danielles_journal5_2009

Danielle Sutton 3/5/09

The assessment for this journal entry was based on a science lab investigation and it incorporated short answer and observation.  __ General Outline of Assessment: __ During this assessment, students worked in pairs on a science lab investigation. They had to use a water dropper to drop water droplets on four different surfaces: aluminum foil, wax paper, plain white paper, and paper towel. In pairs, they had to complete several parts of a lab report in their science lab notebooks. __ Assessment Structure: __ Lab partners which consisted of pairs of students and one group of three students had to together make a prediction sentence, complete an observation sheet with written observations and a drawing, and a claims and evidence paragraph. Individually, they then had to write a reflection paragraph. In order to get a 4 on this assessment, all components had to be completed and pairs had to work in a cooperative manner. Pairs had to first make predictions, collect and gather materials, test water on all four surfaces, draw and write out observations, and clean up materials. During this part of the assessment, pairs of students were finishing at all different times. As such, pairs who finished before others were allowed to sit on the rug with another pair of students and discuss what they noticed. Some students needed some guidance and questions to be answered frequently, therefore the teacher, a parent volunteer, and I circulated around the classroom. One pair of students were really engaged in the assignment and needed extra paper to write out observations and only finished testing on two surfaces and were allowed extra time during recess to finish the lab, much to their excitement. After the predictions and observations were done, the class came together to share information. The teacher recorded results on the board and helped students begin their claims and evidence paragraph with her own example of how water absorbed into the paper towel when she tested this. The students then broke off again into pairs to work together on the claims and evidence part of the lab and after this worked independently on the reflection paragraph. __ Assessment Results: __ All students received 3’s and 4’s on this assignment. The main reasoning for students getting points deducted from their work was because of observation charts not fully being completed (i.e. some had four drawings and only two of which were accompanied with written descriptions). __ Reflection of Assessment: __ What I really liked about this assignment was the flexibility by which the teacher allowed students to succeed. I thought it was great that she was prepared to continually engage students who finished at different times by having some work with other pairs and discuss what they found and allowing others extra time. In short, I liked how she did not put a time limit on their work. I also enjoyed how the lab report was multitasked and involved areas for different types of skills. Students were encouraged to make different predictions from other pairs in the class, some students needed extra paper and coloring utensils to do their drawings while other focused more upon the written descriptions, some students had vague descriptions but backed them up really well in their claims and evidence part of the assignment as well as their reflections. I liked how the assignment was not just based on right and wrong and one area of success. Students really were engaged and worked together very well. When the class came together, everyone had interesting information to share and they worked collaboratively to get ideas across. They added new vocabulary terms into their glossaries in their science lab notebooks and incorporated the new terms into their reflections. I thought it was great that they had a chance to work with a partner, then come together as a class, work again with a partner, then work independently. A lot of ideas were being bounced around and I thought it was a very engaging and informative assessment. <<Back to EDC 452 home page <<Section 2 <<Danielle's Journals