another substance. Since sand does not dissolve in water, the solubility of sand in water is zero. Sometimes you can speed up the process of dissolving the solute by raising the temperature of the solvent. This is true for most solutes that are solids. For example, you can dissolve more sugar in warm water than you can in cold water.

Physical Changes A change in the size, shape, or state of matter is an example of a physical change. A physical change does not change the particles that make up matter. The arrangement of the particles, however, may be moved around during a physical change. Breaking a pencil is a physical change. The pieces of the pencil are still made of wood and graphite. If you sharpen the broken ends, you can keep using the pencil. Another physical change is tearing. If you tear a sheet of paper into tiny pieces, it still is made of the same kind of matter. Chemical Change If you leave an iron nail in a damp place, it will rust. Suppose you compare the rust with the iron nail. You will find that the nail and the rust have different properties. The color and harness of rust and iron are different. But is a different substance that results from a chemical change in the iron nail. Unlike a physical change, a chemical produces a completely different kind of matter. In a chemical change particles of one substance are changed in some way to form particles of a new substance with different properties.

http://www.google.com.gt/imgres?q=experiments+of+mixture+for+kids&hl=es&biw=1072&bih=563&tbs=itp:lineart&tbm=isch&tbnid=KNErSk02czs8lM:&imgrefurl=http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/effect-temperature-amount-solute-needed/&docid=LE9R1seQgng5cM&w=583&h=349&ei=If8xTv-iGcbu0gG3soWODA&zoom=1

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Science Primary Level Name:_____________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________________ INVESTIGATE How does matter change? Physical change Materials ‐ A sheet of paper ‐ Instructions for the origami sculpture WHAT TO DO 1. Follow the instructions to fold your paper. 2. Observe its property. 3. Observe what happens. 4. Is it still made of the same kind of matter? 5. A change in the size, shape, or state of matter is an example of a _________ 5. Does it suffer a chemical or physical change? Science Primary Level Name:_____________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________________ INVESTIGATE How can you change the properties of glue? Mixing glue with another substance can change its properties. The properties of the new substance are different form the properties of the original substance. Materials ‐ Small measuring cup ‐ Glue ‐ Food coloring ‐ Cup ‐ Spoon ‐ Water ‐ Borax solution

WHAT TO DO 1. Measure 30 ml of glue into a small measuring cup. Pour it into a large cup. For fun, add food coloring 2. Add 15 mL of water to the cup. Stir the mixture. Observe its properties. 3. Add 15 mL of borax solution. Stir. 4. Observe what happens. 5. Play with the new mixture. Investigate its properties. 6. Record the data you collect about the properties of the glue and of the new substances.

OBSERVATIONS

Property Glue New Substances Color Texture State of Matter (solid, liquid, gas)

Odor Explain Your Results 1. Based on the data you collected, tell how the physical properties of the new substance and the glue are alike. What differences did you observe? Possible answer: Both substances are the same color, white. The glue is thick liquid and behaves like a liquid. The new substance is like a solid but also has some characteristics of a liquid. It is like putty or clay. 2. Would the new substance be good glue? Possible answer: No, it is not sticky.

Science Primary Level Name:_____________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________________ INVESTIGATE How do substances mix? Mixing candies with nuts can change its properties? Materials ‐ candies ‐ nuts ‐ raisins WHAT TO DO 1. Combine all the ingredients. 2. Observe their properties. 3. Observe what happens. 4. Record the data you collect about the properties and changes. 5. Does it suffer a chemical or physical change? 6. It is a mixture or a solution? 7. Can the substances be separated? OBSERVATIONS

Property candies raisins nuts Colors Texture State of Matter (solid, liquid, gas)

Taste Odor

Science Primary Level Name:_____________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________________ INVESTIGATE How do substances mix? Mixing candies with nuts can change its properties? Materials ‐ candies ‐ nuts ‐ raisins WHAT TO DO 1. Combine all the ingredients. 2. Observe their properties. 3. Observe what happens. 4. Record the data you collect about the properties and changes. 5. Does it suffer a chemical or physical change? 6. It is a mixture or a solution? 7. Can the substances be separated? OBSERVATIONS

Property candies raisins nuts Colors Texture State of Matter (solid, liquid, gas)

Taste Odor

Experiment: Which soil type drains water faster: sand, clay, humus? Problem: Rain Gardens are built so storm water flows from a parking lot (or other impervious surface) directly into the garden. Because of this, Rain Gardens will receive more water than a regular flower garden. The storm water in a Rain Garden should drain fairly quickly through the soil and not “pond”. Water drains more quickly through one type of soil compared to another. When selecting soil for a Rain Garden, which type of soil would be the best for fast drainage? Question: Which soil type drains water faster: sand, clay or humus? Hypothesis: If we record the amount of time it takes for 1 dropper of water to drain through 1 test tube of each of the three different types of soils, then we can decide which soil type would allow water to drain quickly through the Rain Garden. Materials: 1 sheet of newspaper 3 test tubes (same size) 1 test tube holder 1 plastic spoon 3 soils: clay, humus, sand 1 water dropper 1 container of water Procedure: Work in teams of two. (However, each student will turn in their own results, analysis and conclusion.) 1. Put 1 sheet of newspaper on the desk 2. Place 3 test tubes (same size) in test tube hold. 3. Put several spoonfuls of each soil on newspaper. 4. Fill one test tube halfway with sand. 5. Fill one test tube halfway with clay. 6. Fill one test tube halfway with humus 7. Adjust soil levels so all test tubes are equal.

Continued…

8. Fill water dropper with water. 9. One person looks at the clock (second hand) while other person empties one full dropper of water into the test tube of clay. 10. Time how long it takes the water to first reach the bottom of the test tube. 11. Record time on data table. 12. Do the same with test tube of humus. Record the time it takes one full dropper of water. 13. Do the same with the test tube of sand. Record the results. 14. Clean up: Empty dirt into garbage

Place empty test tubes and spoons into container of soapy water provided.

Recycle newspaper Wash hands and desk 15. Write the analysis and conclusion of your experiment below your Data Table. Data Table Soil Type Time for water to drain through soil

(seconds) Clay

Humus

Sand

Analysis: Using whole sentences, write a summary of your results below. Conclusion: Write a sentence that states which type of soil allows water to drain through the fastest?

CLASS LOG #4

Date: July 30, 2011

Topic: Formal and Informal Assessment

On my fourth class, I observed the presentations that my classmates

prepared for the group. The first presentation was kind of strange,

because I did not understand the instructions that the group gave. The

experiment that they showed was nice for kids, but I didn’t get the

purpose of the experiment.

The second group spoke about recycling, reusing, etc. That was a nice

presentation. The third, well was my group, so I believe that we did a

good job. The fourth group spoke about eating healthy, I like the

activities, but I did not observe the formal assessment, at least according

to what we spoke in class. The same happened with the last group that

spoke about volcanos, I observed the informal assessment, but not the

formal one.

I don’t know if I got the instructions because I worked a quiz, the

experiments, and the explanation to answer the quiz and oral questions.

What I can comment is that I like the activities in general, and that I

believed that my classmates like the activities that I worked with my group

because they were asking me where they could buy the ingredients to

make more “gak”.


ID 076‐09‐8502

UNIVERSIDAD!MARIANO!GALVEZ!DE!GUATEMALA!FACULTAD!DE!HUMANIDADES!ESCUELA!DE!IDIOMAS!ESCUELA!DE!IDIOMAS!LICDA.!EVELYN!R.!QUIROA!!

Assessment and Evaluation Defined

Assessment! is!the!act!of!gathering! information!on!a!daily!basis! in!order!to!understand! individual!students'!learning!and!needs.!!

Evaluation! is! the! culminating! act! of! interpreting! the! information! gathered! for! the! purpose! of!making!decisions!or!judgments!about!students'!learning!and!needs,!often!at!reporting!time.!!

Assessment!and!evaluation!are!integral!components!of!the!teaching"learning!cycle.!The!main!purposes!are!to!guide!and!improve!learning!and!instruction.!Effectively!planned!assessment!and!evaluation!can!promote!learning,!build!confidence,!and!develop!students'!understanding!of!themselves!as!learners.!!

Assessment!data!assists!the!teacher! in!planning!and!adapting!for!further! instruction.!As!well,!teachers!can!enhance!students'!understanding!of!their!own!progress!by!involving!them!in!gathering!their!own!data,!and!by!sharing! teacher"gathered!data!with! them.!Such!participation!makes! it!possible! for!students! to! identify!personal!learning!goals.!!

This! curriculum! advocates! assessment! and! evaluation! procedures! which! correspond! with! curriculum!objectives!and!instructional!practices,!and!which!are!sensitive!to!the!developmental!characteristics!of!early!adolescents.!Observation,!conferencing,!oral!and!written!product!assessment,!and!process!(or!performance)!assessment!may!be!used!to!gather!information!about!student!progress.!!

Guiding Principles

The!following!principles!are!intended!to!assist!teachers!in!planning!for!student!assessment!and!evaluation:!!

! Assessment!and!evaluation!are!essential!components!of!the!teaching"learning!process.!They!should!be!planned,!continuous!activities!which!are!derived!from!curriculum!objectives!and!consistent!with!the!instructional!and!learning!strategies.!!

! A!variety!of!assessment!and!evaluation!techniques!should!be!used.!Techniques!should!be!selected!for! their! appropriateness! to! students'! learning! styles! and! to! the! intended! purposes.! Students!should!be!given!opportunities!to!demonstrate!the!extent!of!their!knowledge,!abilities,!and!attitudes!in!a!variety!of!ways.!!

! Teachers! should! communicate! assessment! and! evaluation! strategies! and! plans! in! advance,!informing!the!students!of!the!objectives!and!the!assessment!procedures!relative!to!the!objectives.!Students!should!have!opportunities!for!input!into!the!evaluation!process.!!

! Assessment! and! evaluation! should! be! fair! and! equitable.! They! should! be! sensitive! to! family,!classroom,!school,!and!community!situations!and!to!cultural!or!gender!requirements;!they!should!be!free!of!bias.!!

! Assessment! and! evaluation! should! help! students.! They! should! provide! positive! feedback! and!encourage! students! to! participate! actively! in! their! own! assessment! in! order! to! foster! lifelong!learning!and!enable!them!to!transfer!knowledge!and!abilities!to!their!life!experiences.!!

! Assessment! and! evaluation! data! and! results! should! be! communicated! to! students! and!parents/guardians!regularly,!in!meaningful!ways.!!

Using! a! variety! of! techniques! and! tools,! the! teacher! collects! assessment! information! about! students'!language!development!and!their!growth!in!speaking,!listening,!writing,!and!reading!knowledge!and!abilities.!The! data! gathered! during! assessment! becomes! the! basis! for! an! evaluation.! Comparing! assessment!information! to! curriculum! objectives! allows! the! teacher! to!make! a! decision! or! judgment! regarding! the!progress!of!a!student's!learning.!!

Types of Assessment and Evaluation

There! are! three! types! of! assessment! and! evaluation! that! occur! regularly! throughout! the! school! year:!diagnostic,!formative,!and!summative.!!

Diagnostic!assessment!and!evaluation!usually!occur!at! the!beginning!of! the!school!year!and!before!each!unit!of!study.!The!purposes!are!to!determine!students'!knowledge!and!skills,!their!learning!needs,!and!their!motivational!and!interest!levels.!By!examining!the!results!of!diagnostic!assessment,!teachers!can!determine!where! to! begin! instruction! and! what! concepts! or! skills! to! emphasize.! Diagnostic! assessment! provides!information! essential! to! teachers! in! selecting! relevant! learning! objectives! and! in! designing! appropriate!learning!experiences!for!all!students,!individually!and!as!group!members.!Keeping!diagnostic!instruments!for!comparison! and! further! reference! enables! teachers! and! students! to! determine! progress! and! future!direction.!!

Diagnostic!assessment!tools!such!as!the!Writing!Strategies!Questionnaire!and!the!Reading!Interest/Attitude!Inventory!in!this!guide!can!provide!support!for!instructional!decisions.!!

Formative! assessment! and! evaluation! focus! on! the! processes! and! products! of! learning.! Formative!assessment!is!continuous!and!is!meant!to!inform!the!student,!the!parent/guardian,!and!the!teacher!of!the!student's! progress! toward! the! curriculum! objectives.! This! type! of! assessment! and! evaluation! provides!information!upon!which! instructional!decisions!and!adaptations!can!be!made!and!provides! students!with!directions!for!future!learning.!!

Involvement! in!constructing! their!own!assessment! instruments!or! in!adapting!ones! the! teacher!has!made!allows!students!to!focus!on!what!they!are!trying!to!achieve,!develops!their!thinking!skills,!and!helps!them!to!become! reflective! learners.!As!well,!peer!assessment! is!a!useful! formative!evaluation! technique.!For!peer!assessment!to!be!successful,!students!must!be!provided!with!assistance!and!the!opportunity!to!observe!a!model!peer!assessment!session.!Through!peer!assessment!students!have!the!opportunity!to!become!critical!and! creative! thinkers!who! can! clearly! communicate! ideas! and! thoughts! to! others.! Instruments! such! as!checklists!or!learning!logs,!and!interviews!or!conferences!provide!useful!data.!!

Summative!assessment!and!evaluation!occur!most!often!at!the!end!of!a!unit!of!instruction!and!at!term!or!year!end!when!students!are!ready!to!demonstrate!achievement!of!curriculum!objectives.!The!main!purposes!are!to!determine!knowledge,!skills,!abilities,!and!attitudes!that!have!developed!over!a!given!period!of!time;!to!summarize!student!progress;!and!to!report!this!progress!to!students,!parents/guardians,!and!teachers.!!

Summative! judgments! are! based! upon! criteria! derived! from! curriculum! objectives.! By! sharing! these!objectives!with! the!students!and! involving! them! in!designing! the!evaluation! instruments,! teachers!enable!students!to!understand!and!internalize!the!criteria!by!which!their!progress!will!be!determined.!!

Often!assessment!and!evaluation!results!provide!both!formative!and!summative!information.!For!example,!summative!evaluation!can!be!used!formatively!to!make!decisions!about!changes!to!instructional!strategies,!curriculum! topics,! or! learning! environment.! Similarly,! formative! evaluation! assists! teachers! in! making!summative! judgments!about! student!progress!and!determining!where! further! instruction! is!necessary! for!individuals!or!groups.!The!suggested!assessment!techniques! included! in!various!sections!of!this!guide!may!be!used!for!each!type!of!evaluation.!!

The Evaluation Process

Teachers! as! decision!makers! strive! to!make! a! close!match! between! curriculum! objectives,! instructional!methods,!and!assessment!techniques.!The!evaluation!process!carried!out!parallel!to!instruction!is!a!cyclical!one!that!involves!four!phases:!preparation,!assessment,!evaluation,!and!reflection.!!

In! the! preparation! phase,! teachers! decide!what! is! to! be! evaluated,! the! type! of! evaluation! to! be! used!(diagnostic,! formative,!or! summative),! the! criteria!upon!which! student! learning!outcomes!will!be! judged,!and!the!most!appropriate!assessment!techniques!for!gathering! information!on!student!progress.!Teachers!may!make!these!decisions!in!collaboration!with!students.!!

During! the!assessment!phase,! teachers! select! appropriate! tools! and! techniques,! then! collect! and! collate!information! on! student! progress.! Teachers!must! determine!where,!when,! and! how! assessments!will! be!conducted,!and!students!must!be!consulted!and!informed.!!

During! the!evaluation!phase,! teachers! interpret! the! assessment! information! and!make! judgments! about!student!progress.!These!judgments!(or!evaluation)!provide!information!upon!which!teachers!base!decisions!about!student!learning!and!report!progress!to!students!and!parents/guardians.!Students!are!encouraged!to!monitor! their!own! learning!by!evaluating! their!achievements!on!a! regular!basis.!Encouraging! students! to!participate! in! evaluation! nurtures! gradual! acceptance! of! responsibility! for! their! own! progress! and! helps!them!to!understand!and!appreciate!their!growth!as!readers!and!writers.!!

The!reflection!phase!allows!teachers!to!consider!the!extent!to!which!the!previous!phases!in!the!evaluation!process!have!been!successful.!Specifically,!teachers!evaluate!the!utility,!equity,!and!appropriateness!of!the!assessment!techniques!used.!Such!reflection!assists!teachers!in!making!decisions!concerning!improvements!or!adaptations!to!subsequent!instruction!and!evaluation.!!

Student!Assessment!and!Evaluation!

When!implementing!assessment!and!evaluation!procedures,!it!is!valuable!to!consider!the!characteristics!of!early!adolescents.!Developmentally,!Middle!Level!students!are!at!various!cognitive,!emotional,!social,!and!physical! levels.! Assessment! and! evaluation! must! be! sensitive! to! this! range! of! transitions! and! address!individual! progress.! It! is! unrealistic! and! damaging! to! expect! students! who! are! at! various! stages! of!development!to!perform!at!the!same!level.!It!is!necessary!to!clarify,!for!Middle!Level!students,!the!individual!nature!of!the!curriculum!and!the!assessment!strategies!used;!students!should!recognize!that!they!are!not!

being!compared!to!their!peers,!but!that!they!are!setting!their!own! learning!goals! in!relation!to!curriculum!objectives.!!

Insensitive!evaluation!of!the!early!adolescent!can!result!in!the!student!feeling!low!self"worth!and!wanting!to!give!up.!Regular,!positive!feedback!is!a!valuable!part!of!the!learning!process!and!helps!students!identify!how!well! they!have!achieved! individual!goals!and!curriculum!objectives.!As!students!begin! to!achieve!success,!their! sense!of! self"esteem! increases!and! the!need! for!extrinsic! rewards!gives!way! to! the!development!of!intrinsic!motivation.!!

Early!adolescents!are!vulnerable!to!peer!approval!or!rejection,!and!they!harbor!a!strong!sense!of!fairness!and!justice.!Because!Middle!Level!students!find!it!more!satisfying!to!strive!for!immediately!achievable!goals!rather! than! long"term! goals,! they! will! respond! positively! to! a! system! of! continuous! assessment! and!evaluation.!!

Effective! evaluators! of! Middle! Level! students! are! astute! observers! who! use! a! variety! of! monitoring!techniques! to! collect! information! about! students'! knowledge,! skills,! attitudes,! values,! and! language!competencies.!Well!organized,! concise,!and!accessible! records!accommodate! the! large!quantities!of!data!likely!to!be!collected,!and!assist!teachers'!decision!making!and!reporting.!!

Some!effective! techniques! for!monitoring! student!progress! in! the!areas!of!oracy!and! literacy! include! the!following:!!

! Make!video!and!audio!recordings!of!a!variety!of!formal!and!informal!oral!language!experiences,!and!then!assess! these!according! to!pre"determined!criteria!which!are!based!upon!student!needs!and!curriculum!objectives.!!

! Use!checklists!as!concise!methods!of!collecting! information,!and!rating!scales!or!rubrics!to!assess!student!achievement.!!

! Record! anecdotal! comments! to! provide! useful! data! based! upon! observation! of! students'! oral!activities.!!

! Interview! students! to!determine!what! they!believe! they!do!well!or!areas! in!which! they!need! to!improve.!!

! Have!students!keep!portfolios!of!their!dated!writing!samples,!and!language!abilities!checklists!and!records.!!

! Keep!anecdotal!records!of!students'!reading!and!writing!activities!and!experiences.!!! Have!students!write!in!reader!response!journals.!!! Confer!with! students! during! the!writing! and! reading! processes,! and! observe! them! during! peer!

conferences.!!

Self!assessment! promotes! students'! abilities! to! assume! more! responsibility! for! their! own! learning! by!encouraging!self"reflection!and!encouraging!them!to!identify!where!they!believe!they!have!been!successful!and!where!they!believe!they!require!assistance.!Discussing!students'!self"assessments!with!them!allows!the!teacher!to!see!how!they!value!their!own!work!and!to!ask!questions!that!encourage!students!to!reflect!upon!their!experiences!and!set!goals!for!new!learning.!!

Peer" assessment! allows! students! to! collaborate! and! learn! from! others.! Through! discussions!with! peers,!Middle!Level!students!can!verbalize!their!concerns!and!ideas!in!a!way!that!helps!them!clarify!their!thoughts!and!decide!in!which!direction!to!proceed.!!

The! instruments! for! peer! and! self"assessment! should! be! collaboratively! constructed! by! teachers! and!students.! It! is! important! for! teachers! to!discuss! learning!objectives!with! the!students.!Together,! they!can!develop!assessment!and!evaluation!criteria!relevant!to!the!objectives,!as!well!as!to!students'!individual!and!group!needs.!!

Assessment and Evaluation Strategies

Assessment!data!can!be!collected!and!recorded!by!both!the!teacher!and!the!students!in!a!variety!of!ways.!Through! observation! of! students,! and! in! interviews! or! conferences!with! students,! teachers! can! discover!much!about!their!students'!knowledge,!abilities,!interests,!and!needs.!As!well,!teachers!can!collect!samples!of! students'!work! in! portfolios! and! conduct! performance! assessments! within! the! context! of! classroom!activities.!When!a!number!of!assessment!tools!are!used!in!conjunction!with!one!another,!richer!and!more!in"depth!data!collection!results.!Whatever!method!of!data!collection!is!used,!teachers!should:!!

! meet!with!students!regularly!to!discuss!their!progress!!

! adjust!rating!criteria!as!learners!change!and!progress.!!

Observation

Observation! occurs! during! students'! daily! reading,! writing,! listening,! and! speaking! experiences.! It! is! an!unobtrusive! means! by! which! teachers! (and! students)! can! determine! their! progress! during! learning.!Observations!can!be!recorded!as!anecdotal!notes,!and!on!checklists!or!rating!scales.!When!teachers!attach!the! data! collection! sheets! to! a! hand"held! clipboard,! data! can! be! recorded! immediately! and! with! little!interruption! to! the! student.!Alternatively,! adhesive! note! papers! can!be! used! to! record!data! quickly! and!unobtrusively.!!

Anecdotal Records

Anecdotal!records!are!notes!written!by!the!teacher!regarding!student!language,!behavior,!or!learning.!They!document!and!describe!significant!daily!events,!and!relevant!aspects!of!student!activity!and!progress.!These!notes! can! be! taken! during! student! activities! or! at! the! end! of! the! day.! Formats! for! collection! should! be!flexible!and!easy!to!use.!!

Guidelines!for!use!include!the!following:!!

! Record!the!observation!and!the!circumstance!in!which!the!learning!experience!occurs.!There!will!be!time!to!analyze!notes!at!another!time,!perhaps!at!the!end!of!the!day,!or!after!several!observations!about!one!student!have!been!accumulated.!!

! Make! the! task! of! daily! note! taking! manageable! by! focusing! on! clearly! defined! objectives! or!purposes,!and!by! identifying!only!a! few! students! to!observe!during!a!designated!period!of! time.!However,!learning!and!progress!cannot!be!scheduled,!and!it!is!valuable!to!note!other!observations!of!importance!as!they!occur.!!

! Record!data!on!loose"leaf!sheets!and!keep!these!in!a!three"ring!binder!with!a!page!designated!for!each!student!and!organized!alphabetically!by!students'! last!names!or!by!class.!This!format!allows!the!teacher!to!add!pages!as!necessary.!!

! Write!the!notes!on!recipe!cards!and!then!file!these!alphabetically.!!! Use!adhesive!note!papers!that!can!be!attached!to!the!student's!pages!or!recipe!card!files.!!! Design!structured!forms!for!collection!of!specific!data.!!

! Use!a!combination!of!the!above!suggestions.!!

Teachers!may! choose! to! keep! running!written! observations! for! each! student! or! they!may! use! a!more!structured!approach,!constructing!charts! that! focus!each!observation!on! the!collection!of!specific!data.!A!combination! of! open"ended! notes! and! structured! forms!may! also! be! used.! It! is! important! to! date! all!observations!recorded.!!

Checklists!!

Observation!checklists,!usually!completed!while!students!are!engaged!in!specific!activities!or!processes,!are!lists!of!specific!criteria!that!teachers!focus!on!at!a!particular!time!or!during!a!particular!process.!Checklists!are! used! to! record! whether! students! have! acquired! specific! knowledge,! skills,! processes,! abilities,! and!attitudes.!Checklists!inform!teachers!about!where!their!instruction!has!been!successful!and!where!students!need!assistance!or!further!instruction.!Formats!for!checklists!should!be!varied!and!easy!to!use.!!

Guidelines!for!using!checklists!include!the!following:!!

! Determine!the!observation!criteria!from!curriculum,!unit,!and!lesson!objectives.!!! Review!specific!criteria!with!students!before!beginning!the!observation.!!! Involve!students!in!developing!some!or!all!of!the!criteria!whenever!it!will!be!beneficial!to!do!so.!!! Choose!criteria!that!are!easily!observed!to!prevent!vagueness!and!increase!objectivity.!!! Use! jargon"free! language!to!describe!criteria!so!that!data!can!be!used! in! interviews!with!students!

and!parents.!!! Make! the! observation!manageable!by! keeping! the! number! of! criteria! to! less! than! eight! and!by!

limiting!the!number!of!students!observed!to!a!few!at!one!time.!!! Have!students!construct!and!use!checklists!for!peer!and!self"assessments.!!! Summarize!checklist!data!regularly.!!! Use!or!adapt!existing!checklists!from!other!sources.!!! Use!yes"no! checklists! to! identify!whether!a! specific!action!has!been! completed!or! if!a!particular!

quality!is!present.!!! Use!tally!checklists!to!note!the!frequency!of!the!action!observed!or!recorded.!!! Construct!all!checklists!with!space!for!recording!anecdotal!notes!and!comments.!!

Rating!Scales!and!Rubrics!!

Rating!scales!record!the!extent!to!which!specific!criteria!have!been!achieved!by!the!student!or!are!present!in!the! student's!work.!Rating! scales!also! record! the!quality!of! the! student's!performance!at!a!given! time!or!within!a!given!process.!Rating!scales!are!similar!to!checklists,!and!teachers!can!often!convert!checklists!into!rating!scales!by!assigning!number!values!to!the!various!criteria!listed.!They!can!be!designed!as!number!lines!or!as!holistic!scales!or!rubrics.!Rubrics! include!criteria! that!describe!each! level!of! the!rating!scale!and!are!used! to! determine! student!progress! in! comparison! to! these! expectations.!All! formats! for! rating! student!progress!should!be!concise!and!clear.!!


! Determine! specific! assessment! criteria! from! curriculum! objectives,! components! of! a! particular!activity,!or!student!needs.!!

! Discuss!or!develop!the!specific!criteria!with!students!before!beginning!the!assessment.!!! Choose!criteria!that!are!easily!observed!in!order!to!prevent!vagueness!and!increase!objectivity.!!

! Select!criteria! that!students!have!had! the!opportunity! to!practice.!These!criteria!may!differ! from!student!to!student,!depending!upon!their!strengths!and!needs.!!

! Use!jargon"free!language!to!describe!criteria!so!that!data!can!be!used!effectively!in!interviews!with!students!and!parents.!!

! Make! the! assessment!manageable! by! keeping! the! number! of! criteria! to! less! than! eight! and! by!limiting!the!number!of!students!observed!to!a!few!at!one!time.!!

! Use!or!adapt!rating!scales!and!rubrics!from!other!sources.!!! Use! numbered! continuums! to! measure! the! degree! to! which! students! are! successful! at!

accomplishing!a!skill!or!activity.!!! Use!rubrics!when!the!observation!calls!for!a!holistic!rating!scale.!Rubrics!describe!the!attributes!of!

student!knowledge!or!achievements!on!a!numbered!continuum!of!possibilities.!!

Portfolios!

Portfolios! are! collections! of! relevant! work! that! reflect! students'! individual! efforts,! development,! and!progress! over! a! designated! period! of! time.! Portfolios! provide! students,! teachers,! parents,! and!administrators!with!a!broad!picture!of!each! student's!growth!over! time,! including! the! student's!abilities,!knowledge,!skills,!and!attitudes.!Students!should!be! involved! in!the!selection!of!work!to!be! included,!goal!setting! for!personal! learning,! and! self"assessment.! The! teacher! can! encourage! critical! thinking!by!having!students! decide! which! of! their! works! to! include! in! their! portfolios! and! explain! why! they! chose! those!particular!items.!Instruction!and!assessment!are!integrated!as!students!and!teachers!collaborate!to!compile!relevant!and!individual!portfolios!for!each!student.!!


! Brainstorm!with!students!to!discover!what!they!already!know!about!portfolios.!!! Share!samples!of!portfolios!with!students.! (Teachers!may!need!to!create!samples! if!student!ones!

are!not!available;!however,!samples!should!be!as!authentic!as!possible.)!!! Provide!students!with!an!overview!of!portfolio!assessment!prior!to!beginning!their!collections.!!! Collaborate!with!students!to!set!up!guidelines!for!the!content!of!portfolios!and!establish!evaluation!

criteria!for!their!portfolio!collections.!Consider!the!following:!!o What! is! the! purpose! of! the! portfolio?! (Is! it! the! primary! focus! of! assessment! or! is! it!

supplemental?!Will! it!be!used! to!determine! a!mark!or!will! it! simply!be!used! to! inform!students,!teachers,!and!parents!about!student!progress?)!!

o Who!will!be!the!audience(s)!for!the!portfolio?!!o What!will!be! included! in!the!portfolio!(e.g.,!writing!samples!only,!samples!of!all! language!

processes)?!!o What! are! the! criteria! for! selecting! a! piece! of! work! for! inclusion?!When! should! those!

selections!be!made?!!o Who! will! determine! what! items! are! included! in! the! portfolio! (e.g.,! the! student,! the!

teacher,!the!student!and!teacher!in!consultation)?!!o When!should!items!be!added!or!removed?!!o How! should! the! contents! be! organized! and! documented?!Where!will! the! portfolios! be!

stored?!!o What!will!be!the!criteria!for!evaluation!of!the!portfolio?!!o What! form!will! feedback! to! the! students! take! (e.g.,!written! summaries,!oral! interviews/!

conferences)?!!o How!will!the!portfolio!be!assessed/evaluated!(e.g.,!list!of!criteria)?!!

! Assemble! examples! of! work! that! represent! a! wide! range! of! students'! developing! abilities,!knowledge,!and!attitudes!including!samples!of!work!from!their!speaking,!listening,!reading,!writing,!representing,!and!viewing!experiences.!!

! Date!all!items!for!effective!organization!and!reference.!!! Inform!parents/guardians!about! the!use!and!purposes!of!portfolios! (e.g.,! send! letters!describing!

portfolios!home,!display!sample!portfolios!on!meet"the"teacher!evening!to!introduce!parents!to!the!concept).!!

! Consider!the!following!for!inclusion:!!o criteria!for!content!selection!!o table!of!contents!or!captioned!labels!that!briefly!outline!or!identify!the!contents!!o samples!of!student!writing!(e.g.,!pre"writing,!multiple!drafts,!final!drafts,!published!pieces)!!o sample!reading!logs!!o samples!of!a!variety!of!responses!from!reader!response!journals!(originals!or!photocopies!

of!originals)!!o evidence!of!student!self"reflection!(e.g.,!summaries,!structured!reflection!sheets)!!o audiotapes!and!videotapes!of!student!work!!o photographs!!o collaborative!projects!!o computer!disks.!!

Formats!for!portfolio!assembly!should!be!easily!organized,!stored,!and!accessed.!Some!possibilities!include!the!following:!!

! Keep!file!folders!or!accordion!folders!in!classroom!filing!cabinet!drawers,!cupboards,!or!boxes.!!! Use!three"ring!binders!for!ease!of!adding!and!removing!items!as!students!progress.!!! Store!scrapbooks!in!boxes!or!crates.!!

Evaluating!Student!Portfolios!!

At!the!end!of!the!term/semester/year!when!the!portfolio!is!submitted!for!summative!evaluation,!it!is!useful!to!review!the!contents!as!a!whole!and!record!data!using!the!previously!set!criteria.!One!method!of!recording!data! is!to!prepare!a!grid!with!the!criteria! listed!down!one!side!and!the!checklist!or!rating!scale!across!the!top.! If! there! is! need! to! assign! a! numerical! grade,! designate! numbers! to! each! set! of! criteria! on! the!checklist/rating! scale! and! convert! the! evaluation! into! a! number! grade.! Some! examples! of! portfolio!assessment!and!recording!forms!follow.!The!teacher!can!adapt!these!sample!forms!or!create!new!ones.!!

!

CLASS LOG #5

Date: August 6, 2011

Topic: What is evaluation?

On my fifth class, I read a document about evaluation, evaluation is a

natural activity and it can be formal or informal. Evaluation takes place in

education to teachers and students, even to the material and methods

used by teachers and their students. Evaluation can be done to obtain

feedback on the approaches, methods, innovations or changes.

The document shows the kinds of qualities and leaderships skills that a

teacher has (or should have) in order to teach the students and to obtain

the results that the parents and school want to reach.

The document explains that a teacher does not live and work in an

isolated environment, which means that parents, economy, etc. play an

important role in any work and evaluation process. Successful evaluation

should be systematic and principled management and leadership skills

should be taken into account to reach it.


ID 076‐09‐8502

CARMEN MARIA RAQUEL MARTINEZ ID 076-09-8502 Assignment:

1. Read the document attached called: WHAT IS EVALUATION PART I 2. Complete the following task questions: (questions and answers)

TASK 1: 1-3 TASK 2: 1 TASK 3: 1 TASK 4: 1 TASK 6: 1, 2

TASK 8: 1,2 TASK 9: 1,2 TASK 11: 1 TASK 12: 1,2 TASK 13: 1, 2

TASK 14: 1-3 TASK 16: 1,2 TASK 17: 1,2 TASK 18: 1,2

TASK 1 1. What sort of things outside your work situation do you make informal evaluative statements about? The weather, the traffic, and people´s attitudes. SPECIFIC DATA AND YOU LOOK FOR ALTERNATIVES 2. Now think about your working day. What sort of evaluations do you make about your learners, their work, or your teaching? Learners: their behavior , their handwriting, and the way they learn. TEACHER: WHAT THE TEACHER DID OR DO. 3. How are the evaluations in 1 and 2 similar or different? They are similar because I evaluate people´s attitudes, different because I can do something about my students and my work. COMPARE ONE CLASS ACTIVITY WITH TWO SECTIONS, AND EVALUATE THE ACTIVITIES OF THE DAY IN GENERAL. TASK 2 1. Do you think that the evaluation results provide any evidence that the communicate program works? Yes, they provide evidence that the program worked. ENVIRONMENT, TEACHER AND STUDENTS TAKS 3 1. From what you have read so far, summarize what you understand to be the main limitations of using test results as a means of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of two textbooks, one structural and the other more communicative in orientation. The main limitations of using test results as means of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of textbooks are that the methodologies are not being evaluated, maybe is not the book but the teacher´s way to approach the students. TASK 4 1. Consider your own teaching and learning context. Make a list of any innovations you can think of that have taken place in the past or that are taking place now. I believe that the innovation that is taking place now is the use of technology in the classroom, for presentations, practice, and testing.

TASK 6 Are you completely satisfied with the textbook you use for your teaching? 1. Make a list of the strengths of this particular book and then a list of its weaknesses Strengths weaknesses Phonics the grammar explanation is vague Vocabulary (applicable) It needs more practice exercises for kids 2. What criteria did you use to identify the strengths and the weaknesses of your textbook? I considered the students age and the way it facilitates the teacher´s work TASK 8 1. Which of the characteristics do you most identify with the RD and D model? 2. The social interaction model of innovation? TASK 9 1. Have any been introduced using the social interaction approach or aspects of this approach? 2. Briefly describe the innovation and explain why do thin this approach was used. TASK 11 1. What other practical examples can you think of that require the teacher to exercise management skills? TASK 12 1. What do you think are the most important features in managing people? With down a short list. 2. What affective and other factors do you take into account when managing the classroom, for example competitiveness, motivation, personal interests, and problems? TAST 13 1. How would you describe yourself in terms of leadership styles? 2. Evaluate what style best suits your won situation. Can you explain why? TASK 14 1. What was the task and how did you maintain it? 2. How did you get individuals to work together and to create a group spirit? 3. did you have to deal with individual problems? What were they and how did you handle them? TASK 16 1. Using Figure 2 as a guide, what important factors influence your won teaching and learning context? Economy, parents, directors, etc.

2. Evaluate their relative important in that process and any problems that arise. TASK 17 Think of some change you would like in your classroom 1. What factors in your context would make change difficult to implement The syllabus (It is prepared by coordination). The aspects that the school requires to evaluate. 2. What factors would support and sustain this change? In my opinion is important to implement the grammar content. I believe that speaking and writing is important, but it is impossible to write or speak correctly if you don’t know the structure (at least that is my opinion) TASK 18 1. Write a brief outline of any evaluation in which you participated and which resulted in a change in your classroom practice. 2. Did this change influence the context? How? ESTUDIAR EL CIRCULO FIGURA 2 A CONTEXT FOR EVALUATION COMO EL CONTEXTO AFECTA LA EVALUACION Y LA EDUCACION EN SI. DIFERENCIA ENTRE OBJETIVO Y COMPETENCIAS

CLASS LOG #5

Date: August 15, 2011

Topic: Competences and Objectives

On the sixth class, we spoke about the document we read, and some of

the conclusions were that we are evaluating all the time, circumstances,

and every day activities. In school, we not only evaluate knowledge, but

the books, and behavior of our students. As well, we are being evaluated

all the time in our performance. We spoke about all the factors that we

have to take in consideration at work (parents, economy, coordinators,

etc.)

The document showed the kinds of qualities and leaderships skills that a

teacher has (or should have) in order to teach the students and to obtain

the results that the parents and school want to reach.

The document explains that a teacher does not live and work in an

isolated environment, which means that parents, economy, etc. play an

important role in any work and evaluation process. Successful evaluation

should be systematic and principled management and leadership skills

should be taken into account to reach it.

Our second subject was competences and objectives, I understood that

objective is referred to the content and competence is referred to the

skill. I a few words, the objective is what the kids should achieve and the

competence is the way they achieve the goal.


ID 076‐09‐8502

Higher-order of thinking Higher-order thinking essentially means thinking that takes place in the higher-levels of the hierarchy of cognitive processing. Bloom’s Taxonomy is the most widely accepted hierarchical arrangement of this sort in education and it can be viewed as a continuum of thinking skills starting with knowledge-level thinking and moving eventually to evaluation-level of thinking. A common example, used by Dr. Chuck Weiderhold of the application of the major categories in Bloom’s Taxonomy, is show below, applying the taxonomy to the Pledge of Allegiance:

Knowledge statements ask the student to recite the pledge. Example: “Say the pledge.”

Comprehension statements ask the student to explain the meaning of words contained in the pledge. Example: “Explain what indivisible, liberty, and justice mean.”

Application statements ask the student to apply understandings. Example: “Create your own pledge to something you believe in.”

Analysis statements ask the student to interpret word meanings in relation to context. Example: “Discuss the meaning of ‘and to the Republic for which it stands’ in terms of its importance to the pledge.”

Synthesis statements ask the student to apply concepts in a new setting. Example: “Write a contract between yourself and a friend that includes an allegiance to a symbol that stands for something you both believe in.”

Evaluation statements ask the student to judge the relative merits of the content and concepts contained in the subject. Example: “Describe the purpose of the pledge and assess how well it achieves that purpose. Suggest improvements.”

(Wiederhold, C. (1997). The Q-Matrix/Cooperative Learning & Higher-Level Thinking. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning.)

When we promote higher-order thinking then, we are simply promoting thinking, along with the teaching methodologies that promote such thinking, that takes place at the higher levels of the hierarchy just provided, notably application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Critical/creative/constructive thinking is closely related to higher-order thinking; they are actually inseparable. Critical/creative/constructive thinking simply means thinking processes that progress upward in the given direction. First one critically analyzes the knowledge, information, or situation. Then they creatively consider possible next-step options, and then finally, they construct a new product, decision, direction, or value. The evaluation step listed above with the Pledge of Allegiance would require this sort of thinking.

Reading Beyond the Lines

Another way to look at higher-order thinking is to look at the reading process in typical terms and then extend the terms one step to reach higher-order thinking. That is, being able to read, being literate, typically means having the ability to decode words and understand their meanings individually and collectively. Being able to read and to comprehend the reading is generally considered thinking and involves “reading the lines” and “reading between the lines.” Higher-order thinking or literacy though, is the next crucial step, often not even thought of in the reading process, that being “reading beyond the lines.” This is so crucial because it is in reading beyond the lines that reading the lines and reading between the lines have their real value.

Instructional Elements for Fostering Higher-Order Thinking in the Classroom

(Synthesized from Teaching Children to Be Literate: A Reflective Approach, by Anthony and Ula Manzo, 1995)

1. Remember to ask for it; that is, for discovery, invention, and artistic/literary creation.

2. Great curiosity and new ideas with enthusiasm; these can often lead to the most valuable “teachable moments.”

3. Expose learners to new twists on old patterns and invite looking at old patterns from new angles.

4. Constructively critique new ideas because they almost always require some fine-tuning.

5. Reset our expectations to the fact that there will be many more “misses” than “hits” when reaching for workable new ideas.

6. Learn to invite contrary, or opposing, positions; new possibilities are often discovered in this way and existing thoughts, patterns, and beliefs can be tested and strengthened.

Questions that Invite Higher-Order Thinking


· How is this study like another you/we have read? This question encourages students to make connections and see analogies.

· Does this story/information make you aware of any problems that need attention? This amounts to asking students to see themselves as active participants in problem identification as well as problem solving.

· What does this mean to you and how might it affect others? This pair of questions gives students a chance to express their own interests but also to empathetically consider and understand the views of, and possible consequences to, others.

· Is there anything wrong with this solution, and how else might this problem be solved? These questions are the heart of successful critical analysis.

· What more needs to be known or done to understand or do this better? This is a pointed request for creative problem solving that invites thinking “beyond the lines.”

· What is a contrary way of seeing this? Being able to examine issues from multiple points of view helps the students to clarify their thoughts.

Questioning for Quality Thinking at Each Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge: Identification and recall of information

Who, what, when, where, how?

Describe ___________________.

Comprehension: Organization and selection of facts and ideas

Retell ___________ in your own words.

What is the main idea of ___________________?

Application: Use of facts, rules, principles

How is __________ and example of _______________?

How is __________ related to _________________?

Why is _________________ significant?

Analysis: Separation of the whole into component parts

What are the parts or features of ________________?

Classify _______________ according to ________________.

Outline/diagram/web ____________________.

How does ______________ compare/contrast with __________________?

What evidence can you list for _____________________?

Synthesis: Combination of ideas to form a new whole

What would you predict/infer from __________________?

What ideas can you add to __________________?

How would you create/design a new __________________?

What might happen if you combine _______________ with ________________?

What solutions would you suggest for __________________?

Evaluation: Development of opinions, judgments, or decisions

Do you agree with _________________?

What do you think about _______________?

What is the most important _____________?

Prioritize ________________.

How would you decide about ________________?

What criteria would you use to assess ______________________?

Head-on Approaches to Teaching Higher-Order Thinking

! “Thinking Thursdays” o Consider setting aside a given amount of time on a regular basis to try some of

these direct approaches to teaching critical and creative thinking.

! Word Creation: o Define the word “squallizmotex” and explain how your definition fits the word. o If dried grapes are called raisins, and dried beef is called beef jerky, what would

you call these items if they were dried: lemons, pineapple, watermelon, chicken.

! Unusual Uses: o Have students try to think of as many unusual uses as they can for common

objects such as bricks, used toys, old tennis balls, soda bottles, and 8-track cassette tapes.

! Circumstances and Consequences: What would happen if . . . o school was on weekends and not during the week? o water stuck like glue? o gravity took a day off? o there were no colors? o everyone in the country could vote on every issue that is now decided by

government representatives?

! Product Improvements: o How could school desks be improved? o How could living room furniture be improved to provide better storage and even

exercise while watching television? o How can we better equip book-carrying bags to handle lunches and other needs

that you can think of?

! Systems and Social Improvements: o A sample question that could lead into plenty of higher-level discussion and a

good give-and-take of views and needs could be: “How can schools be made more fun without hurting learning?”

Higher-Order Thinking & REAP

Read-Encode-Annotate-Ponder (REAP) is a teaching method developed by M.G. Eanet & A.V. Manzo at University of Missouri- Kansas City. It is a strategy developed for students to use to improve writing, thinking, and reading. As a teaching method, it is intended to teach students a variety of ways to respond to any text. The responses are brief and poignant ways to critique or annotate what they have read. There are different types of annotations which range from simple summary (reconstructive) to highly challenging critical-creative responses (constructive).

Value of Annotating

In writing annotations the readers discriminate and synthesize ideas presented by the author, then translate it into their own language. Writing and annotations enrich reflective thinking and reading. The readers analyze the author's purpose and explore their own feelings about the

written material. Students who write about what they have learned gain from the reading process. Consequently, writing should be an integral part (a vital component) in the classroom setting. Writing serves as a catalyst in improving one's reading, thinking and comprehension abilities. Learning the routine to write after reading ignites ACTIVE THINKING before, during and after a reading selection. Annotations ensure meaningful reading and encourage clear and concise thinking and writing. Annotations enhance reader's knowledge base as well as improve thinking and writing skills.

Steps in REAP:

R: Read to discern the writer's message.

E: Encode the message by translating it into your own words.

A: Annotate by cogently writing the message in notes for yourself, or in a thought book or on an electronic response system.

P: Ponder, or further reflect on what you have read and written, through discussion and by reviewing others' response to the same materials and/or your own annotation.

Using REAP as a Rubric for Monitoring Progress Toward Higher-Order Thinking

REAP may be used as a way to monitor a student's progress toward higher-order thinking. By using examples of the various types of annotations, a teacher may compare and appraise the characteristic way in which the student responds to text. The annotation types listed above are roughly in order of difficulty. Lower numbers indicate more concrete thinking (or literalness) and higher numbers more personal and abstract patterns of response.

Annotation Types

Reconstructive... requires literal-level response to a text.

Constructive... requires reading and thinking between and beyond the lines.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reconstructive Responses

1. Summary response. States the basic message of the selection in brief form. In fiction, it is the basic story line; in nonfiction, it is a simple statement of the main ideas.

2. Precise response. Briefly states the author's basic idea or theme, with all unnecessary words removed. The result is a crisp, telegram like message.

3. Attention-getting or heuristic response. Restates a snappy portion of the selection that makes the reader want to respond. It is best to use the author's own words.

4. Question response. Turns the main point of the story or information into an organizing question that the selection answers.

Constructive Responses

5. Personal view or transactional response. Answers the question "How do your views and feelings compare with what you perceive the author to have said?"

6. Critical response. Supports, reject s, or questions the main idea, and tells why. The first sentence of this type of response should restate the author's position. The next sentence should state the writer's position. Additional sentences should explain how the two differ.

7. Contrary response. Attempts to state a logical alternative position, even if it is not one that the student necessarily supports.

8. Intention response. States and briefly explains what the responder thinks is the author's intention, plan, and purpose in writing the selection. This is a special version of the critical response that causes the reader/responder to try to think like the author or from the author's perspective.

9. Motivation response. States what may have caused the author to create or write the story or selection. This is another special version of critical responding. It is an attempt to discover the author's personal agenda and hence areas of writing or unwitting biases.

10. Discovery response. States one or more practical questions that need to be answered before the story or facts can be judged for accuracy or worth. This type of response to text is the mode of thinking that leads to more reading and research and occasionally to a reformulated position or view.

11. Creative response. Suggests different and perhaps better solutions or views and/or connections and applications to prior learning and experiences. Students usually need some guidance and/or examples to produce this type of response. Once they begin thinking in this way, the results can be remarkably constructive.

For more information about REAP, especially if you are interested in being involved with a current on-line REAP pilot study, please visit REAP Central Today

Writing to Promote Higher-Order Thinking


Advantages

http://members.aol.com/ReadShop/REAP1.html

! Writing activates the reader’s background knowledge before reading/thinking. ! Writing builds anticipation of upcoming learning events. ! Writing raises the reader’s level of intellectual activity. ! Writing encourages meaningful comparisons of the student’s perspective with that of the

writer (in reading situations) ! Writing helps students better formulate their world view. ! Writing allows students to examine their perspectives on key issues. ! Writing builds metacognitive as well as cognitive abilities because writing forces deeper

levels of introspection, analysis, and synthesis than any other mediational process.

Suggestions Related to Using Writing to Promote Higher-Order Thinking

! Write daily or frequently rather than sporadically. ! Write for real audiences and purposes. ! Allot sufficient time for stages of thought and editing to occur. ! Encourage peer review ! Write with an initial emphasis on thinking rather than on proofreading and editing.

Contributed by Barbara Fowler, Longview Community College.

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy divides the way people learn into three domains. One of these is the cognitive domain which emphasizes intellectual outcomes. This domain is further divided into categories or levels. The key words used and the type of questions asked may aid in the establishment and encouragement of critical thinking, especially in the higher levels.

Level 1: Remembering - exhibits previously learned material by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.

Key words: who, what, why, when, omit, where, which, choose, find, how, define, label, show, spell, list, match, name, relate, tell, recall, select

Questions:

What is . . . ? How is . . . ?

Where is . . . ? When did _______ happen?

How did ______ happen? How would you explain . . . ?

Why did . . . ? How would you describe . . . ?

When did . . . ? Can you recall . . . ?

How would you show . . . ? Can you select . . . ?

Who were the main . . . ? Can you list three . . . ?

Which one . . . ? Who was . . . ?

Level 2: Understanding - demonstrating understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions and stating main ideas.

Key words: compare, contrast, demonstrate, interpret, explain, extend, illustrate, infer, outline, relate, rephrase, translate, summarize, show, classify

Questions:

How would you classify the type of . . . ?

How would you compare . . . ? contrast . . . ?

Will you state or interpret in your own words . . . ?

How would you rephrase the meaning . . . ?

What facts or ideas show . . . ?

What is the main idea of . . . ?

Which statements support . . . ?

Can you explain what is happening . . . what is meant . . .?

What can you say about . . . ?

Which is the best answer . . . ?

How would you summarize . . . ?

Level 3: Applying - solving problems by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way.

Key words: apply, build, choose, construct, develop, interview, make use of, organize, experiment with, plan, select, solve, utilize, model, identify

Questions:

How would you use . . . ?

What examples can you find to . . . ?

How would you solve _______ using what you have learned . . . ?

How would you organize _______ to show . . . ?

How would you show your understanding of . . . ?

What approach would you use to . . . ?

How would you apply what you learned to develop . . . ?

What other way would you plan to . . . ?

What would result if . . . ?

Can you make use of the facts to . . . ?

What elements would you choose to change . . . ?

What facts would you select to show . . . ?

What questions would you ask in an interview with . . . ?

Level 4: Analyzing - examining and breaking information into parts by identifying motives or causes; making inferences and finding evidence to support generalizations.

Key words: analyze, categorize, classify, compare, contrast, discover, dissect, divide, examine, inspect, simplify, survey, take part in, test for, distinguish, list, distinction, theme, relationships, function, motive, inference, assumption, conclusion

Questions:

What are the parts or features of . . . ?

How is _______ related to . . . ?

Why do you think . . . ?

What is the theme . . . ?

What motive is there . . . ?

Can you list the parts . . . ?

What inference can you make . . . ?

What conclusions can you draw . . . ?

How would you classify . . . ?

How would you categorize . . . ?

Can you identify the difference parts . . . ?

What evidence can you find . . . ?

What is the relationship between . . . ?

Can you make a distinction between . . . ?

What is the function of . . . ?

What ideas justify . . . ?

Level 5: Evaluating - presenting and defending opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria.

Key Words: award, choose, conclude, criticize, decide, defend, determine, dispute, evaluate, judge, justify, measure, compare, mark, rate, recommend, rule on, select, agree, interpret, explain, appraise, prioritize, opinion, ,support, importance, criteria, prove, disprove, assess, influence, perceive, value, estimate, influence, deduct

Questions:

Do you agree with the actions . . . ? with the outcomes . . . ?

What is your opinion of . . . ?

How would you prove . . . ? disprove . . . ?

Can you assess the value or importance of . . . ?

Would it be better if . . . ?

Why did they (the character) choose . . . ?

What would you recommend . . . ?

How would you rate the . . . ?

What would you cite to defend the actions . . . ?

How would you evaluate . . . ?

How could you determine . . . ?

What choice would you have made . . . ?

What would you select . . . ?

How would you prioritize . . . ?

What judgment would you make about . . . ?

Based on what you know, how would you explain . . . ?

What information would you use to support the view . . . ?

How would you justify . . . ?

What data was used to make the conclusion . . . ?

Why was it better that . . . ?

How would you prioritize the facts . . . ?

How would you compare the ideas . . . ? people . . . ?

Level 6: Creating - compiling information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions.

Key Words: build, choose, combine, compile, compose, construct, create, design, develop, estimate, formulate, imagine, invent, make up, originate, plan, predict, propose, solve, solution, suppose, discuss, modify, change, original, improve, adapt, minimize, maximize, delete, theorize, elaborate, test, improve, happen, change

Questions:

What changes would you make to solve . . . ?

How would you improve . . . ?

What would happen if . . . ?

Can you elaborate on the reason . . . ?

Can you propose an alternative . . . ?

Can you invent . . . ?

How would you adapt ________ to create a different . . . ?

How could you change (modify) the plot (plan) . . . ?

What could be done to minimize (maximize) . . . ?

What way would you design . . . ?

What could be combined to improve (change) . . . ?

Suppose you could _______ what would you do . . . ?

How would you test . . . ?

Can you formulate a theory for . . . ?

Can you predict the outcome if . . . ?

How would you estimate the results for . . . ?

What facts can you compile . . . ?

Can you construct a model that would change . . . ?

Can you think of an original way for the . . . ?

OBJETIVOS vs. COMPETENCIAS

Classwork

! Create a Venn Diagram estableshing the

differences and similarities between objectives and competences.

TAXONOMÍA REVISADA DE BLOOM (2000) www.eduteka.org/TaxonomiaBloomCuadro.php3

Conceptos Originales ! Conocimiento ! Comprensión ! Aplicación ! Análisis ! Síntesis ! Evaluación

Conceptos Revisados

! Recordar: memoriza, reconoce información específica BAJO NIVEL ! Comprender: Explica, parafrasea ! Analizar: Clasifica, predice, modela, derivar e interpretar MEDIANO NIVEL ! Evaluar: Juzga, selecciona porque…, critica, justifica y optimiza ALTO NIVEL ! Crear: Propone, inventa, crea, diseña, mejora

En los años 90, un antiguo estudiante de Bloom, Lorin Anderson y David R. Krathwohl, revisaron la Taxonomía de su maestro y la publicaron en diciembre de 2000 [3]. Uno de los aspectos clave de esta revisión es el cambio de los sustantivos de la propuesta original a verbos, para significar las acciones correspondientes a cada categoría. Otro aspecto fue considerar la síntesis con un criterio más amplio y relacionarla con crear (considerando que toda síntesis es en si misma una creación); además, se modificó la secuencia en que se presentan las distintas categorías. A continuación se presentan las categorías en orden ascendente, de inferior a superior y se ilustran con la siguiente imagen:

http://bit.ly/8knCcu

http://www.eduteka.org/TaxonomiaBloomCuadro.php3

CATEGORÍA RECORDAR COMPRENDER APLICAR ANALIZAR EVALUAR CREAR Descripción: Reconocer y

traer a la memoria información relevante de la memoria de largo plazo.

Habilidad de construir significado a partir de material educativo, como la lectura o las explicaciones del docente.

Aplicación de un proceso aprendido, ya sea en una situación familiar o en una nueva.

Descomponer el conocimiento en sus partes y pensar en cómo estas se relacionan con su estructura global.

Ubicada en la cúspide de la taxonomía original de 1956, evaluar es el quinto proceso en la edición revisada. Consta de comprobación y crítica.

Nuevo en esta taxonomía. Involucra reunir cosas y hacer algo nuevo. Para llevar a cabo tareas creadoras, los aprendices generan, planifican y producen.

Verbos Indicadores de procesos cognitivos + Ejemplos

‐ reconocer ‐ recordar ‐ listar ‐ describir ‐ recuperar ‐ denominar ‐ localizar

‐ interpretar ‐ ejemplificar ‐ clasificar ‐ resumir ‐ inferir ‐ comparar ‐ explicar ‐ parafrasear

‐ ejecutar ‐ implementar ‐ desempeñar ‐ usar

‐ diferenciar ‐ organizar ‐ atribuir ‐ comparar ‐ de‐construir ‐ delinear ‐ estructurar ‐ integrar.

‐ comprobar ‐ criticar ‐ revisar ‐ formular ‐ hipótesis ‐ experimentar ‐ juzgar ‐ probar ‐ detectar ‐ monitorear.

‐ generar ‐ planear ‐ producir ‐ diseñar ‐ construir ‐ idear ‐ trazar ‐ elaborar.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) employs the use of 25 verbs that create collegial understanding of student behavior and learning outcome.

Retrieved from: http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thinking/Bloom/blooms.htm

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

• Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives• 1950s- developed by Benjamin Bloom• Means of expressing qualitatively different kinds of

thinking• Been adapted for classroom use as a planning tool• Continues to be one of the most universally applied

models • Provides a way to organise thinking skills into six levels,

from the most basic to the more complex levels of thinking• 1990s- Lorin Anderson (former student of Bloom) revisited

the taxonomy• As a result, a number of changes were made

(Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, pp. 7-8)

http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thinking/Bloom/blooms.htm

Original Terms New Terms

• Evaluation

• Synthesis

• Analysis

• Application

• Comprehension

• Knowledge

•Creating

•Evaluating

•Analysing

•Applying

•Understanding

•Remembering(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8)


Change in Terms• The names of six major categories were changed from noun to

verb forms. • As the taxonomy reflects different forms of thinking and thinking

is an active process verbs were used rather than nouns. • The subcategories of the six major categories were also

replaced by verbs and some subcategories were reorganised.• The knowledge category was renamed. Knowledge is an

outcome or product of thinking not a form of thinking per se. Consequently, the word knowledge was inappropriate to describe a category of thinking and was replaced with the word remembering instead.

• Comprehension and synthesis were retitled to understanding and creating respectively, in order to better reflect the nature of the thinking defined in each category.

http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-teachernet/training/bloom.html


BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY

CreatingCreatingGenerating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing thingsDesigning, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.

EvaluatingEvaluatingJustifying a decision or course of action

Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging

AnalysingAnalysingBreaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships

Comparing, organizing, deconstructing, interrogating, finding

ApplyingApplyingUsing information in another familiar situationImplementing, carrying out, using, executing

UnderstandingUnderstandingExplaining ideas or concepts

Interpreting, summarising, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining

RememberingRememberingRecalling information

Recognizing, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding



The Cognitive Dimension Process

Level 1 - C1

Categories & Cognitive Processes

Alternative Names

Definition

Remember Retrieve knowledge from long-term memory

Recognizing Identifying Locating knowledge in long-term memory that is consistent with presented material

Recalling Retrieving Retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory

Level 2 – C2


Alternative Names

Definition

Understand Construct meaning from instructional messages, including oral, written, and graphic communication

Interpreting Clarifying Paraphrasing Representing Translating

Changing from one form of representation to another

Exemplifying Illustrating Instantiating

Finding a specific example or illustration of a concept or principle

Classifying Categorizing Subsuming

Determining that something belongs to a category

Summarizing Abstracting Generalizing

Abstracting a general theme or major point(s)

Inferring Concluding Extrapolating Interpolating Predicting

Drawing a logical conclusion from presented information

Comparing Contrasting Mapping Matching

Detecting correspondences between two ideas, objects, and the like

Explaining Constructing models

Constructing a cause and effect model of a system

Anderson, Lorin W. & Krathwohl, David R. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: a Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy. New York. Longman Publishing.

Level 3 – C3


Alternative Names

Definition

Apply Applying a procedure to a familiar task

Executing Carrying out Applying a procedure to a familiar task

Implementing Using Applying a procedure to an unfamiliar task

Analyze Break material into its constituent parts and determine how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose

Differentiating Discriminating Distinguishing Focusing Selecting

Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant parts or important from unimportant parts of presented material

Organizing Finding coherence Integrating Outlining Parsing Structuring

Determining how elements fit or function within a structure

Attributing Deconstructing Determine a point of view, bias, values, or intent underlying presented material

Evaluate Make judgments based on criteria and standards

Checking Coordinating Detecting Monitoring Testing

Detecting inconsistencies or fallacies within a process or product; determining whether a process or product has internal consistency; detecting the effectiveness of a procedure as it is being implemented

Critiquing Judging Detecting inconsistencies between a product and external criteria; determining whether a product has external consistency; detecting the appropriateness of a procedure for a given problem


Categories &

Cognitive Processes Alternative

Names Definition

Create Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganize elements into a new pattern or structure

Generating Hypothesizing Coming up with alternative hypotheses based on criteria

Planning Designing Devising a procedure for accomplishing some task

Producing Constructing Inventing a product

The Knowledge Dimension

Dimension Definition Factual Knowledge The basic elements students must

know to be acquainted with a discipline or solve problems in it

Conceptual Knowledge The interrelationships among the basic elements within a larger structure that enable them to function together

Procedural Knowledge How to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for using skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods

Metacognitive Knowledge Knowledge of cognition in general as well as awareness and knowledge of one’s own cognition


Potential Activities and Products

Remembering: Potential Activities and Products

• Make a list of the main events of the story.• Make a time line of events.• Make a facts chart.• Write a list of any pieces of information

you can remember.• What animals were in the story?• Make a chart showing…• Make an acrostic.• Recite a poem.

Understanding: Potential Activities and Products

• Cut out, or draw pictures to show a particular event.• Illustrate what you think the main idea may have been.• Make a cartoon strip showing the sequence of events.• Write and perform a play based on the story.• Retell the story in your own words.• Write a summary report of the event• Prepare a flow chart to illustrate the sequence of events.• Make a coloring book.• Cut out, or draw pictures to show a particular event. Illustrate what you think the main

idea was.• Make a cartoon strip showing the sequence of events.• Write and perform a play based on the story.• Retell the story in your own words.• Write a summary report of the event• Prepare a flow chart to illustrate the sequence of events.• Cut out, or draw pictures to show a particular event. Illustrate what you think the main

idea was.• Make a cartoon strip showing the sequence of events.• Write and perform a play based on the story.



Applying: Potential Activities and Products

• Construct a model to demonstrate how it works• Make a diorama to illustrate an event• Make a scrapbook about the areas of study.• Make a papier-mache map / clay model to include

relevant information about an event.• Take a collection of photographs to demonstrate a

particular point.• Make up a puzzle or a game about the topic.• Write a textbook about this topic for others.• Dress a doll in national costume.• Make a clay model.• Paint a mural using the same materials.• Design a marketing strategy for your product using a

known strategy as a model.

Analyzing: Potential Activities and Products

• Design a questionnaire to gather information.• Write a commercial to sell a new product• Make a flow chart to show the critical stages.• Construct a graph to illustrate selected information.• Make a family tree showing relationships.• Devise a play about the study area.• Write a biography of a person studied.• Prepare a report about the area of study.• Conduct an investigation to produce information to

support a view.• Review a work of art in terms of form, color and texture.



Evaluating: Potential Activities and Products

• Prepare a list of criteria to judge…• Conduct a debate about an issue of special

interest.• Make a booklet about five rules you see as

important. Convince others.• Form a panel to discuss views.• Write a letter to. ..advising on changes needed.• Write a half-yearly report.• Prepare a case to present your view about...

Creating: Potential Activities and Products

• Invent a machine to do a specific task.• Design a building to house your study.• Create a new product. Give it a name and plan a

marketing campaign.• Write about your feelings in relation to...• Write a TV show play, puppet show, role play, song or

pantomime about..• Design a record, book or magazine cover for...• Sell an idea• Devise a way to...• Make up a new language and use it in an example.



Assessment

Questions for Remembering• What happened after...?• How many...?• What is...?• Who was it that...?• Can you name ...?• Find the meaning of…• Describe what happened after…• Who spoke to...?• Which is true or false...?

(Pohl, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 12)

Questions for Understanding• Can you write in your own words? • How would you explain…?• Can you write a brief outline...?• What do you think could have happened next...?• Who do you think...?• What was the main idea...?• Can you clarify…?• Can you illustrate…?• Does everyone act in the way that …….. does?




Questions for Applying

• Do you know of another instance where…?

• Can you group by characteristics such as…?

• Which factors would you change if…?• What questions would you ask of…?• From the information given, can you

develop a set of instructions about…?


Question for Analysing• Which events could not have happened?• If. ..happened, what might the ending have been?• How is...similar to...?• What do you see as other possible outcomes?• Why did...changes occur?• Can you explain what must have happened when...?• What are some or the problems of...?• Can you distinguish between...?• What were some of the motives behind..?• What was the turning point?• What was the problem with...?




Questions for Evaluating• Is there a better solution to...?• Judge the value of... What do you think about...?• Can you defend your position about...?• Do you think...is a good or bad thing?• How would you have handled...?• What changes to.. would you recommend?• Do you believe...? How would you feel if. ..?• How effective are. ..?• What are the consequences..?• What influence will....have on our lives?• What are the pros and cons of....?• Why is ....of value? • What are the alternatives?• Who will gain & who will loose?


Questions for Creating• Can you design a...to...?• Can you see a possible solution to...?• If you had access to all resources, how would

you deal with...?• Why don't you devise your own way to...?• What would happen if ...?• How many ways can you...?• Can you create new and unusual uses for...?• Can you develop a proposal which would...?




CLASS LOG #7

Date: September 4, 2011

Topic: Blue Print

This Saturday, we spoke about blue prints. I understand and see the

importance of making one. In my case, it is very difficult to do one; I will

have to practice more. I have to work more in blue prints because I have

never done one at work. What I liked about this class is that I learned

something new and important to apply.

The purpose of a blue print is to design a test, and it should be done before

the test. It is made to valid the test, and to cover all the contents given

during the unit.


ID 076‐09‐8502

COMPLETION/SHORT ANSWER

Short-answer questions are similar to objective items in that a clearly-defined answer is required, but differ from the latter in that the answer has to be generated and supplied by the learner rather than chosen from a number of options provided.

Good for

! They can have extremely high reliability, thus minimizing possible marker subjectivity.

! While short answer items often target knowledge or comprehension understanding, effectively developed completion items can also be utilized to assess application, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation levels. One means of measuring this type of higher-order understanding is to utilize combinations of short answer statements within a given paragraph. When implementing the paragraph format, be sure that desired knowledge is clearly specified.

Advantages and Disadvantages ! Easy to construct. ! Minimizes guessing ! Encourages more intensive

study-student must know the answer vs. Recognizing the answer.

! Short-answer tests are also fairly simple to administer and mark.

! Effective as either a written or oral assessment.

! Effective for assessing who, what, where, and when information.

! May overemphasize memorization of facts.

! Take care – questions may have more than one correct answer.

! Scoring is laborious. ! they are not particularly

well suited for testing some types of higher-cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes

! Not suitable for item-analysis

! Often criticized for encouraging rote memorization

Tips for Writing Good Short Answer Items

! When using with definitions: supply term, not the definition-for a better judge of student knowledge.

! For numbers, indicate the degree of precision/units expected.

! Use direct questions, not an incomplete statement. ! If you do use incomplete statements, don´t use

more than 2 blanks within an item. ! Arrange blank to make scoring easy. ! Try to phrase question so there is only one answer

possible. ! Do instructions clearly specify the desired

knowledge and specificity of response? ! Is there only one clearly correct answer?

The different types of short-answer question

Completion items ! In their simplest form, these consist of incomplete

statements, the learner having to supply the missing words, terms, symbols, etc. Four typical examples are shown below.

! Example 1 (a simple completion item that only requires a single answer to be provided)

1. How you call a person who studies space? (answer: astronomer)

! Completion items can also be built round things like tables, maps, diagrams, drawings and photographs, with the learner again having to supply missing pieces of information.

Unique-answer items

! These take the form of actual questions (or instructions that imply questions), with the learner having to supply the answer(s). Such items can themselves take a wide range of forms, some of the possibilities being shown below.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(Executive) (Legislature) (Judiciary)

Example 2 (a similar question that requires more than one answer) 'Name the three basic branches of government.'

‘Open’ short-answer questions

! These are similar to unique-answer questions except that they allow for some variation in the nature of the answer, either in terms of its intrinsic content or in terms of the way in which it is expressed.

! Example 1 (a question that has several acceptable answers)

Two planets that have rings are ___________ and ________________. (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune)

! Example 2 (a similar question that requires slightly longer answers)

'Outline four fundamental differences between the systems of government of the United States of America and the United Kingdom'. (Possible answers might include: The USA's head of state is a president while that of the UK is a constitutional monarch; the USA has a federal structure while the UK has not; in the USA, the executive and legislative arms of government are separate, while in the UK they are not; the upper legislative house in the USA is elected whereas that in the UK is not; the USA has a written constitution whereas the UK has not; the USA has a supreme court whereas the UK has not)

Deciding which type of question to use in a given situation Like objective questions, they are of limited use in testing non-cognitive skills such as communication skills, interpersonal skills and psychomotor skills. Thus, the first thing that anyone thinking of making use of short-answer questions should do is check that the learning outcomes that it is wished to assess are in fact suited to this form of assessment; if they are not, some other assessment technique should be employed.

How to evaluate short-answer questions The most common method of evaluating a short-answer question (or, more usually, a test composed of such questions) is to have it checked by a colleague or validation panel. In order to enable such an evaluation to be carried out in a meaningful and systematic way.

Review Checklist ! Is a short answer item an appropriate

assessment of the learning objective? ! Does the content of the short answer question

measure knowledge appropriate to the desired learning goal?

! Is the item clearly worded and stated in language appropriate to the student population?

! Does the positioning of the item blank promote efficient scoring?

CONSTRUCTING TEST ITEMS

TEST ITEM TYPES

• Multiple choice • True or False • Completion/Short Answers • Matching • Essay Questions • Performance Assessment

MULTIPLE CHOICE • Multiple‐choice items can be used to measure knowledge outcomes and

various types of learning outcomes. • They are most widely used for measuring knowledge, comprehension, and

application outcomes. • The multiple‐choice item provides the most useful format for measuring

achievement at various levels of learning. • When selection‐type items are to be used (multiple‐choice, true‐false,

matching, check all that apply) an effective procedure is to start each item as a multiple‐choice item and switch to another item type only when the learning outcome and content make it desirable to do so.

For example (1) when there are only two possible alternatives, a shift can be made to a

true‐false item; and (2) (2) when there are a number of similar factors to be related, a shift can

be made to a matching item.

STRENGTHS

• Learning outcomes from simple to complex can be measured. • Highly structured and clear tasks are provided. • A broad sample of achievement can be measured. • Incorrect alternatives provide diagnostic information. • Scores are less influenced by guessing than true‐false items. • Scores are more reliable than subjectively scored items (e.g., essays). • Scoring is easy, objective, and reliable. • Item analysis can reveal how difficult each item was and how well it discriminated

between the strong and weaker students in the class • Performance can be compared from class to class and year to year • Can cover a lot of material very efficiently (about one item per minute of testing

time). • Items can be written so that students must discriminate among options that vary

in degree of correctness. • Avoids the absolute judgments found in True‐False tests.

LIMITATIONS • Constructing good items is time consuming. • It is frequently difficult to find plausible distracters. • This item is ineffective for measuring some types of problem solving and the ability

to organize and express ideas. • Real‐world problem solving differs – a different process is involved in proposing a

solution versus selecting a solution from a set of alternatives. • Scores can be influenced by reading ability. • There is a lack of feedback on individual thought processes – it is difficult to

determine why individual students selected incorrect responses. • Students can sometimes read more into the question than was intended. • Often focus on testing factual information and fails to test higher levels of

cognitive thinking. • Sometimes there is more than one defensible “correct” answer. • They place a high degree of dependence on the student’s reading ability and the

instructor’s writing ability. • Does not provide a measure of writing ability. • May encourage guessing.

Helpful Hints • Base each item on an educational or instructional objective of the course, not

trivial information. • Try to write items in which there is one and only one correct or clearly best

answer. • The phrase that introduces the item (stem) should clearly state the problem. • Test only a single idea in each item. • Be sure wrong answer choices (distracters) are at least plausible. • Incorporate common errors of students in distracters. • The position of the correct answer should vary randomly from item to item. • Include from three to five options for each item. • Avoid overlapping alternatives (see Example 3 following). • The length of the response options should be about the same within each item

(preferably short). • There should be no grammatical clues to the correct answer. • Format the items vertically, not horizontally (i.e., list the choices vertically) • The response options should be indented and in column form.

• Word the stem positively; avoid negative phrasing such as “not” or “except.” If this cannot be avoided, the negative words should always be highlighted by underlining or capitalization: Which of the following is NOT an example ……

• Avoid excessive use of negatives and/or double negatives. • Avoid the excessive use of “All of the above” and “None of the

above” in the response alternatives. • In the case of “All of the above”, students only need to have partial

information in order to answer the question. Students need to know that only two of the options are correct (in a four or more option question) to determine that “All of the above” is the correct answer choice. Conversely, students only need to eliminate one answer choice as implausible in order to eliminate “All of the above” as an answer choice.

• Similarly, with “None of the above”, when used as the correct answer choice, information is gained about students’ ability to detect incorrect answers. However, the item does not reveal if students know the correct answer to the question.

Multiple‐Choice Item Writing Guidelines

Multiple‐choice questions typically have 3 parts: STEM, KEY & DISTRACTERS

Procedural Rules: • Use either the best answer or the correct answer format. • Best answer format refers to a list of options that can all be correct in the

sense that each has an advantage, but one of them is the best. • Correct answer format refers to one and only one right answer. • Format the items vertically, not horizontally (i.e., list the choices vertically) • Allow time for editing and other types of item revisions. • Use good grammar, punctuation, and spelling consistently. • Minimize the time required to read each item. • Avoid trick items. • Use the active voice. • The ideal question will be answered by 60‐65% of the tested population. • Have your questions peer‐reviewed. • Avoid giving unintended cues – such as making the correct answer longer

in length than the distracters.

Content‐related Rules: • Base each item on an educational or instructional objective of the course,

not trivial information. • Test for important or significant information. • Focus on a single problem or idea for each test item. • Keep the vocabulary consistent with the examinees’ level of

understanding. • Avoid cueing one item with another; keep items independent of one

another. • Use the author’s examples as a basis for developing your items. • Avoid overly specific knowledge when developing items. • Avoid textbook, verbatim phrasing when developing the items. • Avoid items based on opinions. • Use multiple‐choice to measure higher level thinking. • Be sensitive to cultural and gender issues. • Use case‐based questions that use a common text to which a set of

questions refers.

Stem Construction Rules: • State the stem in either question form or completion form. • When using a completion form, don’t leave a blank for completion

in the beginning or middle of the stem. • Ensure that the directions in the stem are clear, and that wording

lets the examinee know exactly what is being asked. • Avoid window dressing (excessive verbiage) in the stem. • Word the stem positively; avoid negative phrasing such as “not” or

“except.” If this cannot be avoided, the negative words should always be highlighted by underlining or capitalization: Which of the following is NOT an example ……

• Include the central idea and most of the phrasing in the stem. • Avoid giving clues such as linking the stem to the answer (…. Is an

example of an: test‐wise students will know the correct answer should start with a vowel)

General Option Development Rules: • Place options in logical or numerical order. • Use letters in front of options rather than numbers; numerical answers in

numbered items may be confusing to students. • Keep options independent; options should not be overlapping. • Keep all options homogeneous in content. • Keep the length of options fairly consistent. • Avoid, or use sparingly, the phrase all of the above. • Avoid, or use sparingly, the phrase none of the above. • Avoid the use of the phrase I don’t know. • Phrase options positively, not negatively. • Avoid distracters that can clue test‐wise examinees; for example, absurd options,

formal prompts, or semantic (overly specific or overly general) clues. • Avoid giving clues through the use of faulty grammatical construction. • Avoid specific determinates, such as never and always. • Position the correct option so that it appears about the same number of times in

each possible position for a set of items. • Make sure that there is one and only one correct option.

Distracter (incorrect options) Development Rules: • Use plausible distracters. • Incorporate common errors of students in distracters. • Avoid technically phrased distracters. • Use familiar yet incorrect phrases as distracters. • Use true statements that do not correctly answer the item. • Avoid the use of humor when developing options. • Distracters that are not chosen by any examinees should be replaced. • Suggestions for Writing Good Multiple Choice Items: • Present practical or real‐world situations to the students. • Present the student with a diagram of equipment and ask for application,

analysis or evaluation. • Present actual quotations taken from newspapers or other published

sources and ask for the interpretation or evaluation of these quotations. • Use pictorial materials that require students to apply principles and

concepts. • Use charts, tables or figures that require interpretation.

General Guidelines to Writing Test

Items

• Begin writing items well ahead of the time when they will be used; allow time for revision. • Match items to intended outcomes at the proper difficulty level to provide a valid measure of the

instructional objectives. • Be sure each item deals with an important aspect of the content area and not with trivia. • Be sure that the problem posed is clear and unambiguous. • Be sure that each item is independent of all other items (i.e., a hint to an answer should not be

unintentionally embedded in another item). • Be sure the item has one correct or best answer on which experts would agree. • Prevent unintended clues to the answer in the statement or question (e.g., grammatical

inconsistencies such as ‘a’ or ‘an’ give clues). • Avoid duplication of the textbook in writing test items; don’t lift quotes directly from any textual

materials. • Avoid trick or catch questions in an achievement test. (Don’t waste time testing how well the

student can interpret your intentions). • On a test with different question formats (e.g., multiple choice and True‐False), one should group

all items of similar format together. • Questions should follow an easy to difficult progression. • Space the items to eliminate overcrowding. • Have diagrams and tables above the item using the information, not below.

Examples & Tips Below are some strategies to reduce the cognitive load of your test items. 1. Keep the stem simple, only including relevant information. Example: Change [Stem]: The purchase of the Louisiana Territory, completed in 1803 and considered one of Thomas Jefferson's

greatest accomplishments as president, primarily grew out of our need for a. the port of New Orleans*

b. helping Haitians against Napoleon c. the friendship of Great Britain d. control over the Indians

To [Stem]: The purchase of the Louisiana Territory primarily grew out of our need for a. the port of New Orleans*

b. helping Haitians against Napoleon c. the friendship of Great Britain d. control over the Indians

*an asterisk indicates the correct answer.

Any additional information that is irrelevant to the question, such as the phrase "completed in 1803…," can

distract or confuse the student, thus providing an alternative explanation for why the item was missed. Keep it simple.

2. Keep the alternatives simple by adding any common words to the stem rather than including them in each alternative. Example: Change When your body adapts to your exercise load, a. you should decrease the load slightly.

b. you should increase the load slightly.* c. you should change the kind of exercise you are doing. d. you should stop exercising.

To When your body adapts to your exercise load, you should a. decrease the load slightly.

b. increase the load slightly.* c. change the kind of exercise you are doing. d. stop exercising.

Instead of repeating the phrase "you should" at the beginning each alternative add that phrase to the end of the stem. The less reading the student has to

do the less chance there is for confusion. 3. Put alternatives in a logical order. Example: Change According to the 1991 census, approximately what percent of the United States population is of Spanish or Hispanic descent? a. 25%

b. 39% c. 2% d. 9%*

To a. 2%

b. 9%* c. 25% d. 39%

The more mental effort (or cognitive load) that students have to use to make sense of an item the more likely a comprehension error can occur that would provide another rival explanation. By placing the alternatives in a logical order the reader can focus on the content of the question rather than having to reorder the items mentally. Although such reordering might require a limited amount of cognitive load, such load is finite, and it does not take much additional processing to reach the point where concentration is negatively impacted. Thus, this guideline is consistently recommended (Haladyna, Downing, & Rodriguez, 2002).

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/references.htm


4. Limit the use of negatives (e.g., NOT, EXCEPT). Example: Change Which of the following is NOT true of the Constitution? a. The Constitution sets limits on how a government can operate

b. The Constitution is open to different interpretations c. The Constitution has not been amended in 50 years*

To Which of the following is true of the Constitution? a. The Constitution has not been amended in 50 years

b. The Constitution sets limits on how a government can operate* c. The Constitution permits only one possible interpretation

Once again, trying to determine which answer is NOT consistent with the stem requires more cognitive load from the students and promotes the likelihood of more confusion. If that additional load or confusion

is unnecessary it should be avoided (Haladyna, Downing, & Rodriguez, 2002).

If you are going to use NOT or EXCEPT, the word should be highlighted in some manner so that students recognize a negative is being used.

5. Include the same number of alternatives for each item. The more consistent and predictable a test is the less cognitive load that is required by the student to process

it. Consequently, the student can focus on the questions themselves without distractions. Additionally, if students must transpose their answers onto a score sheet of some kind, there is less likelihood of error in

the transposition if the number of alternatives for each item is always the same.



Reducing the Chance of Guessing

Correctly • It is easy to inadvertently include clues in your

test items that point to the correct answer, help rule out incorrect alternatives or narrow the choices.

• Any such clue would decrease your ability to distinguish students who know the material from those who do not, thus, providing rival explanations.

Keep the grammar consistent between stem and alternatives. Example: Change What is the dietary substance that is often associated with heart disease when found

in high levels in the blood? a. glucose

b. cholesterol* c. beta carotene d. proteins

To a. glucose

b. cholesterol* c. beta carotene d. protein

Obviously, "proteins" is inconsistent with the stem since it is singular and the others are plural. However, it can be easy for the test writer to miss such inconsistencies. As a result, students may more easily guess the correct answer without understanding the concept ‐ a rival explanation.

Avoid including an alternative that is significantly longer than the rest. Example: Change What is the best reason for listing information sources in your research assignment? a. It is required

b. It is unfair and illegal to use someone's ideas without giving proper credit* c. To get a better grade d. To make it longer

To a. It is required by most teachers

b. It is unfair and illegal to use someone's ideas without giving proper credit* c. To get a better grade on the project d. So the reader knows from where you got your information

Students often recognize that a significantly longer, more complex alternative is commonly the

correct answer. Even if the longer alternative is not the correct answer, some students who might otherwise answer the question correctly could be misled by this common clue and select the wrong answer. So, to be safe and avoid a rival explanation, keep the alternatives

similar in length.

Make all distracters plausible. Example: Change Lincoln was assassinated by a. Lee Harvey Oswald

b. John Wilkes Booth* c. Oswald Garrison Villard d. Ozzie Osbourne

To Lincoln was assassinated by a. Lee Harvey Oswald

b. John Wilkes Booth* c. Oswald Garrison Villard d. Louis Guiteau

If students can easily discount one or more distractors (obviously Ozzie Osbourne does not belong) then the chance of guessing is increased, reducing the discriminability of that item. There is some limited evidence that including humor on a test can have certain benefits such as reducing the anxiety of the test‐takers (Berk, 2000; McMorris, Boothroyd, & Pietrangelo, 1997). But humor can be included in a manner that does not reduce the discriminability of the item. For example, the nature of the question in the stem may be humorous but still

addresses the material in a meaningful way.


http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/references

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/references







Avoid giving too many clues in your alternatives. Example: Change "Yellow Journalism" is associated with what two publishers? a. Adolph Ochs and Martha Graham

b. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer* c. Col. Robert McCormick and Marshall Field III d. Michael Royko and Walter Cronkite

To a. Adolph Ochs and Martha Graham

b. William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer* c. Joseph Pulitzer and Adolph Ochs d. Martha Graham and William Randolph Hearst

Since both of the publishers in choice "b" are associated with yellow journalism and none of the other people mentioned is, the student only has to know of one such publisher to identify that "b" is the correct answer. That makes the item easier than if just one name is listed for each alternative. To make the question

more challenging, at least some of the distracters could mention one of the correct publishers but not the other as in the second example (e.g., in distracter "c"

Pulitzer is correct but Ochs is not). As a result, the student must recognize both publishers associated with yellow journalism to be certain of the correct answer.

Writing and Using

Completion/Short‐Answer Questions

Short answer items (also called supplied response or constructed response items) are an effective measure of a student's ability to accurately recall specific, target information. Short answer items require students to either complete a statement (fill‐in‐the‐blank or completion items) or answer a direct question using a single word or brief phrase. The nature of supplied response items lends itself well to the effective assessment of lower level learning objectives such as knowledge or comprehension of terms and definitions. As opposed to traditional objective measures (true‐false, matching, multiple‐choice, etc.) that assess the recognition of correct information, short answer items require students to independently generate their own response. While this type of recall assessment is more cognitively demanding, the independent nature of the responses makes scoring much more subjective. Due to the subjective interpretation of short answer items and the increased challenges in assessing the accuracy of responses, instructors should carefully examine the utility of short answer items in relationship to their instructional objectives.

Advantages Disadvantages Scores less likely to be influenced by guessing.

Accuracy of assessment may be influenced by handwriting/spelling skills.

Requires increased cognitive ability to generate answers.

Subjective nature can make scoring difficult and time consuming.

Provide diagnostic information when looking at types of errors.

Difficult to write items so that desired knowledge is clear.

Promotes more in‐depth study as students must recall answers. May overestimate learning due to bluffing.

Effective for assessing who, what, where, and when information.

Generally limited to knowledge and comprehension questions.

Relatively easy to construct. Not suitable for item‐analysis. Effective as either a written or oral assessment.

Often criticized for encouraging rote memorization.

Quicker for students to complete than multiple‐choice questions.

The different types of short‐answer question

Let us now take a look at some of the most common forms that short‐answer questions can take.

Completion items In their simplest form, these consist of incomplete statements, the learner having to supply the missing words, terms, symbols, etc. Example 1 (a simple completion item that only requires a single answer to be provided) 'When a small piece of sodium metal is dropped into water, is given off in gaseous form'.

(answer: hydrogen) Completion items can also be built round things like tables, maps, diagrams, drawings and photographs, with the learner again having to supply missing pieces of information. Three examples of this genre are given below. Example 2 (a completion item that involves adding verbal information to graphical material) 'The following diagram shows the five main regions of a glow discharge. Write the names of these different regions in the spaces provided.'

(Answers (left to right): cathode glow, cathode dark space, negative glow, Faraday dark space, positive column).

Unique‐answer items These take the form of actual questions (or instructions that imply questions), with the learner having to supply the answer(s). Such items can themselves take a wide range of forms, some of the possibilities being shown below. Example 1 (a simple unique‐answer question) 'State the chemical formula of calcium bromide'

(CaBr2)

Example 2 (a similar question that requires more than one answer) 'Name the three basic branches of government.'

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(Executive) (Legislature) (Judiciary) 'Open' short‐answer questions These are similar to unique‐answer questions except that they allow for some variation in the nature of the answer, either in terms of its intrinsic content or in terms of the way in which it is expressed. Example 1 (a question that has several acceptable answers) 'Name two organs of the body that are particularly susceptible to damage by ionizing radiation'. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(Possible answers include the gonads, the blood‐producing bone marrow, the lymph glands, the small intestines and the retina of the eye).

Example 2 (a similar question that requires slightly longer answers) 'Outline four fundamental differences between the systems of government of the United States of America and the United Kingdom'. (Possible answers might include: The USA's head of state is a president while that of the UK

is a constitutional monarch; the USA has a federal structure while the UK has not; in the USA, the executive and legislative arms of government are separate, while in the UK they are not; the upper legislative house in the USA is elected whereas that in the UK is not; the

USA has a written constitution whereas the UK has not; the USA has a supreme court whereas the UK has not)

Deciding which type of question to use in a given situation

Like objective questions, short‐answer questions are best suited for assessing learning outcomes in the lower‐to‐middle part of the cognitive domain, ie, for testing knowledge, comprehension, application and analysis. They are not particularly well studied for testing synthesis and evaluation (the highest levels of the cognitive domain), although it is sometimes possible to write items in these areas given sufficient ingenuity. Again like objective questions, they are of limited use in testing non‐cognitive skills such as communication skills, interpersonal skills and psychomotor skills.

Assuming that a short‐answer question approach is felt to be appropriate, the next thing that must be decided is what particular type (or types) of item should be used. Here, the best approach is probably to draw up a detailed list of the various topics and skills that are to be tested and then look at these individually, selecting the type of item that you feel

would be most appropriate in each case. Indeed, it is generally a good idea to use the widest possible range of short‐answer question types in any given test, since this enables different sorts of skills to be tested and also allows for considerable flexibility in respect of the allocation of marks to the different components of the test. Tips for Writing Short Answer Items

! Questions must be clearly worded so that students understand the nature of the information being requested. In order to facilitate understanding, phrase the item so that the required answer is brief and specific. In addition, provide clear clues to indicate the expected response.

! To ensure that a short answer question is an effective measure of student knowledge, require students to fill in important terms or phrases. For example, when assessing understanding of definitions, have students supply the term.

! When utilizing short answer questions that require a numerical response, specify the degree of precision that is expected and the relevant units of measurement.

! To prevent confusion and make scoring more precise, phrase question so there is only one answer or a limited range of answers possible. If multiple answers will correctly complete the item, ensure that there is a pre‐established scoring rubric to deal with variations in response.

! Leave information to be filled in at or near the end of the question. This type of arrangement allows for ease of reading and enhances the efficiency of scoring.

! Utilize clear, explicit instructions that specify the format of the target answer (one word, multiple words, etc.) as well as the amount of acceptable variation (spelling, synonyms, etc.).

! To prevent confusion and ensure requested information is clear, limit the number of blanks within each short answer question. In addition, ensure that blanks are the same physical length to prevent context clues to the correct answer.

! Limit the influence of extraneous clues to the correct answer by utilizing correct, neutral grammar. Avoid providing grammatical clues to the correct answer (plurals, "a" versus "an," specific modifiers, etc.) and make certain that all correct responses can fit grammatically in the blank.

! To reduce the emphasis on rote memorization of trivial information, do not use direct quotes from the text or lecture. Rather, phrase short answer items using unique or novel wording.

How to evaluate short‐answer questions

Once you have written what you think is a 'good' short‐answer question, it is always a sensible policy to have it evaluated in some way before you use it for the purpose for which it has been designed ‐ especially if it is to be used in a formal test or examination of some sort rather than in a more informal setting such as a formative or diagnostic test. The way in which this evaluation is carried out will, of course, depend on the circumstances, and can be anything from simply asking a colleague to read through the

item to see if it 'looks OK', through action learning that involves student feedback, to organizing a full‐scale pre‐trial and carrying out a rigorous statistical analysis of the results.

Having an item evaluated by a colleague or validation panel

The most common method of evaluating a short‐answer question (or, more usually, a test composed of such questions) is to have it checked by a colleague or validation panel. In order to enable such an evaluation to be carried out in a meaningful and systematic way, but also states:

! the course, module, syllabus, etc. that the item relates to; ! the purpose for which the item is to be used; ! the particular topic that the item relates to; ! the particular educational skills or outcomes that the item is designed to assess

(eg, knowledge, comprehension, application, etc.); ! the intended level of difficulty, expressed either qualitatively (eg, 'extremely easy',

'moderately easy', etc.) or quantitatively (eg, 'expected success rate 70%).'

Review Checklist: This checklist will provide some guidelines to elaborate your test. _____ Is a short answer item an appropriate assessment of the learning objective? _____ Does the content of the short answer question measure knowledge appropriate to

the desired learning goal? _____ Is the item clearly worded and stated in language appropriate to the student

population? _____ Is there only one clearly correct answer? _____ Can the item be answered briefly and concisely using a single word or short phrase? _____ Does the positioning of the item blank promote efficient scoring? _____ Does the desired knowledge represent a key word or phrase? _____ Is there a limited number of blanks in the short answer item? _____ Do instructions clearly specify the desired knowledge and specificity of response?

Biography http://www.park.edu/cetl2/quicktips/shortanswer.html

http://www.utc.edu/Administration/WalkerTeachingResourceCenter/FacultyDevelopment/Assessment/test‐questions.html#short answer

http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/misc/general/ciced/Ch23.html

http://www.horton.ednet.ns.ca/staff/scottbennett/web/Short%20Stories.htm



http://www.horton.ednet.ns.ca/staff/scottbennett/web/Short%20Stories.htm

http://www.park.edu/cetl2/quicktips/shortanswer.html

http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/misc/general/ciced/Ch23.html

What is an essay question? ! It is a test item which requires a response

composed by the examinee, usually in the form of one or more sentences or paragraphs, about a

presented situation or to required questions.

Contained elements ! Requires examinees to compose rather than select their response.

! Elicits student responses that mus consist of more than one sentence.

! Allows different or original responses or pattern of responses

! Requires subjective judgment by a competent specialist to judge the accuracy and quality of responses.

Essay question sample ! Education comes not from books but from

practical experience. Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks.

! Explain what you think the above statement means. ! Describe a specific situation in which books might educate students better than practical experience.

! Discuss what you think determines when practical experience provides a better education than books do.

! The statement means that at times practical experience can be a better method of education than pure classroom work.

! The use of books to present abstract ideas is one kind of education that is better to learn from books than practical experience. Take math, for instance. Math concepts are best learned from books rather than practical experience. Also, history is best learned in the classroom since a person can't physically go back in time and watch a war.

! Certain professions are learned on the job, like carpentry and plumbing. Practical experience is the primary method of education. It is the same way for surgery. You wouldn't want someone to take out your appendix unless they had practiced this procedure many times on someone else.

SAMPLE ESSAY

Essays are essential for development and

evaluation of student’s skills – Writing and

reading skills, analytical and critical

thinking skills, research skills, and the

ability to write under time pressure. All these

skills are assessed in the entire essay writing

process.

Essay writing is a good way to internalize the facts that has been heard or read. Writing activity stimulates the intellect and leads to intellectual development and also is a healty way to improve writing skills. Essay are used to judge the mastery and comprenhension of material in fields such as the humanities and social sciences, also include non‐literary types such as visual arts, music, films, and photography Though essay wrinting is not very easy and simple; it needs practice and the students have to learn essay writing rules and about the collection of material.

A student must have a critical and analytical mind that is keen to research on any specified essay topic. Knowledge internalization

Intellectual development

Feed Back Generation

Good Practice

Reaction: How the learners react to the learning process. Learning: The extent to which the learners gain

knowledge and skills. Behavior: Capability to perform the learned skills while

on the job. Results: Includes such items as monetary, efficiency,

moral, etc.

Elements of an essay that can be assessed

through an essay Evaluation

Content: Evidence of the use of appropriate material.

There should be transition sentences linking the paragraph. Idea: It directly answer the question of the essay.

Organization: Of material into a coherent structure:

introduction, argument and evidence, coclusion. Form: Clear style, including accurate spelling, clear

sentence construction and punctuation. Language: Avoidance of inappropriate slang, racist or

sexist language.

Type of essay to test a specific topic and what does it consist in.

Extended Response: These answers have three parts: a) Beginning: The first paragraph introduces your main idea or

position. Often it simply restates the questions. a) Middle: The second paragraph provides information, examples and

details to support your main idea of position. a) Ending: The final paragraph sums up your main idea or position. It

restates your topic sentence, this time with more feeling.

Restricted response: Relate more directly to a specific objective, generally assesses the lower complexity outcomes.

Process Essay: The writing project in which we describe how to do something or tell how to do something of tell how something happens.

Classification Essay: It is supposed to organize or sort the arguments of the wssay in categories. An important thing to mention is that the categories are to fully resemble the essence of the essay’s topic.

Comparison Essay: This type is focused on the comparison of things, people, facts or events. Its basic purpose it to find the most significant similarities of the differences of specific things, facts, evets, etc. First is described the less significant points and up to the conclusion the most significant point is revealed.

Problem Solving Essay: It is a kind of academic paper that describes one or more problems and provides possible variants for their solutions. It is crucial to remember that a problem solving papaer cannot be written without one definite solution. You cannot just dwell on the problems for pages without providing your ideas of solving them.

“Advantanges” Assess complex learning outcomes and thought processes Test writing skills Promote original thinking Stimulate increased studying Simulate realistic tasks Relatively simple to construct Encourage the organization of knowledge, integration of theories and expression of opinions

“Disadvantages” Time consuming to answer

Scoring is more subjective and time consuming

Grading can be influenced by context effects, expectations, or grading fatigue.

Grading may be influenced by factors extraneous to the content.

Students can submit an organized coherent essay of irrelevant material

Evaluation Tool used to avoid bias or Subjective Results

When evaluating an essay for professional rubrics, common assessment areas include focused thesis statement, satisfactory grammar, organization, and conclusive sections that fully answer the question timeline can aid in correction and evaluation of professional writing to meet the standardized objectives. Descriptions uses tools such as denotative language, connotative language, figurative language, metaphor, and sImile to arrive at a dominat impression.

Tips for using Essay Question Focus each question so that students know exactly what is expected. Provide specific guidelines about time limits, amount of info expected, weighting of questions, criteria for evaluating. Limit the use of essay questions to objectives that benefit from them. Avoid making optional essay questions so that different tests. Don’t give questions to students ahead of time, but you can go through sample questions to prepare students.

HANDS ON !!

! Politicians too often base their decisions on what

will please the voters, not on what is best for the

country. Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which a politician might make an unpopular decision for the good of the country. Discuss the principles you think should determine whether political decisions should be made to please the voters or to serve the nation .

Performance Assessment WHAT IS IT? Performance assessment, also known as alternative or authentic assessment, is a form of testing that requires students to perform a task rather than select an answer from a ready-made list. For example, a student may be asked to explain historical events, solve math problems, converse in a foreign language, or conduct research on an assigned topic.

performance assessments can be divided into two rough categories: Task-Centered performance assessments that are primarily intended to tap into and evaluate specific skills and competencies. Construct-Centered performance assessments that are intended to tap into and sample from a domain of skills and competencies.

The performance assessment could consist of a single task and a scoring method, or it could consist of multiple tasks and one or multiple scoring methods

Performance assessment measures students skills

based on authentic tasks such as activities, exercises, or problems that require students to

show what they can do. In some cases performance tasks are used to

have students demonstrate their understanding of a concept or topic by applying their

knowledge to a particular situation.

We can`t use the performance assessment for kids because it is made by hight levels skills and we must to have high care on the kinds of assessments. Small children are used to have short activities and we as teachers check our students knowledge while they are working. Small children don`t notice when your are checking their work. They are always imitating what the teacher or other students do , so we can`t check what they really think.

! An example of the performance test is when you are on a driving test. The person is able to perform the functions of a competent driver of an automobile.

! Another sample are the rubrics they show us a kind of testing of different skills.

! Let students have an introduction about the topic they are going to work on.

! Give specific instructions and roles when they work in groups.

! Be specific and let them know what are you going to evaluate or score.

! Omit scoring creativity, decoration, writen works and other that may distract students from the main objective… that is to perform.

! Make sure to give different assigments to each student, so all students can present somenthing different.

! Make sure to ask the audience to listen to each classmate when presenting.

! One of the major limitations when testing by performances is to loose the object of evaluating.

! Another one might be the level of difficulty in the assigment.

! An the last one is that, if the teacher does not take the time to explain the topic it may not be clear for all the students.

Performance assessments use grading strategies that are commonly used in the performing arts, fine arts, and Olympic competitions. In the context of the science laboratory, students are graded on the performance of manipulating variables, using scientific apparatus, identifying hypotheses, making measurements and calculations, organizing and managing data, and the communication of results. Graded laboratory performances go far beyond grading a final field report - this strategy considers the processes that become the laboratory report as well. In the evaluation of a performance task, the process of performing the task is emphasized more than the final product itself.

Clearly define the knowledge and skills students need to apply or demonstrate in solving a problem. Determine the criteria (standards) against which students will be judged and define indicators of “levels” of competence. Inform students of your expectations that students have every opportunity to clearly demonstrate to that course learning objectives have been mastered Design an authentic task that is somewhat undefined, complex, and has multiple entry and exit

Holistic Scoring Example, The Telescope Task

Your task is to set up and align the 8” telescope, find three different sky objects, and accurately describe some aspects of these objects that astronomers consider to be important. Level 3: Student completes all aspects of task quickly and efficiently and is able to answer questions about the equipment used and objects observed beyond what is obvious. The tasks are: 1. align telescope mount with north celestial pole; 2. align finder telescope with primary telescope; 3. center on target object; 4. select and focus appropriate eyepiece; 5. provide information about the target beyond the literal descriptive level; and 6. answer questions about the target correctly. Level 2: Student completes all aspects of task and provides descriptive information about the equipment and objects observed. Level 1: Student is not able to complete all aspects of task or is not able to sufficient provide information about the equipment used or objects observed. Level 0: No attempt or meaningful effort obvious.

THE MATCHING

TEST FORMAT

The matching test item format provides a way for learners to connect a word, sentence or phrase in one column to a corresponding word, sentence or phrase in a second column. The items in the first column are called premises and the answers in the second column are the responses.

The convention is for learners to match the premise on the left with a given response on the right. By convention, the items in Column A are numbered and the items in Column B are labeled with capital letters.

Many authoring tools come with a prebuilt matching test item template, which may involve dragging responses to the premise or typing the letters from Column B into Column A. The authoring tool templates may vary from the conventions of the written format.

WHEN TO USE MATCHING The matching test item format provides a change

of pace, particularly for selfcheck and review activities. Many instructional designers employ them in quizzes and tests too. They are effective when you need to measure the learner’s ability to identify the relationship or association between similar items.

THEY WORK BEST WHEN THE COURSE CONTENT HAS MANY PARALLEL CONCEPTS, FOR EXAMPLE:

! Terms and Definitions ! Objects or Pictures and Labels ! Symbols and Proper Names ! Causes and Effects ! Scenarios and Responses ! Principles and Scenarios to which they apply

CONSTRUCTION GUIDELINES If you decide to use a matching format, take the

time to construct items that are valid and reliable. Here are some guidelines for this.

! 1. Twopart directions. Your clear directions at the start of each question need two parts: 1) how to make the match and 2) the basis for matching the response with the premise. You can also include whether items can be reused, but often prebuilt templates don’t allow for this.

! Example for exercise above: Drag each career name in Column B to the best definition in Column A. No items may be used more than once.

! 2. Parallel content. Within one matching test item, use a common approach, such as all terms and definitions or all principles and the scenarios to which they apply.

! 3. Plausible answers. All responses in Column B should be plausible answers to the premises in Column A. Otherwise, the test loses some of its reliability because some answers will be “giveaways.”

! 4. Clueless. Ensure your premises don’t include hints through grammar (like implying the answer must be plural) or hints from word choice (like using the term itself in a definition).

! 5. Unequal responses. In an ideal world, you should present more responses than premises, so the remaining responses don’t work as hints to the correct answer. This is not often possible when using a template.

! 6. Limited premises. Due to the capacity limitations of working memory, avoid a long list of premises in the first column. A number that I’ve come across is to keep the list down to six items. Even less might be better, depending on the characteristics of your audience.

! 7. One correct answer. Every premise should have only one correct response. Obvious, but triplecheck to make sure each response can only work for one premise.

REARRANGMENT ITEMS ! Rearrangment items: rearrange and skip certain

items in order to better estimate the examinees' abilities, without allowing them to cheat on the test.

! The rearrangement procedure is effective in reducing the standard error of the Bayesian ability estimates and in increasing the reliability of the same estimates.

RANKING ITEMS ! A ranking is a relationship between a set of

items such that, for any two items, the first is either 'ranked higher than', 'ranked lower than' or 'ranked equal to' the second. It is not necessarily a total order of objects because two different objects can have the same ranking. The rankings themselves are totally ordered. For example, materials are totally preordered by hardness, while degrees of hardness are totally ordered.

! By reducing detailed measures to a sequence of ordinal numbers, rankings make it possible to evaluate complex information according to certain criteria. Analysis of data obtained by ranking commonly requires nonparametric statistics.

ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS THAT THIS TYPE OF TEST MIGHT HAVE

Advantages: ! Relatively easy to construct ! Easy to score Disadvantages: ! Time consuming for students ! Not good for higher levels of learning

TIPS FOR WRITING GOOD MATCHING ITEMS:

! Need 15 items or less. ! Give good directions on basis for matching. ! Use items in response column more than once

(reduces the effects of guessing). ! Use homogenous material in each exercise. ! Make all responses plausible. ! Put all items on a single page. ! Put response in some logical order (chronological,

alphabetical, etc.). ! Responses should be short.

SKILL LEVELS THAT CAN BE REINFORCED THROUGH THIS TYPE OF TEST ITEM

Good for: ! Knowledge level ! Some comprehension level, if appropriately

constructed

Types: ! Terms with definitions ! Phrases with other phrases ! Causes with effects ! Parts with larger units ! Problems with solutions

MAJOR LIMITATIONS FOR THIS TYPE OF TEST ! They are time consuming for students ! They are not good for higher levels of learning ! They have difficulty measuring learning

objectives requiring more than simple recall of information

! They are difficult to construct due to the problem of selecting a common set of stimuli and responses

! They place a high degree of dependence on the student's reading ability and instructor's writing ability.

WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF THE COLUMNS? ! The items in the first column are

called premises and the answers in the second column are the responses.

! PREMISE A previous statement or proposition from which

another is inferred or follows as a conclusion. In tests: Words or phrases.

! RESPONSE Written answer.

When there are exactly as many premises as there are responses and when each response is used once and only once in the matching process, the test item is said to have perfect matching. When some of the responses are used more than once or not at all, the item is said to have imperfect matching. Imperfect matching makes guessing more difficult.

TRUE/FALSE

TESTS

GROUP #3

October 22/2011

In the most basic format, true-false questions are those in which a statement is presented and the student indicates in some manner whether the statement is

true or false.

INTRODUCTION

True-false questions are well suited for testing student recall or comprehension. Students can generally respond to many questions, covering a lot of content, in a fairly short amount of time. From the teacher's perspective, these questions can be written quickly and are easy to score.

Skill levels evaluated by True/False tests

While true-false and other forced choice questions are generally used to measure

knowledge and understanding, they could also be used at higher levels.

The student: !Analyzes a statement !Assesses whether true or false !Marks an answer

! Appropriate for all levels of cognitive ability objective ! Efficient in testing recall and comprehension of a broader content area relative to other testing strategies

! Well suited to test recall, comprehension of simple logic or understanding, as with "if-then" "causal/because" statements

! Useful for automated scoring ! Useful for item analysis, internal and over time

Advantages

! Scoring tends to be high since guessing yields a 50-50 score (half right half wrong) as a base. i.e. if there are 100 items, and the student knows the correct answer to 50, and guesses on the other half, the score will be 75 knowing only half the material.

! Since the stem can cue a correct answer, guessing is enhanced without really understanding the question

! The format does not provide diagnostic information on why a student got it wrong

! It may be easy to cheat

LIMITATIONS

Because random guessing will produce the correct answer half the time, true-false tests are less reliable than other types of exams. However, these items are appropriate for occasional use. Some faculty who use true-false questions add an "explain" column in which students write one or two

sentences justifying their response.

! Words like "sometimes, often, frequently, ordinarily, generally" open up the possibilities of making accurate statements. They make more modest claims, are more likely to reflect reality, and usually indicate "true" answers.

Why do students tend to answer True or False?

!Every part of a true sentence must be "true" If any part of the sentence is false, the whole sentence is false despite many other true statements.

!Absolute words restrict possibilities. "No, never, none, always, every, entirely, only" imply the statement must be true 100% of the time and usually indicate "false" answers

! Research indicates that students tend to mark "true" when guessing blindly, thus false items discriminate better between high and low ability students. At the same time, students tend to quickly pick up on patterns of responding. To prevent response-bias and effectively assess understanding, instructors should include an equivalent number of true and false items within the assessment.

Why should be the True/False questions ratio?

To prevent rote memorization of trivial facts or general knowledge, avoid using exact

wording from the textbook. A well-designed true-false item is very effective for assessing the accuracy of statements, understanding of definitions, and novel applications of theories

or principles.

! Statements should be relatively short and simple. ! True statements should be about the same length as false statements. (There is a tendency to add details in true statements to make them more precise.)

! The answers should not be obvious to students who don't know the material.

Some tips in reference to True or False tests:

! Be sure to include directions that tell students how and where to mark their responses.

! Finally, arrange the statements so that there is no discernible pattern of answers (such as T, F, T, F, T, F and T, T, F, F, T, T, F, F) for True and False statements.

! Avoid ! Unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts ! Long strings of statements ! Ambiguous statements and generalizations

! T F Poor: "The Raven" was written by Edgar Allen Poe.

! T F Better: "The Raven" was written by Edgar Allan Poe.

! T F Poor: The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

! T F Better: If the hypotenuse of an isosceles right triangle is 7 inches, each of the two equal sides must be more than 5 inches.

EXAMPLES

True/False tests can be used for different skill levels and they measure knowledge and

understanding as well as students recalling information.

CONCLUSION

CLASS LOG

Date: October 29, 2011

Topic: test items

This Saturday, the presentation was about the essay questions test items. It

was mainly about how to make we spoke about how to elaborate a test. We

have several choices when we elaborate the series: matching, essay

questions, true/false, short answer, and multiple choice questions. The one

that we cover this weekend is multiple choice. I understand that this open a

window of possibilities, but we have to be aware of the following: not to ask

questions that allow the student to get confused, try to avoid the use of a or

an, in order to give a hint to the student, be careful to write the options in a

vertical way instead of horizontal, and do not allow two answer to be correct.

It is a good suggestion that someone else, read the test before passing it to

the students that is to make sure that the questions and answers have the

correct structure, and avoid confusions.

The purpose of using different kinds of evaluation items is to design a test

that evaluates all the domains in a valid way.


ID 076‐09‐8502

CLASS LOG

Date: November 6, 2011

Topic: test items for tests

This Saturday, the presentations were about the different kinds of test items

that we can use in our tests. I have used several of them, even though I

learned a few facts that we have to take in consideration when we create our

tests. I used to use a or an, now I use a(n) to avoid hints or confusions. Many

other ideas were given during the presentations, all very helpful.

I understand that the purpose of using different kinds of evaluation items is

to design a test that evaluates all the domains in a valid way, and I will try to

put them into practice from now on


ID 076‐09‐8502

SCHOOL NAME GRADE: Name Raquel MartínezLEVEL: SECTION:SUBJECT: ScienceTEACHER: Raquel Martínez

Item Value Item Value Item Value Item Value Item Value Item ValueSeries Series Series Series Series Series PER CONTENT

1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4

2 4 2 4 2 4 1 4 1 4 1 4

1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4

1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4

LEVEL 5 5 5 4 3 3 100 pointsITEMS 5 5 5 4 3 3 25.00

SERIESTOTAL

POINTS 0

ANALYSING EVALUATINGUNDERSTANDING

Electricity and M.

24

36

24

16

TOTALSCREATING

TOTALS

LEVEL

CONTENTS

Earth Cycles

The Universe

Matter

REMEMBERING APPLYING

CONTENT # OF WEEK # OF PERIODS REMEMBERING UNDERSTNADING APPLYING ANALYSING EVALUATING CREATING

Earth cycles 2 9 3 1 2 1 1 1 The Universe 3 14 4 2 1 2 1 4 Matter 2 12 2 1 1 3 1 3 Electricity and

Magnetism

1

5

1

1

1

1

8 WEEKS 40 PERIODS # OF ITEMS ON TEST: 25

BLUE PRINT CLASSWORK

dom lun mar mié jue vie sáb 1Topic:Vocabulary (Earth’s

Cycles) Objective:recognize the vocabu-lary words in context. Assessment activity: draw a pictu-re related to the vocabulary words.

2Topic: Earth’s Rotation Objective: Sudent knows basic patterns, sequences and cycles. Assessment activity: Explain how Earth’s rotation causes day and night.

3

4 5Topic: Earth’s Revolution Objective: Student knows that the tilt of the earth causes the change of seasons. Assessment activity: student draw in his/her notebook the four seasons.

6Topic: Phases of the Moon. Objective: Student understands the cause of the phases of the Moon. Assessment activity: using co-okies, students show the faces of the Moon.

7Topic: When does an eclipse occur? Objective: student understand what is a solar and a lunar eclipse. Assessment activity: Student list safe ways to observe a solar eclipse.

8Topic: Stars Objective: student understands the purpose of constellations. Assessment activity: students work on their star finder.

9Topic: Star patterns Objective: Students learn the conste-llation of their zodiac sign. Assessment activity: using a black construction paper students draw their constellation.

10

11 12Topic: Cause and Effect of Earth’s Cycles. Objective: Student créate a con-cept web using the knowledge acquired. Assessment activity: students créate a concept web.

13Topic: Blue Moon Objective: Stundents predict about blue moons Assessment activity: Determine when is going to occur the next blue moon.

14Topic: What makes up the Universe? Objective: Students use their creativity to explain eclipses Assessment activity: using the informa-tion of the chapter, students write a mini book (with pictures) explaining eclipses.

15Topic: Space vocabulary Objective: The student uses sim-ple strategies to determine meaning of vocabulary words. Assessment activity: students look for the meaning and draw each vocabulary Word.

16 Topic:Comets Objective: Student uses prior kno-wledge integrated with text features. Assessment activity:Student predicts the next time Halley´s Commet will pass close to Earth

17:

18 19Topic: What makes up the Uni-verse? (Part 1) Objective: Student understands what the universe is. Assessment activity: student look up for galaxies.

20Topic: What makes up the Universe? (Part 2) Objective:The student un-derstand s the arrengement of planets in our Solar System Assessment activity: students construct their solar system.

21:Topic: What are the inner planets? Objective: Student recognize the inner planets and their characteristics Assessment activity: students list the main characteristic of each planet.

22 Topic: Earth Objective: student understand what allows Earth to support life. Assessment A.: Compare and contrast the characteristics of other inner planets with Earth. (What allows life in our planet?)

23Topic: Inner planets Objective:Student knows that the planets differ in size, characteristics, and composition Assessment activity: Students cretate a concept web to organize ideas about the planets.

24

25 26 Topic:Why humans haven´t explore Mars yet? Objective: Students justify why humans haven´t landed on Mars. Assessment activity: Students write a two paragraph paper explaining why humans haven´t explore Mars.

27Topic:Outer planets Objective: Student lists the main characteristics of the outer pla-nets. Assessment activity: student draw the outer planets and write at least one characteristic of each.

28Topic: What is the largest planet in the solar system? Objective: student interprets the infor-mation given about Jupiter´s moons. Assessment activity: In which Jupiter´s moon could we live?life?

29Topic: Saturn, Uranus. Objective: What is the main cha-racteristic about Uranus Assessment activity: using the information write a chart of these planets.

30Topic: Neptune and Pluto Objective: Students analyse why pluto is considered a planetoid. Assessment activity:Students will work a power point of 10-12 slights presentation in the technology lab about solar system.

septiembre 2011

dom lun mar mié jue vie sáb 1

2 3Topic: Dorf-planets Objective: Stundents understand what is a dorf-planet Assessment activity: Students paraphrase the informa-tion about dorf-planets.

4Topic:Properties of Matter voca-bulary Objective: studentts understand and apply the meanings of vocabu-lary w. Assessment activity: student writes sentences using the v.words

5Topic:What is matter? Objective: students recognize the properties of matter. Assessment activity: Describe the properties of five objects (given by the teacher)

6Topic:States of matter Objective: student recognize the states of matter. Assessment activity: Draw a diagram to show the arrangement of particles for the states of matter.

7Topic:How is matter measured? Objective: Using the information given students meassure mass and volumen. A. Activity. Using metric units students measure mass and volumen of different objects (write findings).

8

9 10Topic: Density Objective: Students compare the different densities. Assessment activity: Students work a Project of different densi-ties of liquids.

11Topic: Density Objective: determines if an object An object´s density determines whether if floats or sinks in a liquid. Assessment activity: explain how does life jackets work.

12Topic:How do substances mix? Objective: Student understand what is a mixture. Assessment activity: students make a mixture, and explain their findings

13Topic: Solutions Objective: student understands and makes solutions. Assessment activity: students will make solutions using different mate-rials. (applying)

14Topic:How does matter change? Objective: students find actions that are physical changes. Assessment activity: students list the information given about physical change.

15

16 17Topic: Chemical change Objective: students compare and contrast the difference between chemical and physical change. Assessment activity: create a Benn diagram (judging)

18Topic: How to change the pro-perties of matter? Objective: students produce a change on matter. Assessment activity: students produce a new substance (gack)

19Topic: Matter Review Objective: students answer the review successfuly. Assessment activity: students answer the questions given and compare and contrast check point (page 343)

20Topic: Electricity and Magnetism Objective: students learn and identi-fies new vocabulary words. Assessment activity: students fill a worksheet (match meaning with word)

21Topic: How does matter become charged. Objective: students understand when static electricity happens. Assessment activity: students ex-plain in their own words what is static electricity.

22

23 24Topic:”Electricity” Objective: students learn and understand the origin of the word. Assessment activity: using the new information given tell, when do you use electricity?

25Topic: Electric fields Objective: students understand what is an electric field. Assessment activity: Answer: What effect will a charged object have on an object with the opposi-te charge? (Analyzing)

26Topic: Types of circuits Objective: students differenciate between parallel and series cir-cuits. Assessment: students elaborate a model of a parallel cicuit and present it. (Evaluating)

27Topic: How do electric charges flow? Objt.: students understand ways that energy can be transformed. Assessment activity: Answer: What is the difference between an insulator and a conductor?

28Topic: What are magnetic fields? Objective: student understands what is a magnetic field. Assessment: apply what they learn: answer: If you break a magnet into two pieces, what happens to its magnetic poles?

29

30 31Topic: What is the largest magnet in the world? Objective: student understands the relationship between a com-pass and a magnetic field.

Assessment: apply what they learn and answer: what are some ways that Earth is like a magnet?

My 40 periods end on Oc-tober 26. I use colors to separate Earth Cycles, Universe, Matter, and

Electricity and Magne-tism.

octubre 2011

Key:

UNIT TEST

Name:__________________________________________ Date: ____________________

Series 1. Vocabulary (4 points each). Instructions: Choose the word from the list on the left that

completes each sentence on the right. Write the number of the word in the parenthesis.

Word List Sentence

0. electric current

( ) If charged particles in an object are not

balanced, the object builds up _______.

1. magnetic field

( 0. ) A charge in motion is called a (n) _____.

2. magnetism

( ) ______ is the pushing or pulling force

that exists when a magnetic material is near.

3. static electricity

( ) If charged particles in an object are not

balanced, the object builds up _______.

4. static electricity

( ) Because of Earth´s _______ a compass

needle points in a north‐south direction.

Series 2. (4 points each) Instructions: Read each question and circle the best answer.

1. Why can’t you feel earth’s movement?

a. Earth moves steadily and smoothly.

b. earth moves only a few times each day.

c. Earth moves at a different speed than the Sun

d. Earth moves slower than other objects in the sky.

2. What is the spinning of earth around its axis called?

a. orbit

b. rotation

c. ellipse

d. revolution

3. Which of the following is a reason why day turns into night on Earth?

a. Earth revolves around the sun.

b. Earth rotates from west to east.

c. Earth axis is tilted.

d. Earth’s gravity pulls on the Moon.

4. What keeps Earth revolving around the Sun?

a. the pull of the Moon

b. the force of magnetism

c. the force of gravity

d. the pull of the outer planets

5. A teacher points out a group of objects in the night sky and calls the group a constellation. What is

a constellation?

a. the remains of stars

b. a pattern of stars

c. a group of planets

d. several small asteroids

6. What occurs when the Moon passes through earth’s shadow?

a. a new Moon occurs

b. a constellation forms

c. a solar eclipse occurs

d. a lunar eclipse occurs

7. The science that studies objects in space is this?

a. astrology

b. physics

c. biology

d. astronomy

8. The ____________around Saturn are made of water, ice, dust, and chunks of rock.

a. rings

b. moons

c. planets

d. stars

9. What two features of Earth make life possible?

a. liquid water and oxygen

b. the atmosphere and oxygen

c. carbon dioxide and liquid water.

d. the atmosphere and liquid water.

10. Which can you use to compare and measure the volume of two solid boxes?

a. a balance

b. a metric ruler

c. a thermometer

d. a magnet

11. What is matter?

a. a kind of particle

b. the same thing as mass

c. a measurement of gravity

d. anything with mass and volume

Series 3. Reading comprehension (4 points each). Instructions: Read the following information,

then mark with an X if the statements below are true or false.

Mix it Up! Separate Particles in Different Kinds of Mixture

What You Need to Know

A mixture is a combination of two or more substances that can be separated by physical means. A

solid that will dissolve in a liquid is said to be soluble in that liquid. A solid that will not dissolve in a

liquid is insoluble in that liquid. Filtration is the physical process of using a porous substance (a filter)

to separate a solid from a liquid. The liquid that passes through the filter is called the filtrate, and the

solid collected by the filter is called the residue.

How Does a Mixture Work?

A mixture contains substances that retain their separate identities. The individual substances remain

visible in some mixtures, such as a mixture of salt and pepper. In other mixtures, the dissolving

substance breaks into particles that are too small to see. For example, a mixture of sugar and water

forms a solution in which the sugar particles are present but are not visible.

What Does This Have to Do with Separating Substances in a Mixture?

The process of separating particles in a mixture depends on the characteristics of the particles. For

example, an insoluble solid, such as a rock mixed with water, can be separated by filtration. Soluble

substances must be separated by other methods. For example, a mixture of sugar and water forms a

solution in which the sugar particles can be separated by evaporation of the water.

Statements True False

0. We can mix many materials X

1. A mixture is a combination of more than two substances.

2. A solid that will not dissolve in a liquid is called insoluble.

3. Filtration is the process used to separate a solid from a liquid.

4. If we mix sugar and water we can form a solution.

Series 4. Our solar system. (4 points each) Instructions: Fill in the blanks with the correct answer.

1. The planet closest to the sun is______________________________.

2. The biggest planet in the solar system is ______________________.

3. An icy rock that has a tail is called __________________________.

4. We call __________________________ the evening star.

5. The belt that separates the inner and outer planets is made up of ________________.

Series 5. Our solar system. (4 points) Instructions: Answer the following essay question. Your

answer should be at least a two paragraphs long.

Question: compare the planets Earth and Mars. Could Mars support life? Why?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK YOUR TEST!!!

CONCLUSION

In order to elaborate a test that covers all the contents that we taught during a unit, it is important to use a blue print. We also have to take in consideration the differences between testing and assessing, we can assess almost every activity in the classroom in a very easy way. I hope this document to be helpful to anyone who read it.

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