Chapter 6 was based on assessing science learning. I truly believe that one of the easiest content areas to assess is Science. The reason I believe this is the case, is because teaching a science concept will usually have an array of answers; if a person does not understand the concept it will not be expressed. Assessment has an advantage; it will confirm to the teacher that a concept has been acquired by the student. The book stated that student participation is a key assessment. When a person is confident and understands the concept they will make an effort to participate.
As a future teacher the difficulty lies in, what form of assessment do I use? When do I know what form of assessment to use; Informal, traditional, or performance? I guess the ability to know what assessment to you use will come with experience. I know that informal assessment is based on teacher-student interaction. Traditional assessment is the type of assessment everyone is used to; multiple-choice, true-false, short-answer, and essay items. Performance assessment is based on hands-on and conceptual thoughts. The one type of assessment I am familiarized with is the traditional assessment. The chapter stated that a teacher can use multiple-choice, but ask the student to give an explanation for the answer chosen. Honestly, I never really thought about the idea of giving an explanation for chosen multiple choice answers, I really liked the idea.
The chapter touch based on the state testing. As a future educator, the one thing I dread will be the testing. I believe that the testing can cause much stress to both the student and the teacher. Let’s be honest, you have to pretty much spend the entire year preparing your students for a state wide test. I believe that part of the reason it is so hard to teach through inquiry learning is because of the test preparations. As a student I remember being drilled to memorize information, to prepare for the testing. Do we really want to focus of staying above the surface on just about every concept? We cannot scratch the surface of a concept, it is necessary that we build a strong foundation, and build upon it.
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I like your point about how it should be easy to assess students in science. My experience tells me that the best approach is to use a variety of assessment tools as part of an overall teaching strategy. This is a point you make too. You are right that developing this strategy will come with experience. Yet you know enough to get off to a good start.
ReplyDeleteState testing--well, it's a reality. I think that the best approach for the teacher is to hold fast to your principles. Teach well. Do what's right for the students. If you do these things, then the test scores will be good. Forcing kids to over prepare for state tests out of fear is definitely the wrong way to go, in my opinion.