Activity 1: Assessing Project Based Learning

Assessing a Project Based Learning lesson for an entire upper school in Science (grades 9-12) is difficult but rewarding. One of the main PBL activities I do each year are STEAM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Fair Projects. These projects are like 'Science Fair' projects but different in significant ways. Primarily the Project Objective is that every student in the upper school participates and that everyone includes a hands-on section that will help STEAM Fair participants experience the science topic being covered and demonstrates the students have gained a deeper understanding of their chosen science phenomenon.

Project Description: All upper students participate in creating a hands on science exhibit (much like at a science center/museum) that they will share with the community at large during a STEAM Fair in the spring. All student are expected to go through the steps required to prepare then present a scientific investigation based on a science phenomenon (coming up with an initial idea, planning an investigation, investigating, writing up results and preparing their STEAM Fair Station presentation package (a table layout, posters, hands-on exhibit etc.).

Below I describe the ways I use formative assessment and summative assessment to help students get the most out of their STEAM Fair Projects experience both during and at the end of the process.

The best way that I have come up with to overcome the difficulties of evaluating performance on PBL projects is to do weekly 'check-ins' of student progress. I do these check ins in three ways. First, I have students do an Exit Ticket each week that allows them to (1) explain which stage of the STEAM Fair Project they are currently working on (initial idea, planning investigation, investigating, writing up results and/or preparing their STEAM Fair Station presentation package). (2) I ask them to share "What is challenging and what is working" in the particular phase they are engaged in (3) I ask them to provide a date they plan on being done with the current phase and to  explain what their next steps will be once they are done. I recored the results of their exit tickets into my Schoology Data base under the heading of STEAM Fair progress. This allows me to know they are on task with their projects and also allows me to understand where any 'red flags' might be and who needs help to keep moving forward in their projects. Second, I have students sign up for a one on one STEAM Fair Clinic with me once a week. The clinic is set up so that there is time for me to help every student at least once a week on their projects (to give advice, help with practical material and process issues and in general to get a sense as to whether they are moving forward with the project or not. At the end of the day I enter notes into my grade book about how the student affective and practical work was going on the project (my main goal here is to help students move forward but I also am able to get a sense for who is getting off course or 'drifting' through their project. Third, at the start of the week I have students fill out a quick self evaluation of their STEAM Fair Project progress (see Example 1 below). This allows me to get some numbers for how "they" believe they are doing on the STEAM project. I find doing all three of these things weekly during the planning, implementation and results phase of their STEAM projects is critical for getting formative assessments about the work they are doing and to create on ongoing record of their progress.

Example 1:

Weekly Self Evaluation of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Fair Project

Name_____________________________________________              DATE_________________________

Scoring Key:

1 – Poor                      2 – Needs Improvement         3- Average

4- Good                       5 – Excellent

_____     I am spending adequate time preparing this project.

_____     At this point my project fits the guidelines given to me by my teacher.

_____     At this point my project shows that I understand the scientific process.

_____     At this point my project shows that I can use creativity to solve problems.

_____     At this point my project shows my ability to use critical thinking.

_____     At this point my project shows that I can do accurate background research.

_____     At this point I have gained new knowledge by working on this project.

_____     At this point I am proud of the effort I am putting into this project.

_____     So far I am proud of the way this project is turning out.

Moving forward I can improve my ability to complete this project by:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

 

Additionally, to correctly assess the STEAM Fair PBL projects I provide the final assessments to the students at the start of the project and explain to them exactly how they will be graded. Example 2 below is the final broad rubric I use to assess their work. I have found these categories to be useful in making a case for whose projects stood out and for whose projects needed more attention. Students also get a final "Self Assessment" which includes a few more questions then the weekely assessment, so that they can include their own voices in the final assessment process (see Example 3).

Example 2:

STEAM FAIR PROJECT GRADING RUBRIC

Name of Scientist: ________________________                                                           

Title of Project: _______________________________________________________

SECTION	DUE DATE	SCORE	COMMENTS
Topic	11-29
Purpose	12-06
Hypothesis	12-06
Materials	12-13
Procedure	12-13
Variables & Controls	01-08-13
Data/Results	01-08-13
Conclusion	01-15-13

Students begin with a score of 100% for each component.

Points may be deducted for random problems:

·       -10 for each day the assignment is late

·       -10 for messy/sloppy work

·       -10 for incomplete work

·       -10 for assignment not completed as directed

·       -10 for no name on the assignment

FINAL PROJECT GRADE

	1	2	3	4
Complete Project (Either board or packet)	Lacks detail and is messy.	Some attention to neatness.	Attention to detail and neatness shown.	Attractively presented with exceptional detail.
Effort	Did not attempt to do the assignment.	Did assignment but sloppy.	Project done well	Worked hard, took their time.
Skill and Thoroughness of content	Little or no content	Minimal content and description is present is various parts.	Project’s content is thorough and adequate.	Projects content exceeds expectations of basic content.
Scientific Thought	Does not show an understanding of the scientific process	Fails to include all the parts of the scientific process	Uses scientific process correctly in   investigating problem	Goes above and beyond in using the scientific process by taking extra steps for completeness.
STEAM Fair Presentation	Student was not able to describe the methods, goals, and findings of STEAM project during fair	Student was able to describe some aspect of the methods, goals, and/or findings of STEAM project during fair	Student was able to clearly describe to others the methods, goals, and findings of their STEAM project during fair	Student was exceptional in articulating to others the methods, goals, and findings of their STEAM project during fair

20 points = 100%                                                                                      

18 points = 90%                                                                                                                              Total Points: ___________

16 points = 80%

14 points = 70%                                                                                                                                                Score:_______________

Example 3:

Weekly Self Evaluation of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Fair Project

Name_____________________________________________              DATE_________________________

Scoring Key:

1 – Poor                      2 – Needs Improvement         3- Average

4- Good                       5 – Excellent

_____     I spent adequate time preparing this project.

_____     My project fits the guidelines given to me by my teacher.

_____     My project shows that I understand the scientific process.

_____     My project shows that I can use creativity to solve problems.

_____     My project shows my ability to use critical thinking.

_____     My project shows that I can do accurate background research.

_____     I gained new knowledge by working on this project.

_____     Completing this project helped me make connections to other courses (i.e. math, English)

_____     Completing this project helped me make connections to the “real world”.

_____     I am proud of the effort I put into this project.

_____     I am proud of the way this project turned out.

_____     I was able to share my findings with others during the STEAM Fair

I can improve my ability to complete a project by:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Activity 3: Data-based Modifications of Formative Assessments

This blog is focused on how I can use, change and/or modify four formative assessments (FAs) that I have used in my middle and high school Math and Science classrooms to improve the data I need to understand student progress. Each is a distinct form of FA that was crafted with different particular pedagogical goals in mind. As part of my argument for how to improve my FA's, I've included some links to support why and how how my FA strategies will work in the classroom.

FA#1 Exit Ticket for 7th grade Earth Science Class: Topic H2O on Planet Earth. For this FA I wanted to capture students emerging ideas about fresh water on Earth's surface as they were leaving a lesson. An Exit ticket is a classic FA to garner this sort of information. My Exit ticket asked some pointed questions that strove to gather both factual and affective data. My reviews for this FA were positive and I received one constructive bit of feedback, that is whether I needed to scale back the amount of questions I used so that students would be able to finish the exit ticket in an appropriate amount of time. I could have included that I give students 10-15min to complete my exit tickets so they usually have enough time to get them done. With that said that, at times, can be too much instructional time spent on a FA. Based on this feedback I will have a quicker Exit Ticket prepared for when there is not as much time at the end of a class session. For example, I will have one exit ticket with 5 questions (see example #1) and one with only 3 questions (see example #2). In this way I will be prepared for situations where I do not have the full 10-15min to conduct the FA at the end of class. I will subtract questions depending on how well the class went and which questions I think are most important in unearthing the students knowledge.
   EXAMPLE #1 EXIT TICKET (07/19/18): Earth SCIENCE Class_ Earth’s Surface Water: Instructions: Please carefully read the following questions and respond based on your own understanding, your reading last night and from what we learned in class today. Once you are done please place your Exit Ticket on my desk and you are free to go to your next period.
(1)What are the main sources of freshwater on Planet Earth?
(2)Which water source is the most important? Why do you think that?
(3)What are the main steps in the water cycle?
(4)What will happen to a puddle of water on a sunny hot day? Describe in detail (3 or more sentences).
(5)What do you find most interesting, thus far, in our unit on Earth’s Water?
  Example #2 EXIT TICKET (07/19/18): Earth SCIENCE Class_ Earth’s Surface Water: Instructions: Please carefully read the following questions and respond based on your own understanding, your reading last night and from what we learned in class today. Once you are done please place your Exit Ticket on my desk and you are free to go to your next period.
(1) What are the main sources of freshwater on Planet Earth?
(2) What are the main steps in the water cycle?
(3) What will happen to a puddle of water on a sunny hot day? Describe in detail (3 or more sentences).

 In addition to improving this exit ticket I want to continue to explore other ways to improve my use of this formative assessment tool. One way to do this is to tie it into a daily performance goal. For instance, in the Earth's water unit I could have had the students read that one of the goals for the day was to understand where most of the Earth's fresh water was located. At the end of the day they could "self" assess what they learned about this question in the form of the exit ticket questions. I could have the students at the end of class read off this performance goal before writing their response on the exit ticket. In this way my teaching goals are directly linked to the questions in the exit ticket. Here is a VIMEO of a teacher tying their exit ticket to the days performance tool.

 FA#2 Card Sort for 10th grade Biology Class: Topic Viruses VS Cells:: Card sorts are an excellent way to determine how well students can categorize academic ideas and also collaborate with other students to make sense of how the pig picture (the models) of the ideas fit into the scientific compendium. For instance, it can be difficult for beginning Biology students to note some of the subtle differences between a cell and a virus as they have some similarities, even though their ultimate purpose is very different. To modify this FA I would use Sean's suggestion to have students discuss , as a whole class, "why" they decided to put certain cards in certain piles. In this way, as he says- the class  can "correct" for students card misplacement and allow other students to come up with reasons why cards go where they do.

FA #3 - Jeopardy Game  for 12th grade AP Environmental Science Class: Topic Climate Change:

I very much enjoy the days my classes do Jeopardy game formative assessments. During these classes students get animated around the competition and also get to share and learn from one another around some of the more difficult academic concepts that will be coming up on future tests. I do worry, sometimes, about the over "gamification" of education but I see the affective benefits of this sort of formative assessment (I appreciate Sackstein's (2018) thoughts on the value of "playful" formative assessment- read some of his ideas by clicking here)).  I did not receive any specific suggestions for modifying the Jeopardy FA but it was noted by Sean the format can be confusing for 'younger' students. I think this is very true and even my high school students need to be reminded each time we play the game of the importance of phrasing their responses as questions rather than as answers. 

FA #4 - Kahoot for 7th grade Math Class: Topic -Single Variable Equations:

As I mentioned in my FA write up, I am relatively new to Kahoot and have not used too much as a formative assessment in my classroom. Kahoot is another, more advanced way to gamify the education experience. I think now, after using it a few times I'm convinced of its authenticity as a useful tool that does not make light of the important content goals in science education. Even so, I know there has to be a balance between FA tools that use technology and those that are good old fashioned pen and paper (or white board and marker). Interestingly,  some research has been done on applying Kahoot as a FA in Science Education. In one study (Ismail, Muhdai and Mohammad, Jamilah,  2017) found that Kahoot made learning "fun and enjoyable" and motivated students in a pre-med class to learn. Where it was less effective, said the authors, was in simplifying complex topics that required more rigorous steps to unpack (p.19). I have not used Kahoot very much but I imagine that it would be difficult to use its format for formatively assessing students knowledge of complex, multi-step biological process such as in understanding the human endocrine system.

With all of my formative assessments a big strategy I use is to collect and archive them all in a systematic, easy to access and utilize format on Schoology (my learning management system of choice). By having all of my FAs available and connected to the day, student and topic being taught I can see how individual students are progressing over time. For qualitative data that I collect some of my data is more of a written summary and can at times be less specific to a particular student and more a generalization about how the class worked together (such as on teams during a jeopardy game). Other sets of data (such as with Kahoot) are more quantitative and give me more specific data that I can track by looking at their scores after playing a particular Kahoot game on a particular day covering a particular topic. This data can also be used in discussing student progress with parents who can then better support their learners at home. Here is a link to the Schoology LMS if you are not familiar with it.

After reading in the cohort discussion thread about others ideas for using portfolios as a way to collect FA's I wondered how many people combine the power of a LMS with the benefits of students engaged in portfolio learning. I can imagine that putting them together could amplify the benefits of both, for one allowing there to be a central place for portfolio work to be stored (on the LMS) and for another the search-ability of a LMS like Schoology for portfolio information could make the portfolios much more useful both to the teacher as an assessment tool and for the students to determine where they are at in building their portfolio.

Works Cited:

Ismail, Muhdai and Mohammad, Jamilah,  (2017). Kahoot. A Promising Tool for Formative Assessment in Medical Education. Education in Medicine Journal. 9 (2) 19-26.

Sackstein, Starr (April 3,2018). Creating Epic Moments with Playful Formative Assessment. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/work_in_progress/2018/04/creating_epic_moments_playful_.html

Activity 1: Applying Classroom Rules and Procedures

This Blog post concerns both: when and how I will give positive reinforcement to students who are following the rules and procedures in my classroom and when and how I respond when students break classroom rules or not following procedures. Both are important aspects of the pedagogical process. To start let me give an scenario of what I do to give positive reinforcement to my students who are following rules and procedures. In my science classroom this year we did a unit on gravity and motion. The curriculum was a bit dry for this content, so I came up with a plan to incentivize the students work on what may for them be a boring subject. We made a plan to make the focus of our work on gravity and motion be around roller coasters. Each day that students were able to follow procedures and bring in completed homework we added a coin to a team jar in the classroom. at the end of the lesson sequence if all of the procedures were followed and students lived up to the classroom norms (established at the beginning of the school year) then I would organize a trip to Chiamalong (an amusement park a short distance from the school) where we could enjoy and research real roller coasters. The students were energized by the challenge of doing well on homework and paying attention in class to be able to receive this reward. Prior to this unit the students had not displayed any notably poor behavior but they had started to show some burn-out as it was in April and there was no Spring break vacation to refresh them through until the end of the school year. I found the students enjoyed checking in at the end of class each day and putting the coin into the class jar as their reward for working well together. As Marzano (2007) points out on page 132 this sort of approach to classroom behavior management can act as both a reinforcement of positive behavior (the reward being the roller coaster, and in a way as a potential punishment (if they do not get enough coins in the jar they will not get the classroom trip to the amusement park. Marzano would call this approach a "token economy" (p.134) where someone receives some sort of reward for behaving properly but as it was tied to a whole class activity it felt more contextually appropriate and less behaviorist then just giving the kids candy for good behavior. A Gliffy flowchart of this decision making process might look like the following:

On the other hand, I use a variety of techniques to deal with students who are not following rules and procedures. In one scenario I had a student that was copying work off of the internet, placing it into his online answers folder and as such passing it off as his own. What I did was to fist pull him aside after class and one on one, ask him if the work was his own. Second, when he admitted to the plagiarism I told him he we would have to follow the norms of the school rules around coping work and speak to the principal. In this instance, the student spoke to the principal the next day and also had a phone call made home to his parents. The student subsequently apologized to me for the plagiarism and we agreed on a process to help him with his homework in the future, so he would not feel the need to do it again. There are a few things I could have done better in this example. First, I would have done a better job at reminding the students though-out the year of the importance of doing ones own work and of the school policies if they did not. Second, I would have done a better job checking in with students who were beginning to have difficulty with their homework so they would not feel the need to cheat. When and how I give positive or negative reinforcement to students so that they follow the classroom rules and procedures is an important part of teaching. It is one of the most difficult parts as well. Deciding when it is appropriate to give a punishment can have long lasting effects in a classroom community. In the examples I have given here the outcomes were positive but I am aware this can not always be the case and in some instances students feelings will be raw after they are reprimanded. I will continue to fine tune my skill at classroom behavior management as it is as much an art as a science.