danielles_journal4_2009

Danielle Sutton 3/1/09

The assessment for this journal entry was a form of short answer based assessment. The students completed a mathematics test on multiplication and division for this assessment. __ General Outline of Assessment: __ For this assessment, the students were to complete a test on multiplication and division by way of word problems. There were 10 problems. Each student had to draw a picture of how they solved the problem, provide a labeled answer (e.g. 20 beans, 15 straws), and also a written description of how they solved the problem. __ Assessment Structure: __ In order to get 10 out of 10 on the assignment, three things had to be present for each problem: a picture, a labeled final answer, and a written description of the problem. Points were deducted accordingly based on missing criteria. During the test, students could use any manipulative throughout the classroom. Some students used the number lines on their desks, some students were using number blocks, some students were using other tools for counting such as bingo chips and beans, and some students were using additional scrap paper to draw and write out their problems and work. If students used more scrap paper, this was also to be handed in with their test worksheet. //Example problem: Mary drove 3 miles a day to school for 4 days. How many miles did she drive in all?// //Example solutions://  __ Assessment Results: __ Points were deducted according to missing information and incorrect final answers. No student got more than one point deducted from each problem and no student got lower than 7 out of 10 for the entire test. __ Reflection of Assessment: __ The interesting thing about this assessment was the array of different ways students solved each problem. A few students used manipulatives for every problem and some students never used any manipulatives. Some students relied on their number lines and some students were simply sketching out their answers. Some students wrote a lot of information about how they came about solving the problem and some students bulleted their solution descriptions. It was interesting to see this type of assessment where pictures and descriptions had to accompany their answers because a lot of students had already “mastered” a certain multiplication table, like their fours tables, yet when the problem about Mary came and they had to figure out what 3x4 was, some students needed the manipulatives and the chance to draw out their solutions because the word problems confused them, even though they would know what 3x4 was if you simply asked them. I thought it was a generally affective assessment because it forced students to really think about the problem at hand when they had to draw out and write out how they solved the problem.
 * //One student I observed during the test had used bingo chips to solve this problem. She took four blue bingo chips which represented the four days Mary drove to school. She then placed three red bingo chips under each of the four blue chips. She then counted all the red bingo chips and totaled them for 12. She drew out her picture and colored them in with colored pencils to represent her red and blue chips. Her written description was a few sentences describing how she used chips as manipulatives to solve the problem.//
 * //Another student I observed simply wrote his description stating that he knew 3x4=12, so he knew Mary drove 12 miles in all. He drew a sketch of three groups of four lines to show his work.//

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