Tag Archives: assessment

Find Out What Your Students Really Think and Have Inside Their Heads

By Carole Hayward | Published: May 31, 2018

Uncovering Student Ideas in Science: 25 Formative Assessment Probes, Volume 1, Second Edition by Page Keeley offers a variety of formative assessment probes that will help teachers gain insight into students’ thinking on 60 core science concepts.   Like the first edition of volume 1, this book helps pinpoint what your students know (or think […]

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Assessment for Learning

By Gabe Kraljevic | Published: February 12, 2018

What do you typically do after administering a test or a midterm to help students make necessary corrections and, thereby, reinforce the concepts that were not understood? – J., New York   Tests and exams, which are assessments of learning, should also be a basis for learning. When I returned a test, the corrections automatically […]

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Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s January 2018 K-12 journals

By Mary Bigelow | Published: January 10, 2018

Installing Glass Walls and Doors in the Science Classroom, a commentary in Science Scope, describes what collaborative teacher teams “look like” in science and is appropriate for teachers at all grade levels to begin or fine-tune the process with a sample agenda, frameworks, and ideas for team-building and reflection. February is the month for the […]

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Differentiating for an “Out of This World” Student

By Gabe Kraljevic | Published: December 14, 2017

I have one student whose knowledge of Earth and space exceeds the other students in class. I feel like I just keep giving him more work, more extension activities, and I think he is getting frustrated. Do you have any suggestions for how to deal with this? How do I grade this kind of assignment? […]

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Ed News: TFA, Alternative Programs Marginally Better Than Traditional Teacher Prep

By The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) Team | Published: December 8, 2017
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This week in education news, study finds that alternative teacher preparation programs are slightly better than traditional programs; Idaho education leaders are working with a consulting firm to gather data and feedback about testing; Colorado unveils plan to tackle teacher shortage; efforts to reduce standardized testing succeeded in many school districts in 2017; according to […]

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Quick Lab and Activity Assessments

By Gabe Kraljevic | Published: November 21, 2017

I would like to include a rubric when students are completing various labs and activities in science. Could you share any examples? – A., Iowa I have found that checklists, in particular, are good assessment tools during a lab. The objective is to quickly assess and record student performance while still monitoring the lab as you […]

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Mass Marking

By Gabe Kraljevic | Published: November 1, 2017

We are incorporating more writing opportunities in our middle school and high school science classes, both “formal” and ”informal” writings. How can one teacher grade more than 180 pieces of writing in a timely fashion with feedback that allows students to learn and grow?  – L., California   Here are some things I have tried […]

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A“Fair Test”

By Gabe Kraljevic | Published: October 5, 2017

I’m starting to plan some formal assessments but, because it’s my first time, I’m not exactly sure if I’m creating a test correctly. Do you have any advice? —L., Nebraska The notion of a fair test is an important tenet in science and we strive to teach our students how to develop unbiased data collection for […]

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Seeking a New Way to Assess Science at All Levels

By Stephen Pruitt | Published: September 26, 2017

The word assessment can prompt feelings of dread, mistrust, or outright hate in many teachers. That’s distressing, as quality instruction includes quality assessment. Unfortunately, we have allowed assessment to become the “tail that wags the dog.” The development of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) was a tremendous step forward in attempting to change that […]

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Kentucky’s Systems Approach to Assessing Three-Dimensional Standards

By Sean Elkins | Published: September 26, 2017

One thing is clear about our multi-dimensional standards: They require a complex and thoughtful approach to assessment. No single, conventional, summative test can be expected to provide reliable data sufficient enough to satisfy the demands of all possible audiences. To say a student truly understands all dimensions of a multi-year set of Performance Expectations (PEs) […]

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