L2 Sciences Workshop

Term 2 2012

Welcome

MoE Focus 2012

• Raising Middle Leader capability• Raising achievement & developing pathways

for target students - Maori, Pasifika, special needs

• Implementing NZC & realigned NCEA stds• Designing coherent programs that reflect the

intent of the national curriculum• Developing literacy & language knowledge &

skills

Outcomes Today

By the end of today’s workshop expect to:• Better understand how to write/adapt a task for an assessment in your subject• Have some new literacy strategies to use in

preparing students for externals• Better understand culturally responsive

pedagogy • Have shared programs for your subject

DEVELOPING VALID AND ENGAGING ASSESSMENT TASKS

Terry BurrellKate Rice

Unpacking Achievement Standards

• What does the std define?– Title? – Extended sentence? – Achievement criteria?

• Explanatory Notes – build understanding of requirements/contexts,

focus areas for assessment

Developing The Task

Select a context that– is relevant to the students – provides opportunities for students to apply their knowledge to a new situation

Key Elements of the Assessment Task

• Teacher guidelines• Student task information• Assessment Schedule

Teacher Guidelines

• Enable teachers to carry out valid and consistent assessment

• Teachers need to be very familiar with the outcome being assessed by the standard

• Make sure crucial info in the title, extended sentence, achievement criteria and the explanatory notes is taken into account

The Student Task• Must clearly identify

– Std number, Title– Resource ref (if exemplar)– Resource title– Credits– Assessment criteria

• Essential Headings– Introduction– Task– Resources

Have a Go

• Develop a task from scratch OR• Amend a task you already have OR• Amend a task that was used to assess

against an old std

Share Programs

• Please talk about more than just assessments• Don’t forget to also include

– Strengths / needs in your students– Big ideas / key concepts– Contexts– NoS– Why you decided on the

course you did

Raising Maori Achievement

Not Achieved

Achieved Merit Excellence

2009

Internally assessed AS (All)

21 41 22 16

Maori 31 44 17 8

Externally assessed AS (All)

37 44 14 5

Maori 53 38 7 2

karakiakaumatua

kuia kawa

tapu mihi waiata

Jigsaw activity

1. Give out a different section of the article to each person in your Home Group.

2. Shift seats so people with the same article sit together.

3. In these Expert Groups answer the questions for your section.

4. Move back to your Home Group and share answers for each section of the article.

Expert Groups

• Read the article through• Answer 2 questions (to report back to your

home group) : -– What teaching practices does the reading say help

improve engagement of Maori students?– What does the article say or imply can sometimes

be barriers?

Home Groups

• Share your answers to the 2 questions for your section til all have an overview of the whole article.

• So, how to increase engagement & reduce barriers in science?

• Where can you see each in this article?• How might you investigate raising Maori

achievement with your staff?

Literacy

PISA• Program for International Student Assessment• To assess how well countries are preparing

their 15 year old students to meet real-life opportunities and challenges

• Assesses reading, mathematical literacy and literacy in science each time with a focus on 1

• Focuses on students’ ability to apply knowledge and skills and make decisions

• Every 3 years – last one in 2009

NZ’s Performance• OECD mean = 493• NZ mean = 521• NZ Pakeha/European mean = 541• Asian mean = 522• Maori mean = 478• Pasifika mean = 448• 4,643 NZ students from 163 schools

PISA Reading Literacy The reading tasks covered 3 dimensions:• Knowledge (the form of the reading materials) Continuous texts, non-continuous texts,

mixed texts, multiple texts• Competencies (type of reading task or process) Access and retrieve, integrate and interpret,

reflect and evaluate• Context (the use for which the text is

constructed) Personal, educational, occupational, public,

scientific

Findings: Continuous vs non-continuous texts

• NZ students performed strongly on tasks related to non-continuous texts (lists, diagrams, graphs, tables) – 532 points

• Not as strong on continuous texts (sentences, paragraphs) – 518 points

• 14 pt diff cf most countries diff <10• Females out-performed males in both

types but the gap was wider with continuous texts

Improving achievement in sciences for all students through addressing literacy and language demands

Literacy OutcomesParticipants/Teachers will • have an increased awareness & understanding

of the skills students need to read complex text in sciences

• trial some approaches to develop students’ reading of texts in sciences and report on their application at the following workshop

Questions To Consider

• What are the central literacy issues in your learning area?

• How could you work with your teachers in relation to these issues?

• What specific literacy support do you need?

Engaging with literacy and language

How important is reading in your science area?

How do you approach unfamiliar texts with students?

Common Approaches that do not Help

• Leaving literacy to the English department• Minimising opportunities for students to

read independently• Simplifying the texts that students read

and write• Summarising the text for students e.g.

providing notes to copy• Scaffolding ‘in’ but not scaffolding ‘out’• Providing isolated activities without a clear

purpose

Students in a particular class begin the year with lower reading

comprehension than their peers in another

class

In response, their teachers give them fewer

opportunities to read, and when they do, the texts are

simplified

Therefore, they get less exposure to rich and

authentic texts than their peers

So, the gaps in reading comprehension between the two groups get even

bigger

Literacy Strategies for Reading

• What approaches would you use to help students engage with the texts provided?

• What questions would you ask?

• What are the skills of an effective reader? How might we help students develop these?

3 Level Reading Guide

identify, name, describe, draw

elaborate – give more detail, apply – to related situations, justify – give reasons, evaluate – how significant are results?compare and contrast, link – to other scientific ideas or principles

what the text says - FACTS (achievement)

read between the lines - INTERPRETATIONS (merit)

read beyond the lines - IMPLICATIONS (excellence)

explain meaning – how or whyrelate to evidence - data

KDLH strategyWhat we know from the question

What we have to do to answer the question

What have we learned that we can use in the answer

How will we do it?

Level 2 NCEA Questions

• A sample of butane burns in air with a yellow flame, while a sample of methanol burns in air with an almost invisible flame. Compare and contrast the combustion of these two fuels. 90932, 2011

• Describe what each of alpha, beta and gamma radiation is AND discuss what happens inside a nucleus when it produces each of the 3 types of radiation. In your answer, you will need to state what happens to the atomic (charge) no. and the mass (nucleon) no. 90256, 2011

• The South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is the largest living member of the rail family of birds. It is flightless. It is thought that the takahē has been in NZ for around two million years. Discuss how biological factors have contributed to the evolution of the South Island takahē so that it is now large and flightless. 90772, 2009

KDLH strategyWhat we know from the question

What we have to do to answer the question

What have we learned that we can use in the answer

How will we do it?

Homework

• Try a literacy strategy – that you have not tried before – with at least one class– targeting reading skills

• The Effective Literacy Strategies resource book may be useful

• MoE customer services Ph 0800 660 662 Item Number 30320

Leading the Learning

How are you going to help the staff in your dept learn from today?

Before We Go

• Feedback please on evaluation sheet (2 sides!)• Anything we have forgotten to come back to?• Any other issues we need to address?• Have we returned everything?• Any general notices?

Thanks