Assessment Photo Album

• Walden University• Jennifer Jurica

• EDUC 6713: Assessment for Student Learning

• Graduate Program

This is an overview of Scientists in History Unit

So you can:

Preview what we are going to be doing

Get an idea of the assignments, activities, and projects

Know what the expectations are

Keep track of your progress

Know how each assignment is graded

By the end of the unit, you will show me that you

understand:

There were many important scientists in American history.

Their contributions have benefited us and continue to affect the way we live our lives today.

Research provides a process for us to find out information that we do not know.

Research starts with a list of open-ended questions about a topic you are interested in.

Because you will be able to:

Compare the accomplishments of several scientists in American history

Describe one historical scientist and their accomplishments in detail, including how their accomplishments affect our lives today

Select a research topic and write questions about the topic that will guide their research

The standards you need to know:

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, Social Studies, Grade 5: 5.23A- The student is expected to identify the accomplishments of notable individuals in the fields of science and technology, including Benjamin Franklin, Eli Whitney, John Deere, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington Carver, the Wright Brothers, and Neil Armstrong.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, Social Studies, Grade 5: 5.23C- The student will explain how scientific discoveries and technological innovations in the fields of communication and transportation have benefited individuals and society in the United States

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 5: 23A- Students are expected to brainstorm, consult with others, decide upon a topic, and formulate open-ended questions to address the major research topic.

What questions should you be able to answer?

Who are some of the most important scientists in America’s history?

What did they accomplish that makes them important?

How is their influence still affecting our lives today?

How would our life be different if they had given up or failed?

How can you find out more about them?

What are some questions you can use to guide your research?

Required Assignments:

Pre-Assessments- So I can figure out what you already know, and you can select a scientist.

Researching a scientist

Formative Assessment: You will design a flyer to share information about your scientist with the class, reflect in your journal, and continue the tracking sheet

Summative Assessment: You will duel with another group to determine the most influential scientist, and take a paper and pencil test about the scientists

But wait, there’s more! You will create a list of questions for further research about your particular scientist.

Brain DrainA Pre-Assessment

Before we begin our unit, you and your parents will need to do a “brain drain” together. You will need to set a timer for ten minutes. In that time, work together to think of anything and everything you and your parents already know about each scientist listed. Drain the information from your brain onto the paper!

Tracking SheetPre- and Formative Assessment

Here, you get to set your own learning goals, and create a bar graph showing where you feel like are at the beginning of the unit, the middle of the unit, and the end of the unit.

Scientist FlyerA summary of their life and

successes

You and your group will design a flyer to be given to your classmates to inform them about your person and their accomplishments

You will research information about your scientist’s life from books, articles, and websites

After gathering your research, we will work together as a class to describe what the final copy should include

Then we will design a rubric, or way to grade, the final copy

Prior to final submission, you will partner with another group and use the rubric to grade your flyer, and provide you with feedback for improvements

Journal ExpectationsReflections on the Unit

Throughout the unit, you will be writing about your progress in your social studies journal.

You will need to include the things you accomplished each day, as well as any challenges, set backs, and solutions.

I will be reading these periodically to make sure that you and your group are on the right track and making enough progress to be finished by the due date.

Your final journal entry will be a reflection on how you feel you did on the activities in your unit. You will need to include what you think your strengths are and at least two things that you feel you could improve on.

Duel: A Performance TaskHow did your scientist contribute to society and to our lives today?

You will prepare an argument to convince the class that your scientist made a greater positive impact on society when they were alive, and continues to make a bigger difference in our lives today

You will be given two minutes to speak, and then one more minute to respond to the arguments made by the opposing team. The class will then vote for the most influential person.

Before the final duel in front of the whole class, each group will get a chance to practice for this with other groups. Two groups will practice the duel while one group looks on, and uses the guidelines from the rubric to give feedback. They will then switch places until each of the groups gets one chance to watch and evaluate and two chances to practice the duel.

This is a competition! Bonus points and bragging rights will be given to all duel winners!

Rubric for Duel

Ask More Questions

Additionally, you will create a list of open-ended questions for further research about your particular person.

You will use these questions to guide your research paper in Language Arts class.

Paper and Pencil Test

You will take a final pencil and paper test

You will have multiple choice questions taken from information provided to you about the scientists by your classmates’ flyers.

You will also need to be able to explain, in written form, which scientist you believe most positively affected society. You will need to give examples to support your decision.

Contributions to the Group

In both the rubric group project, and the photo album project, I made first contact with the group members. I got a lot of feedback thanking me for being the first one to start.

For the rubric project, I sent out the project instructions with my views of what we were supposed to do. Additionally, I set up the rubric template and filled in my suggested criteria and categories. Together with my group, we refined our ideas into the finished product.

For the photo album project, I reviewed three group members projects, noting some typos and clarifications that may be needed for each project. I also added several comments about things that I like and thing that I thought they did especially well. Additionally, I replied to the two group members who reviewed my project. I thanked them for their help and told them what I did to use their feedback to make my project better.

Suggestions From Feedback

and My Reflections:I received several helpful

suggestions: The heading I used to introduce the state standards I worded

“What the state of Texas says you need to know.” I felt that it is helpful for the students to see that I have to work from a list of things that I am required to teach them, and that I don’t just sit and home making things up. However, one of my group members said that it sounded like I was being forced to teach them the information, and I completely agreed with her when I re-read it. I changed the caption to “The standards you need to know.” As I present this to my class, I will discuss where the standards come from. That way I can get the point across and not make it look like the state is forcing me to teach it.

Feedback and Reflections, Continued

Another comment was to clearly label the Brain Drain as a Pre-Assessment, and the tracking sheet as a dual pre- and formative assessment, as I had just used their titles. I feel this makes it clearer and easier to understand.

The last suggestion reminded me that I hadn’t included a way for my students to self-reflect. Of course, I had always included this in my plan, but had forgotten to include it as part of their journaling assignments in this presentation. I am so appreciative that she caught that mistake.