Who’s Doing the Thinking?

1. Who’s Doing the Thinking? ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING =EQUALS= FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

2. Effective teaching requires knowing what students are learning Substantive body of research shows: • Formative assessment can significantly improve student learning • Features of formative assessment that affect student achievement are missing from many classrooms • There is a need in our classrooms for purposeful & varied assessment techniques (connected with instruction & learning)

3. Knowledge is constructed and connected to other knowledge There is a need to find a balance between: Assessment OF learning with Assessment FOR learning

4. Effective assessment practice requires immediate feedback to students Teachers need guidance: • To understand the opportunities that exist to formatively assess their students • To remember that students bring a variety of different ideas to their learning • To connect student thinking with specific ideas from the standards • To provide learning experiences that bridge students’ thinking & the scientific concepts

5. Get students thinking about their thinking Teachers need to spend more time understanding what students think prior to instruction and using that information to design learning opportunities…. Why don’t they? Ultimately, this helps students develop deeper conceptual understanding.

6. Teachers are the most important link in the chain that connectsAssessment – Instruction - Learning Teachers need to provide ongoing feedback and stimulus for deep thinking via Rich formative assessment techniques to Inform instruction & affect learning

7. Need a focus shift from effective teaching to effective student learning Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques FACTs • Purposefully designed and used to examine student thinking • Used to get kids thinking about their thinking • Makes student thinking ‘visible’ – to themselves, peers, & teacher • Allows the teacher to continuously gather information on student thinking & learning

8. More Facts about FACTs • Easily embedded into classroom instruction • Used to assess before & throughout learning process • Improves student learning • Provides opportunities to learn • Accommodates a range of learning styles • Can be used to differentiate instruction • Encourages classroom discourse

9. What does a Formative Assessment Centered Classroom look like? 4 Classroom Examples: • What do all of the classroom snapshots have in common? • Do the strategies in each example serve an instructional, assessment or learning purpose? • What is the evidence that students are learning?

10. Uncovering Student Ideas Examples of FACTs and Probes • Whiteboarding – Batteries, Bulbs, & Wires probe • Four Corners – Ice Cold Lemonade probe • Card Sort – Is it Melting? probe • Commit & Toss – Solids & Holes probe • Human Scatterplot – Mirror on the Wall probe • Sticky Bars – Giant Sequoia Tree probe • P-E-O-E – Ice Cubes in a Bag probe

11. Uncovering Student Ideas Batteries, Bulbs, & Wires Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She wonders how many strips of wire she will need to connect the battery & the bulb so that the bulb will light. What is the smallest number of wire strips Kirsten needs to make the bulb light up? A. One strip of wire B. Two strips of wire C. Three strips of wire D. Four strips of wire Draw a picture to support your thinking.

12. Uncovering Student Ideas Ice Cold Lemonade It was a hot summer day. Mattie poured herself a glass of lemonade. The lemonade was warm, so Mattie put some ice in the glass. After 10 minutes, Mattie noticed that the ice was melting and the lemonade was cold. Mattie wondered what made the lemonade get cold. She had three different ideas. Which idea do you think best explains why the lemonade got cold? A. The coldness from the ice moved into the lemonade B. The heat from the lemonade moved into the ice C. The coldness & the heat moved back & forth until the lemonade cooled off.

13. Uncovering Student Ideas Is It Melting? The strips of paper you have in front of you each list a situation that causes changes in materials. Organize the strips into 2 categories: Melting and Not Melting

14. Uncovering Student Ideas Solids & Holes Lance had a thin, solid piece of materials. He placed the material in water and it floated. He took the material out and punched holes all the way through it. What do you think Lance will observe when he puts the material with holes back in the water? A. It will sink. B. It will barely float. C. It will float the same as it did before the holes were punched into it. D. It will neither sink nor float. It will bob up & down in the water. Explain your thinking. Describe the ‘rule’ or reasoning you used to make your prediction.

15. Uncovering Student Ideas Mirror on the Wall Adrienne placed a small, flat mirror against a wall. Standing close to the mirror, Adrienne could see her face from her eyebrows to her chin. Adrienne backed up five steps away from the mirror. Adrienne is now farther away from the mirror. How much of her face will Adrienne see in the mirror this time? A. She will see more of her face. B. She will see less of her face. C. She will see the same amount of her face. Explain your thinking. How confident are you in your response?

16. Uncovering Student Ideas Giant Sequoia Tree The giant sequoia tree is one of the largest trees on earth. It starts as a small seedling and grows into an enormous tree. Five children can stretch their arms across the width of the trunk of one of the large sequoia trees! Where did most of the matter that makes up the wood and leaves of this huge tree originally come from? A. sunlight E. oxygen B. water F. minerals C. soil G. chlorophyll D. carbon dioxide

17. Uncovering Student Ideas Ice Cubes in a Bag You are having an argument with your friend about what happens to the mass when matter changes from one form to another. To prove your idea, you put three ice cubes in a sealed bag and record the mass of the ice in the bag. You let the ice cubes melt completely. Ten minutes later you record the mass of the water in the bag. Which of the following best describes the result? • The mass of the water in the bag will be less than the mass of the ice in the bag. • The mass of the water in the bag will be more than the mass of the ice in the bag. • The mass of the water in the bag will be the same as the mass of the ice cubes in the bag.

18. Types & Purposes of Assessment What’s the difference? Diagnostic Formative Summative

19. Take Home Messages • Probes are assessments for learning • Be clear about your purpose before choosing a probe and assessment strategy • To be formative, you must not only gather data, you must use it! • Work toward creating a classroom where all ideas, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, are valued • Start small – keep it simple

20. Reflection of Formative Assessment I Used to Think But Now I Know

21. References • Keeley, Page. Science Formative Assessment : 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning. New York: Corwin P, 2008.Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Lynn Farrin. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science : 25 Formative Assessment Probes. New York: National Science Teachers Association, 2005.Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Lynn Farrin. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science : 25 More Formative Assessment Probes. Danbury: Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, Incorporated, 2007.Keeley, Page, Francis Eberle, and Chad Dorsey. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science : Another 25 Formative Assessment Probes. Vol. 3. New York: National Science Teachers Association, 2008.