Feedback has been the theme for my CEP 813 class this last learning cycle. My last post talked about my Assessment Design Checklist, and some updates I made to that based on feedback I received. This post will be about updates I made to my formative assessment I am working on.
If you did not read my last post on my formative science assessment, I planned an assessment where my students would recreate the water cycle using stop motion animation.
The purpose of this assessment would be to see the students understanding of the water cycle, and the various stages in the cycle. This goes along with the Next Generation Science Standard:
Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
Performance Expectation
Grade: K-2
My thoughts for this assessment would be to have the students do a stop motion animation video of the water cycle. Apple has a great app for this called Stop Motion Studio. I have used it before with creating lego stop motion videos with my after school STEAM students. There would be some instruction that would have to happen prior to them making the video. A good way to do this would be to show them examples of the videos, then create a video together, before letting them work on their own to create a video for fun. To help them with making their water cycle video, I would give them cut outs of water cycle labels, raindrops, and clouds, which they could use as they move around to the different stages of the cycle. The end product would look similar to the video below.
After some feedback that I received from my FAD 1.0 some items in my assessment purpose I want to clarify or add onto is that through my instruction, it will be clear to the students the water cycle can be demonstrated in many different ways as long as it has the components explained in the instructions which can be found here.
I realize now that this assessment seems more summative, rather than formative, but I think I can make some tweaks to make it more of a formative assessment. More clearly, I can have the students work on different components of their stop motion video throughout the unit so I can see what they are understanding and what still needs more instruction. For example when we learn precipitation, they can add that piece to their video, and I can see their understandings of precipitation. This may mean there could be snow, rain, sleet, but either way i see their understanding of precipitation and where it fits in the water cycle. By doing this I can alter instruction as needed based on their videos, making this project more like a formative assessment.
With this being an ongoing project now through the unit, the instructions will have to change slightly, and instead of them adding each part in one sitting, the students will only have to work on one part of the cycle at a time. I think this will make for more creative time, and end with more detailed videos.
The last thing I want to consider is feedback to the students as they submit their videos. I have considered two types of feedback, and after reviewing Hattie and Timperleys’ article on The Power of Feedback. One consideration I have for feedback is doing a screencast of their videos so hey can hear the feedback. The students would get to watch a screencast of their video so they can make adjustments to their next video. Another consideration I have is to do reinforcement lessons as we watch their video together. That way I can see if they have a better understanding of the concept taught that day. I can also cater the lesson to their specific needs, based off the misconceptions viewed in their video.
With the amount of technology being used already in this assessment, I am gravitated toward doing small reinforcements, after seeing what each student needs. I think so far this assessment will step up the engagement on science tests.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007, 03). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.
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