24 Science and Children

A straightforward look

at simple assessment

strategies that inform both

learning and teaching

By Shannan McNair

Assessment

“A”

ith the talk of “accountability” and “progress” in schoolsacross the country, it’s no wonder that assessment is oneveryone’s minds. And, it should be. Well designed

is for

pre- and postassessments provide students with a clear idea of whatthey are expected to know after a set of learning experiences.

Effective assessments also help teachers hone their “craft,” encour-aging them to think in advance about the content or skill standard andhow to define what students should know and be able to do. Assess-ments help teachers identify students’ misconceptions or areas inwhich they may need to refocus their instruction efforts. Apreassessment may even indicate that students already understand aconcept and may be ready for the next step.

The assessment strategies described in this article, implementedsystematically throughout the school year, are useful tools to help youdetermine ways to teach concepts and provide a valid and meaningfulpicture of learning. The strategies are simple and can be employed invarious ways—from assessment measures before concepts are intro-

W

September 2004 25

duced to culminating assessments of what studentslearned during the study and several instances in between.

Three Kinds of AssessmentsIt takes time to incorporate effective assessmentsthroughout the daily teaching and learning process, butit is worth the effort.

Typically, preassessments are short, directly tied tolearning objectives, and take place just prior to the learningexperiences planned around a particular concept, skill, orset of concepts. Preassessments can easily be embedded inan introductory or awareness-building experience regard-ing the particular concept. Preassessments that are open-ended tasks or questions are more time-consuming toanalyze but are preferable because they offer more usefulinformation about the students’ prior understanding.

Formative assessments, which check for understand-ing as students are learning new skills or gaining newknowledge, can be embedded into daily work.Summative assessments, or postassessments, (espe-cially when paired with preassessments) are demon-strations of what students have gained as a result of thelearning experiences provided. Postassessments thatclosely match preassessments are excellent “windows”into student learning.

Depending on the point in which it is incorporated intothe study, any of the following items or experiences can bean effective pre-, formative, or summative assessment:drawings, labeling models or drawings, journal entries,individual interviews, verbal or written responses to a setof questions, constructions, or demonstrations of what isknown or a set of skills. Each kind of assessment bringswith it unique information about students’ progress andthe effectiveness of the teacher’s instruction.

Drawings: Insight into UnderstandingIllustrations reveal how children perceive an object and thedegree to which they observe details and represent them.They also serve as a window to a child’s concept knowledge.For example, evaluating a child’s drawings done prior to astudy of water can provide information regarding his or hertheories about water, such as what its uses are or what it lookslike in nature as a body of water. Similarly, reviewing stu-dents’ drawings done as a preassessment prior to an Earthscience investigation can reveal understandings and mis-conceptions about the layers of the Earth.

When assigning a drawing task as an assessment—whether it is to be used as a pre-, formative, orpostassessment—it’s best to provide simple yet specificdirections. For example, an appropriate preassessmentat the start of a pond life study would include instructionssuch as, “Draw a picture of a pond that shows what livesin and around ponds.” The specific nature of the instruc-tion gives structure to the assignment.

Student drawings are particularly useful as an assess-ment tool if the student has not yet learned to read orwrite or if he or she finds representing ideas throughdrawing particularly appealing. They are also useful as-sessments for English Language Learners, who may pre-fer to express what they know through drawing and otherforms of representation, including dramatic representa-tions, construction models, and painting experiences.Depending on the age and ability of the student, an adultmay need to ask the student how to describe and/or labeltheir picture and write what is dictated to glean the mostinformation from the assessment.

Journals: Reflections on LearningJournal entries often include a narrative about a particu-lar question or set of questions as well as accompanyingdrawings. If, throughout a unit, students are regularlyasked to enter information or answer questions in jour-nal format, the journal entries can easily be used as pre-and postassessment tools. The journal is also an idealstrategy for a retrospective assessment in which studentsreflect on what they gained from a learning experience.

For example, the teacher of a class studying the life cycleof cicadas asks students to keep a daily journal. The firstentry is considered the preassessment: “Write what youknow about cicadas—what they are, where they live, howthey live, what they look like, and describe the life cycle.”Subsequent daily journal entries are embedded assess-ments as students practice recording their research findings,observations, and conclusions as they investigate particular

What happens to the trees in the winter?

What is the weather like in the

winter?

What doyou notice onthe ground

during winter?

How do we know it is

winter outside?

What happens to

the animals in the winter?

Whathappens tothe pondduringwinter?

Figure 1.

A teacher’s web for a study of winter.

26 Science and Children

topics. Typical teacher-posed questions for a journal entrywould be, “Discuss your research findings and pose somequestions that you still have,” or “Describe the cicada youobserved today and include a drawing with labels.”

For the final journal entry, the wording would bethe same as the preassessment, providing an oppor-tunity for students and their teacher to reflect on theextent of learning.

A retrospective assessment strategy is useful to gainformative, ongoing information as students are learn-ing concepts, while journal entries used as broaderpre- and postassessments tend to determine priorknowledge and overall gain.

More StrategiesVarious assessments are needed to meet the diver-sity of learners in classrooms. Below are some ex-

amples of additional strategies and how they were usedin particular studies to provide information about stu-dent progress.

Comparing and Contrasting Activities. As apreassessment to a study of properties of living versusnonliving things, students can either create lists of eachgroup, sort pictures of various living and nonlivingobjects, or draw pictures of living and nonliving objects.Observing these activities provides information aboutstudents’ thinking, their ability to notice and describeattributes of objects, and their understanding and mis-conceptions about living and nonliving things.

Graphic Organizers. Concept maps, Venn dia-grams, or flow charts reinforce learning as students ex-plore ideas while they reflect on their understanding.Comparing a preunit or lesson concept map with apostunit concept map can give students a concrete look

at their own learning.Individual Interviews.

One-on-one conversationswith teachers are an opportu-nity for students to simplytell the teacher what theyknow. This strategy is par-ticularly helpful when stu-dents are learning more com-plex concepts or processeswhere misconcept ionswould not necessarily be re-vealed in written assessmenttasks, such as short-answeror multiple-choice tests. Thedeeper questions of an inter-view reveal where errors inthinking occur and where ad-ditional experiences or in-struction are needed.

Dramatic Representa-

tion. Some children may bebest able to share what theyknow through dramatization,such as the dramatization ofthe steps to viewing a slide ona microscope. Dramatic rep-resentations are especiallyuseful as assessments whenstudents know more thanthey can write effectively (i.e.,for preschool and primarystudents, English LanguageLearners, or students withlearning challenges).

Physical Props. Otherunits may lend themselves

Snow fallson the

ground whenit is winter

The pond isfrozen in thewinter so wecan go ice

skating

No flies,bees,

ladybugs,dragonflies

There areno leaves on

the treesIt is cold

outside—wehave to wear

hats and mittensfor recess

There areno birdssinging

We canplay on theplayground

No flowers

No noises

No bubblesin the water

Winter

We can gosledding,

ice skating,and skiing

Figure 2.

The children’s web of winter.

September 2004 27

to assessments that rely on physical props. For ex-ample, after a study of simple and complex machines,a teacher may provide an array of pictures of machinesfor students to sort, label, and identify their use. Activi-ties using concrete examples are often clearer and morerelevant for students, minimizing bias or lack of interestthat can affect assessment results.

Constructions. As a preassessment for a study of in-sects, students can create “insects” using a variety of con-struction toys and materials. These three-dimensionalmodels can reveal the physical details that students maynot be able to represent in a drawing or narrative descrip-tion. The process of “building” an insect promotes furtherthinking about form and function. Observing the buildingprocess, listening to student conversations, and noting thefinal products reveal where further study is needed. Fol-lowing the study, students can redesign their original in-sect to reflect what they learned—reflecting the idea thatlearning is a continual process.

Assessments to Inform InstructionMany of the assessment strategies discussed in thearticle can also be used as tools for the teacher toinform and plan effective instruction. For example,when determining the critical questions for apreassessment assignment, teachers first reflect on thelearning they anticipate will occur and identify themeasurable learning objectives prior to teaching thosenew concepts or skills.

When teachers develop concept maps while planninglessons for students, it supports the idea of “concept-focused” experiences rather than random activities re-lated to a topic versus a concept. Figure 1 (page 25) showsa web a teacher created, listing some key concepts shehoped the children would learn in the lessons. She usedthe map to guide discussion and instruction. Workingfrom her planning web, she introduced the season “win-ter” to the children by having them recall things theyremembered from nature walks and lessons on previousseasons. Together, they made a new web to show theirprior knowledge (Figure 2, page 26).

Assessments to Involve OthersAssessments can not only help teachers plan more mean-ingful experiences but also help draw others more deeplyinto the learning process. For example, to make learninghighly visible to students, create two assessment foldersfor each study. Students put work in the “easy” folder thatinvolves skills or knowledge they already have and placework that involves the learning of new concepts or skills inthe “hard” folder. Moving their work from the “hard”folder to the “easy” folder is a visible sign of learning for thestudent. This strategy is particularly helpful when oneconcept builds upon another, as in mathematics or science

Connecting to the StandardsThis article relates to the following National ScienceEducation Standards (NRC 1996):

Assessment StandardsStandard A:The consistency of assessments with the decisionsthey are designed to inform.Standard D:The fairness of assessment practices.

learning, and is best used as an overall self-reflectionassessment. Periodic conferencing with the teacher todiscuss the contents of each folder helps students andteachers share in the responsibility for learning.

Portfolios are another way for students—and par-ents—to stay informed of student progress. Typically,a unit’s pre- and postassessments are some of the workincluded in portfolios and presented at parent confer-ences. Many teachers have also begun documentingchildren’s work in the classroom as a form of assess-ment, a strategy adopted from the Reggio Emiliaschools in Italy (Katz 1993).

Project documentation makes learning visible bycapturing descriptions of students’ learning experi-ences, digital photos of their explorations, and conceptwebs and daily work samples (including preassessmentsamples)—all of which together tell a cohesive story ofthe learning experience that can be shared with stu-dents, parents, and administrators.

Effective assessments help teachers present a moreaccurate picture of what students know and are able todo. They also provide teachers with a more realisticpicture of what students gained from the experiencesoffered, rather than making an assumption that every-thing they know about a concept was learned in theclassroom. When assessments focus on individuallearning needs and styles, students and teachers alikefind the process satisfying. n

Shannan McNair (mcnair@oakland.edu) is an as-

sociate professor at Oakland University in Roches-

ter, Michigan.

ResourcesKatz, L. 1993. What can we learn from Reggio Emilia? In The

hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approachto early childhood education, eds. C.P. Edwards, G. Forman,and L. Gandini, pp. 19–37. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.

National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National ScienceEducation Standards. Washington, D.C.: National Acad-emy Press.