Assessment – REAL Science Challenge

Free Resource: Science Riddle Sampler

Kent — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 16:56:19 +0000

Question: How can we review or test science content knowledge – like vocabulary and concepts – while better engaging our students’ scientific skills – like analysis, which is found in the NGSS and BC curriculum?

One way I’m doing this is by using science riddles. Each riddle refers to a science concept or term. And, students need to look at the clues in the riddle to come up with the term.

Here are a few ways I’m using them in my class:

Posting slides on the projector as bellringers, for review or discussion. Have students discuss with each other what they believe the solution to the riddle is and how they know (drawing from their own knowledge and hints in the riddle).
Posting slides in my classroom as words students will learn during the unit.
Printing riddles onto my tests to assess vocabulary definitions. Instead of just having students provide the solution, I’ll have them explain how they came to their solution (by drawing on what they know and hints in the riddle).

DOWNLOADS

Click the link to download our free REAL SC – Science Riddle Sampler.

Go purchase a full copy of our REAL SC – Science Riddle Glossary.

#51 – Write Good CER Statements, Review Science Content Using Chain Notes!

Kent — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 13:00:21 +0000

How do teachers check for understanding in their science classes? Or, how about writing good CER statements – how do we check for that? A typical strategy is call and answer. That is, ask the class, and wait for someone to answer. However, call and answer is typically a passive process – students sit and wait until the teacher calls on them. For the student who doesn’t want to participate because he or she doesn’t understand the concept, they can hide out during call and answer. And, as a teacher, I may not find out that this student is struggling. Is there a simple way teachers can check for understanding that is also engaging for students? Is there a way to probe for understanding while also making the process supportive for students?

I recently tested Chain Notes as a strategy for checking student understanding. What I discovered was that it’s not just a great way to review science concepts. Chain Notes is also an excellent way to teach students what strong and weak scientific writing is. This is particularly important when we want students to write good CER statements. What is an example of a weak CER statement or a strong one? Using Chain Notes helps to resolve those questions too. We outline the Chain Notes strategy below. We also offer some tips on how to use it in your classroom. Handouts are available for download at the end of this post.

What are Chain Notes?

In Chain Notes, a large envelope with a question about the class content written on it is passed around. Each student writes a short answer, puts it in the envelope, and passes it on. After, the students and/or the teacher can sort the responses and share them with the class.

Chain Notes is a simple way to gauge student understanding of class content. With just a handful of questions that students answer, teachers can see from student responses the details and gaps in their understanding of course content. Teachers can then address these gaps immediately or in a future lesson.

Chain Notes and Good CER Statements

Besides probing students understanding, Chain Notes is a great way to reinforce good CER statements (ie. scientific writing). Because Chain Notes require students to each write an answer to a question, students get to see what good or poor CER statements look like. When I use Chain Notes in my science class, I have students sort responses from strongest response to weakest. By sorting through responses, students can see what elements typically appear in strong scientific writing (and what elements weak writing usually lacks). Students also get an opportunity to learn from others in their grade level by seeing first hand what other students in the class produce.

Field Notes

I have 28 students in my class. Students do the activity in groups of 4. Each student in the group gets a different question (there are 4 different questions in total). Each student has 3 minutes to answer their question before passing the envelope along.
When students finish responding to all the questions, I collect all of the envelopes and group them by question. I give each group 2 or 3 envelopes from the same question set to sort.
After students sort their responses from strongest to weakest, I have students read out the strongest and the weakest responses. I also ask students to explain their ranking decisions.
After going through all questions and the strongest/weakest responses, I review with the entire class the elements that make a strong response (or good CER statement).

Wrap Up

Class Notes is a simple, engaging way of having students not only review class material but also to learn about good scientific writing from each other. And, Class Notes can be used to help students write good CER statements too. Lastly, the strategy is flexible. You can vary the number of questions or the group sizes. You can use it as a pre-test review or a pre-unit assessment. And, it takes little time to run too. Click the link below to download a copy of this resource for your own records. Check out our other resources, and share our ideas with your colleagues too.

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 51 – Chain Notes Activity

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#50 – How We Assess Prior Knowledge for KMT using Superheroes and Phony articles

Kent — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 13:00:33 +0000

What do my students already know? This is a question all teachers have at the start of each school year or at the beginning of a new unit. Knowing what students already know not only saves us time (since we may not need to re-teach stuff our students already know). It helps us do a better overall job of teaching. It helps us know where the trouble spots are so we can address them prior to starting something new. And, it helps us connect new material to prior knowledge. The issue is at hand is in how we assess prior knowledge. How do we probe for background knowledge that students already possess? Is there a quick way to do it that doesn’t require a test?

Although pre-unit quizzes represent one way to assess prior knowledge, it may not be the most ideal. Just consider the amount of marking that will ensue. Also, if a student does poorly on a pre-unit quiz, we may not know what the problem is. Instead, we only know that the student cannot do the question. Thus, an ideal way to assess prior knowledge would not only provide what a student may or may not know – it should also reveal some trouble spots for teachers to focus on. We explore using phony articles (we call them Accuracy-Challenged Articles) and Mind Maps to assess prior knowledge. Handouts are available for download at the end of this post.

How we Assess prior knowledge in KMT, Matter

KMT (Kinetic molecular theory) and matter are cornerstone principles for all high school Chemistry. And, it’s also the topics I like to review at the beginning of each school year with my students. This year, instead of just asking students what they remember from last year or having them do a KMT or matter quiz, I tried the following strategies for assessing prior knowledge:

I. Accuracy-challenged Article

One strategy I found online for assessing prior knowledge had students analyze an article on a phony website (that the teacher created) to determine what information was wrong. Personally, I don’t have time to make a webpage (and I think most teachers don’t either). Instead, to review KMT, I created a handout titled “How Thermometers work”, which describes how KMT is related to the way a thermometer works. I made sure some things in the article were incorrect and pasted the Wikipedia heading, sidebar, and images for effect.

Students read the article with their partners to determine what was wrong, and we did a short in class discussion afterwards. You can download the handout at the end of the post.

II. Mind map (use Superheroes for inspiration!)

In Grade 8 science at my school, the topic of matter includes pure substances vs mixtures as well as atomic structure. Thus, when they come to Grade 9 or 10 Science, I like to review what they remember about the topic. For this, I like to use a mind map. I provide the list of words and they make the connections.

Surprisingly, there are quite a few students in each class who are uncertain of how to create a mind map. This is where I teach students how to make a mind map by first making a superhero mind map as an example. I write the word “Superheroes” in a bubble on the center of my white board. Then, I say that I can proceed to just list off a whole bunch of superheroes and connect each of them to the center bubble. But, that would be a very weak mind map. Instead, I talk about the ways we can classify superheroes and perhaps have these classifications be bubbles too. What are some classifications? How about DC vs Marvel? Or, how about superheroes who have powers that are supernatural vs powers that are due to technology or genetic modification?

The great thing about our Superhero Mind Map activity is that it’s easy to relate to for students. And, it’s also very open ended. No two mind maps are likely to be the same. As a review of the topic of matter in Chemistry, I have students write “matter” as the centre bubble of the mind map. The list of words I have students connect in the mind map is available in the handouts available for download.

Wrap Up

How do we assess prior knowledge? Hint: it does not need to be in the form of a quiz. Using strategies like mind maps and accuracy-challenged articles are ways students can review material while working with relevant concepts. Furthermore, on background knowledge quizzes, we don’t necessarily know what a student struggles with when they get a question wrong. However, using strategies like mind maps and accuracy-challenged articles may provide better insight into these challenges since students need to work with the information. Click the link below to download the handouts to this article. Also, please share what our website has to offer with your colleagues.

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 50 – Assessing Prior Knowledge (KMT Activity)

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