Formative Assessment in the Science Classroom

Display slide 10 and share the Justified List formative assessment strategy. Explain that this strategy is similar to the Justified True/False formative assessment used on day 3.

Display slide 11. Ask participants to note for themselves which of the statements best apply to scientific theories and explain what a theory in science means to them based on the statements they selected.

Ask participants to form small groups. Groups should take a few moments to discuss their description of a scientific theory and develop a group consensus.

Display slide 12 to show correct answers. Ask a few groups to share out their group consensus description of a theory. Proceed to slide 13 to provide gravity and relativity as an example of law versus theory. Refer to the slide notes for an explanation of the difference to share with participants.

Display slide 17, and ask participants to offer explanations for the phenomenon they are observing.

After a few participants have shared their ideas, briefly describe what information their answers gave you about their prior knowledge.

Go to slide 18 and have participants complete the activity using beakers containing three types of liquids (water, rubbing alcohol, and corn syrup), pencils, and paper towels. Assure participants that it’s fine if they can’t remember any technical information about waves. Their task is simply to develop the most reasonable explanation they can.

Have each group share out their explanations and models, and then proceed to slide 19. Validate any correct information participants shared and explain how the phenomenon demonstrates the relationship between frequency, wavelength, and the speed of light waves by using the Triangle of Power. A detailed explanation is provided in the slide notes.

Display slide 24 and introduce participants to the Sticky Bars strategy. Set up the probe by noting that the giant sequoia tree pictured grows from a single seed from a pinecone.

Have participants consider the following question:

Question: Where did more of the matter come from?

Answer choices:

• Sunlight

• Water

• Soil

• Carbon dioxide

• Oxygen

• Minerals

Instruct participants to go to the chart on the board and place a sticky note above the choice that they believe to be the correct answer, creating a bar graph. Don’t share the answer yet, but mention that few participants choose the correct option the first time.

Go to slide 25 and play the Minds of Our Own video from timestamps 1:30-6:25. The correct answer to the probe (carbon dioxide) is explained in the video. After watching the video, ask participants what surprised them about this formative assessment experience. Make explicit for them that teaching science is about uncovering student pre-conceptions and using them to build new knowledge. Probes and phenomena can serve as valuable tools to make these pre-conceptions visible to us.

Display slide 29 and introduce participants to the B-D-A (Before-During-After) strategy. Continue to slide 30. In groups, have participants consider the Ice-Cold Lemonade Probe and draw before, during, and after pictures a sheet of chart paper to help explain their reasoning. Have participants share their posters with the whole group.

Continue to slide 31. Show participants the There’s No Such Thing as Cold video from timestamps 0:38-1:58. Ask participants how the B-D-A strategy allows us to see their understanding of the scientific concept of thermal transfer. Explain that by asking learners to illustrate how the system is changing, we can better see whether they understand the mechanism behind the phenomenon. We can also determine whether they know the direction of thermal energy flow in the system.

Go to slide 34. Introduce the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) strategy and ask participants whether they have used it. If anyone has, let them explain the strategy. Clarify, validate, or add to their explanation as necessary. Display slide 35. Direct participants to the NOAA Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters website. Allow participants time to explore the data set and develop a claim supported by evidence from the website for how severe weather events have changed over time.

Have a few participants share their claims and supporting evidence. Point out that they did not yet get to the scientific principles necessary to support their claims and evidence. Show slide 36 and ask them what their next steps would be at this point with students.

Display slide 39. Introduce the context of the three-dimensional assessment task. Have participants complete an I Notice, I Wonder activity for the Niangua River Darter task.

Display slide 40 to provide some background for the Niangua River Darter assessment before moving on to analyzing student work samples. Display slide 41 and give participants some additional time to look over the student work samples (ideally 4-5 samples per group). Have participants add to their I Notice, I Wonder chart and, if possible, answer some of their previous “wonders” from when they looked at the blank task.

Go to slide 42. Ask participants the following questions:

• What do you notice about the assessment task overall?

• What do you notice about student answers?

• How could this assessment be used for learning?

Highlight that the AT is designed in such a way that the task should be assessed holistically. Often, students’ answers are comprehensive only when viewed across an entire task, particularly when the components of a task are scaffolded.