ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

1
Whos Doing the Thinking?

• ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING
• EQUALS
• FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

2
Effective teaching requires knowing what
students are learning

• Substantive body of research shows
• Formative assessment can significantly improve
  student learning
• Features of formative assessment that affect
  student achievement are missing from many
  classrooms
• There is a need in our classrooms for purposeful
  varied assessment techniques (connected with
  instruction learning)

3
Knowledge is constructed and connected to other
knowledge

• There is a need to find a balance between
• Assessment OF learning
• with
• Assessment FOR learning

4
Effective assessment practice requires immediate
feedback to students

• Teachers need guidance
• To understand the opportunities that exist to
  formatively assess their students
• To remember that students bring a variety of
  different ideas to their learning
• To connect student thinking with specific ideas
  from the standards
• To provide learning experiences that bridge
  students thinking the scientific concepts

5
Get students thinking about their thinking

• Teachers need to spend more time understanding
  what students think prior to instruction and
  using that information to design learning
  opportunities.
• Why dont they?
• Ultimately, this helps students develop deeper
  conceptual understanding.

6
Teachers are the most important link in the chain
that connectsAssessment Instruction - Learning

• Teachers need to provide ongoing feedback and
  stimulus for deep thinking
• via
• Rich formative assessment techniques
• to
• Inform instruction affect learning

7
Need a focus shift from effective teaching to
effective student learning

• Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques
• FACTs
• Purposefully designed and used to examine student
  thinking
• Used to get kids thinking about their thinking
• Makes student thinking visible to themselves,
  peers, teacher
• Allows the teacher to continuously gather
  information on student thinking learning

8
More Facts about FACTs

• Easily embedded into classroom instruction
• Used to assess before throughout learning
  process
• Improves student learning
• Provides opportunities to learn
• Accommodates a range of learning styles
• Can be used to differentiate instruction
• Encourages classroom discourse

9
What does a Formative Assessment Centered
Classroom look like?

• 4 Classroom Examples
• What do all of the classroom snapshots have in
  common?
• Do the strategies in each example serve an
  instructional, assessment or learning purpose?
• What is the evidence that students are learning?

10
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Examples of FACTs and Probes
• Whiteboarding Batteries, Bulbs, Wires probe
• Four Corners Ice Cold Lemonade probe
• Card Sort Is it Melting? probe
• Commit Toss Solids Holes probe
• Human Scatterplot Mirror on the Wall probe
• Sticky Bars Giant Sequoia Tree probe
• P-E-O-E Ice Cubes in a Bag probe

11
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Batteries, Bulbs, Wires
• Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She
  wonders how many strips of wire she will need to
  connect the battery the bulb so that the bulb
  will light. What is the smallest number of wire
  strips Kirsten needs to make the bulb light up?
• A. One strip of wire
• B. Two strips of wire
• C. Three strips of wire
• D. Four strips of wire
• Draw a picture to support your thinking.

12
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Ice Cold Lemonade
• It was a hot summer day. Mattie poured herself a
  glass of lemonade. The lemonade was warm, so
  Mattie put some ice in the glass. After 10
  minutes, Mattie noticed that the ice was melting
  and the lemonade was cold. Mattie wondered what
  made the lemonade get cold. She had three
  different ideas. Which idea do you think best
  explains why the lemonade got cold?
• A. The coldness from the ice moved into the
  lemonade
• B. The heat from the lemonade moved into the ice
• C. The coldness the heat moved back forth
  until the lemonade cooled off.

13
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Is It Melting?
• The strips of paper you have in front of you
  each list a situation that causes changes in
  materials.
• Organize the strips into 2 categories
• Melting and Not Melting

14
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Solids Holes
• Lance had a thin, solid piece of materials. He
  placed the material in water and it floated. He
  took the material out and punched holes all the
  way through it. What do you think Lance will
  observe when he puts the material with holes back
  in the water?
• A. It will sink.
• B. It will barely float.
• C. It will float the same as it did before the
  holes were punched into it.
• D. It will neither sink nor float. It will bob
  up down in the water.
• Explain your thinking. Describe the rule or
  reasoning you used to make your prediction.

15
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Mirror on the Wall
• Adrienne placed a small, flat mirror against a
  wall. Standing close to the mirror, Adrienne
  could see her face from her eyebrows to her chin.
  Adrienne backed up five steps away from the
  mirror. Adrienne is now farther away from the
  mirror. How much of her face will Adrienne see in
  the mirror this time?
• A. She will see more of her face.
• B. She will see less of her face.
• C. She will see the same amount of her face.
• Explain your thinking. How confident are you in
  your response?

16
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Giant Sequoia Tree
• The giant sequoia tree is one of the largest
  trees on earth. It starts as a small seedling and
  grows into an enormous tree. Five children can
  stretch their arms across the width of the trunk
  of one of the large sequoia trees!
• Where did most of the matter that makes up the
  wood and leaves of this huge tree originally come
  from?
• A. sunlight E. oxygen
• B. water F. minerals
• C. soil G. chlorophyll
• D. carbon dioxide

17
Uncovering Student Ideas

• Ice Cubes in a Bag
• You are having an argument with your friend
  about what happens to the mass when matter
  changes from one form to another. To prove your
  idea, you put three ice cubes in a sealed bag and
  record the mass of the ice in the bag. You let
  the ice cubes melt completely. Ten minutes later
  you record the mass of the water in the bag.
  Which of the following best describes the result?
• The mass of the water in the bag will be less
  than the mass of the ice in the bag.
• The mass of the water in the bag will be more
  than the mass of the ice in the bag.
• The mass of the water in the bag will be the same
  as the mass of the ice cubes in the bag.

18
Types Purposes of Assessment

• Whats the difference?
• Diagnostic
• Formative
• Summative

19
Take Home Messages

• Probes are assessments for learning
• Be clear about your purpose before choosing a
  probe and assessment strategy
• To be formative, you must not only gather data,
  you must use it!
• Work toward creating a classroom where all ideas,
  regardless of whether they are right or wrong,
  are valued
• Start small keep it simple

20
Reflection of Formative Assessment

• I Used to Think
• But Now I Know

21
References

• Keeley, Page. Science Formative Assessment 75
  Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment,
  Instruction, and Learning. New York Corwin P,
  2008.Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Lynn
  Farrin. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science 25
  Formative Assessment Probes. New York National
  Science Teachers Association, 2005.Keeley,
  Page, Francis Eberle, and Lynn Farrin. Uncovering
  Student Ideas in Science 25 More Formative
  Assessment Probes. Danbury Society for Mining,
  Metallurgy Exploration, Incorporated,
  2007.Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Chad
  Dorsey. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science
  Another 25 Formative Assessment Probes. Vol. 3.
  New York National Science Teachers Association,
  2008.