Download 9) Case Study Assessment_Learner

Case Study: Learner-Centered Assessment
Mr. Luong teaches physical earth science. He is about to teach a new unit on plate tectonics. Let’s
see how he utilizes diagnostic, formative and summative assessments throughout his unit.
1. Diagnostic Assessment (KWL Chart)
What do learners already know about plate tectonics? Mr. Luong doesn’t know, but he will need to
know so he can decide what topics associated with plate tectonics to emphasize and what he can
skip because learners already have a good understanding. A favorite diagnostic tool is a KWL chart.
KWL Charts: KWL charts are graphic organizers that help learners organize information before (as
well as during and after) a unit or a lesson. Mr. Luong uses a KWL chart to engage learners in a new
topic, to activate prior knowledge, and to assess what they already know.
He asks learners to create three columns on a sheet of paper (See Figure 1):



Column 1: What do I Know about the topic?
Column 2: What do I Want to know?
Column 3: What did I Learn?
Instructor questioning: He introduces the topic of plate tectonics by asking learners to share what
they already know about plate tectonics and record that information in the K column of the KWL
chart.” He has learners work together in teams of three to do this.
FIGURE 1: KWL CHART
What I Know
What I Want to Know
What I Learned
Rephrasing and reframing to unlock learning: It seems clear to Mr. Luong, as he walks around the
room, that learners don’t know much about plate tectonics. Or perhaps they do? Perhaps he needs
to ask a few more questions? He tells the class that plate tectonics explains the features and
movement of the Earth’s surface and asks them to write that fact down under K.
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“What is on the earth’s surface,” he asks? “Countries, the ocean, mountains,” the learners begin to
answer. One learner knows that land forms rest on giant plates, and Mr. Luong has them record this
fact. Another learner knows that plates sometimes “crash into each other.” Many learners start
talking excitedly about earthquakes. Mr. Luong reminds them to keep filling in the KWL chart.
FIGURE 2: FILLING IN THE KWL CHART
What I Know
 Plate tectonics
explains the features
and movement of the
Earth's surface.
 The earth has a hot
core.
 Earth’s outer shell
is divided into
plates.
 When plates crash
together, they cause
earthquakes.
 Where plates meet is
a “fault line,” and
some faults are very
active.
What I Want to Know
 Can earthquakes
happen here?
 What is the
continental drift?
 Can we see images
of plates moving
against each other?
 What is it like to be
in an earthquake?
 What causes
earthquakes?
What I Learned
(Mr. Luong and learners will
complete this at the end of
the unit.)
Analysis
After he collects the KWL charts and looks through them, Mr. Luong learns several things that will
help him teach this unit on plate tectonics. He sees that his learners don’t know much about plate
tectonics, but they do have a general understanding about the earth’s core, mantel, and lithosphere.
They have some understanding—very general—about plates. Finally, he finds that learners are really
fascinated by earthquakes. This will be his “hook” to get them to learn about plate tectonics.
Note that at first, Mr. Luong’s learners could not come up with any ideas for the “Know” part of their
KWL chart. But Mr. Luong kept questioning, rephrasing, and offering brief pieces of information to
“trigger” knowledge they were not even aware they knew. In doing so, he got learners to share that
knowledge, connected them to the content, and showed them that they did know more than they
thought they did.
Days later…
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2. Formative Assessment: Color-Coded Cards and Peer Instruction
Mr. Luong and his class have moved onto earthquakes. Last night he assigned part of the geography
textbook chapter that discusses earthquakes. It’s really important they understand that as plates pull
apart, slide by each other, or collide, tectonic activity is manifested as earthquakes.
Initial Assessment at Beginning of Class: Mr. Luong distributes four cards to each learner. Each card
has a different letter (e.g., A, B, C or D.) On the chalkboard, he writes the following question with
four answer choices:
“What causes earthquakes?”
A.
B.
C.
D.
Certain weather patterns (known as earthquake weather)
Small movements along the earth’s fault lines that result in what we know as earthquakes
Any large geological movement in the earth’s surface or core, such as a volcanic explosion
Two blocks of the earth’s crust suddenly slip past one another
He asks learners to show the card with the letter that corresponds to their answer. As he does this,
one learner—the recorder—draws a histogram that illustrates their answers (see Figure 3).
FIGURE 3: HISTOGRAM OF LEARNERS’ ANSWERS.
What causes earthquakes?
25
20
15
10
5
0
A-weather
B-small movements C-any geological
activity
D-blocks of crust
that slip
Analyzing Results: It’s clear from the responses that learners are unclear about the causes of
earthquakes. Everyone knows it is from movement, particularly geological activity, but they don’t
make any connections with plates and the Earth’s crust. They really need to understand this before
moving on in the unit.
Peer Instruction: Mr. Luong does not correct learners or give them the “right” answer. Rather, he
organizes learners into two corners of the classroom (B and D in this case) and tells them to form
teams that include at least one B and one D learner. Their job is to do the following:
(1) Ask one another questions that get at the source of their understanding
(2) Convince the group, through supporting evidence, the correctness of their answers.
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He points learners to a reference table that contains information on earthquakes which teams
should access.
As learners instruct each other, Mr. Luong circulates among groups and listens to their discussions.
Where learners appear stuck or where the whole group is veering off onto the wrong answers (A, B
or C), he steps in to steer them back using open-ended questions. For instance, even though no one
initially chose it as an answer, several learners are now leaning toward A as the correct answer. So
Mr. Luong asks, “If this is the case, would earthquakes only occur then in certain times or months of
the year?” “Is there any evidence to support this?” and “Have earthquakes occurred in other
months?”
Re-Assessing: Following this peer instruction, Mr. Luong asks the same question again with the same
answers and has learners hold up their cards indicating their answers. He hopes that there will be a
change in their responses. Next to the original histogram documenting their original answers, he
draws a new graph showing their “new” answers. (See Figure 4.)
FIGURE 4: HISTOGRAM OF LEARNERS’ POST-PEER INSTRUCTION ANSWERS.
What causes earthquakes?
25
20
15
10
5
0
A - weather
B-small
movements
C- geological
activity
D- blocs of
crust that slip
Wow! A huge difference. D is the correct answer, and most learners now have selected the correct
response. The class can move on in the unit.
Helping learners develop metacognitive skills: However before moving on, Mr. Luong wants the
class to reflect on their learning. This awareness is called meta-cognition. It is key to helping
learners:



Develop learning skills that will help them regulate their behavior
Reflect on how they learn best
Develop techniques to master new content and navigate new learning situations
He asks his learners some reflection questions:



How many of you got the correct answer this time but not the first time?
For those of you who originally answered something other than D, what helped you change
your mind and arrive at D?
Based on this exercise, how would you summarize your understanding of earthquakes now?
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


What questions do you still have about earthquakes? (He mentions that they will investigate
these topics in the next few classes)
We will study the causes, impacts, and types of earthquakes in greater detail in the next few
lessons, but before we do, let’s look at how you learned about earthquakes. Are there things
we did in this exercise that you, personally, found helpful as a learner? What were they, and
why did they help?
When you leave school today and meet your friends, and they ask you what you learned
today, what three “big ideas” will you tell them about earthquakes?
Analysis:
In this example of formative assessment, we see several key practices that Mr. Luong uses that can
help us use formative assessment:




Mr. Luong has no technology, but he can still manually design formative assessment
techniques such as “polling” that normally use technology.
Mr. Luong pairs formative assessment with peer instruction. Since a majority of learners do
not possess basic foundational information, he knows he cannot move on in the lesson. He
knows, too, that learners often do a much better job explaining content to one another
because they speak each other’s language and are not afraid, among their friends, to ask
questions or say what they don’t know.
Mr. Luong follows a pattern of assess—instruct—re-assess. He never tells learners what the
right answer is. They teach each other, and he re-assesses them to see if they have learned
the information and to show them that they have learned it.
Mr. Luong pairs reflection with assessment. He asks learners to reflect on their learning and
think about what activities helped them learn today. In doing so, Mr. Luong is helping them
learn about how they learn. This is the metacognition piece.
10 days later…
3. Summative Assessment
Learners are moving toward their completion of the study of plate tectonics. They’ve studied the
composition of the earth, the movement of plates, the three main plate tectonic environments
(extensional, transform, and compressional) and the types of earthquakes they produce, seismic
waves, and the Richter Scale.
For the summative assessment, Mr. Luong assesses learners’ understanding using a scenario-based
approach. He divides the class into three countries (A, B, and C) that are seismically active. Further
each country has the following:
1. The Ministry of Energy that supports building a nuclear reactor
2. The International Regulation Agency who determines whether a reactor should be built
3. A civil society organization that opposes building the reactor
Each team must present its recommendations to the International Regulation Agency (composed of
Mr. Luong, an owner of a structural engineering form who lives nearby, and a nearby university
geology professor). (See Figure 5)
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FIGURE 5: TEAMS FOR SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Country A
One team per
country of:
Ministry of Energy
Country B
Ministry of Energy
Country C
Ministry of Energy
Totals
3 Ministry of
Energy Teams
One team per
country of:
Leading structural
engineering firm
Leading structural
engineering firm
Leading structural
engineering firm
3 Leading
Structural
Engineering Firms
One team per
country of:
Civil society
organizations
Civil society
organizations
Civil society
organizations
3 Civil Society
Organizations
Each team must make their arguments factoring in the following information (see Figure 6). They
must present all information orally (in a five-minute presentation) and visually (they can choose the
visuals). Mr. Luong has designed his assessment so he is measuring several levels of student learning
based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.
FIGURE 6: CONSTRUCTS LEARNERS WILL BE ASSESSED ON AND HOW THEY MATCH UP TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
Learners must be able to:




Explain the concept of plate tectonics, plate movement, and
earthquakes.
Show their understanding of how plate tectonics create certain
geologic features, materials, and hazards
Predict locations that are tectonically active based on a plot of
the locations of earthquake epicenters, active volcanoes, and
recent seismic activity (data available online)
Base on the above information, argue why or why not a nuclear
reactor should or should not be constructed in Country A, B, or
C, and present this information orally and visually
Level of Bloom’s
Taxonomy
Knowledge
Understanding
Synthesis
Evaluation
Learner teams can present using a number of tools, such as Google Earth, to plot recent seismic
activity (Figure 7).
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FIGURE 7: USING GEOLOGICAL DATA FROM US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, LEARNERS CAN MAP RECENT EARTHQUAKE ACTIVITY IN GOOGLE
EARTH AND CREATE A TOUR OF THESE SEISMICALLY ACTIVE SITES.
Or they can create digital posters or dashboards of information using Visualize.me (see Figure 8).
FIGURE 8: A DASHBOARD OF INFORMATION FROM VISUALIZE.ME
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Or they can use a concept map (here in Inspiration) to lay out their argument (in this case, for a
nuclear reactor).
FIGURE 9: INSPIRATION CONCEPT MAP (THERE ARE MANY FREE CONCEPT MAPPING TOOLS ONLINE)
Grading: Learners are graded via a rubric. They assess themselves, their performance on the team,
and their contribution to the team. Their teammates assess them using the same rubric, and Mr.
Luong and his two colleagues assess learners on the following:


The team’s overall effort
Their ability to work together as a team, to resolve an issue, and to communicate
information
Their knowledge of key concepts (as defined in Figure 6)
The logic and comprehension of their argument


All assessments are averaged and account for the learner’s final and individual grade.
Completing the KWL Chart: To conclude the activity, Mr. Luong and his learners revisit the KWL
chart that he began as part of his diagnostic assessment. He asks learners what they have learned.
As you see from Figure 10, they have no trouble at all coming up with answers!
FIGURE 10: COMPLETING THE KWL CHART
What I Know



Plate tectonics
explains the features
and movement of
Earth's surface
The earth has a hot
core
Earth’s outer shell is
divided into plates
What I Want to Know




Can earthquakes
happen here?
What is the
continental drift?
Can we see images of
plates moving against
each other?
What it’s like to be in
an earthquake
What I Learned


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The location below the earth’s surface
where the earthquake starts is called
the hypocenter and the location directly
above it on the surface of the earth is
called the epicenter.
The lithosphere of the earth is composed
of plates which slowly move around,
sliding past one another and bumping
into each other. The place where they
meet is called a fault.


When plates crash
together, they cause
earthquakes
Where plates meet is
a “fault line” and
some faults are very
active

What causes
earthquakes?



While the edges of faults are stuck
together, and the rest of the block is
moving, the energy that would normally
cause the blocks to slide past one
another is being stored up.
When the force of the moving blocks
finally overcomes the friction of the
jagged edges of the fault and it
unsticks, all that stored up energy is
released and radiates outward from the
fault in all directions. These are
seismic waves.
Seismic waves are like ripples in a
pond. They shake the earth as they
move through it, and when the waves
reach the earth’s surface, they shake
the ground and destroy anything on it.
Analysis: Mr. Luong could have easily assessed learners’ knowledge of plate tectonics through an
exam. However, he was aware that his job is to blend content knowledge with the skills that
employers demand in the workplace, so he constructed this real-world scenario. The scenario
required that learners work as a team to analyze information, synthesize different ideas, and
propose a course of action. This type of real-world assessment forces learners to learn content much
more deeply than they would if they were just memorizing information for a test, and it nests that
content within practical skills that learners need to be successful learners and successful employees.
Mr. Luong also gets at one of the tricky issues around team work and assessment by triangulating
self, peer- and instructor assessment based on a set of criteria. The self- and peer assessments
reinforce the notion of learner responsibility within groups.
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