Engaged Students and
Formative Assessment
Kristy Butler & Patti Richardson
Forest Hills Central High School
Grand Rapids, MI
Kristy Butler
Teacher of Biology, Honors Biology & Scientific Research
[email protected]
@kbutlerSCI
Patti Richardson
Teacher of Biology, Human Anatomy & Physiology & AP Biology
[email protected]
@pattiRichards19
http://bit.ly/SciTeachers
Interactive!
Most of the icons and images are linked to
websites and tutorials. Look for the
icons as well!
Formative Assessment
Resources
Click on a book to order from Amazon, or to find out more information on each title
Types of Assessments
Diagnostic - identify preconceptions, lines of
easoning and learning difficulties
Formative - To inform instruction and provide
feedback to students on their learning
Summative - To measure and document the
extent to which students have achieved a
learning target
Formative Assessment
Formal and informal processes teachers and
students use to gather evidence to provide
ongoing feedback that can be used by teacher
to improve teaching and by students to improve
their learning
This is not just for teachers. It is an important
tool for students as well
Formative Assessment
● You are already doing this informally, good
teachers always do.
● The challenge is how do we do this with
intention, and what do we do with the data
that we collect?
Reflection on Formative Assessment
Questions to ask after a FA is administered to see if it was helpful in assessing
student learning
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Where your students engaged?
Were you confident and excited about using the FA?
How did use of the FA affect the student-to-student or student-to-teacher
dynamic?
Was the information gained useful to you?
Would you have gotten this information without using a FA?
What added value did the FA bring to teaching and learning?
Did it cause you to do something differently or think differently about
teaching and learning?
Questions to ask in PLC about FA
Question About Learning Curricular Ideas and Concepts:
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What preconceptions seem to be the most prevalent among our students?
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Are there common misconceptions noted in the research on learning that
our students exhibit?
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Which concepts seem to be most problematic for our students?
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What terminology do our students use to describe their ideas? Can they
use scientific terms with understanding?
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Are our students sufficiently engaged with the content?
Questions to ask in PLC about FA
Questions About Students:
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Which students seem to be progressing well toward the scientific ideas?
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Are there particular students who are having more difficulty than others?
Who are they?
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Which students have a scientific understanding that could be used to
support learning for other students?
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How can we use formative assessment to differentiate for particular
students?
Questions to ask in PLC about FA
Questions About Teaching:
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Are our students responding positively to instruction?
Is the pace of our instruction appropriate?
What does FA indicate with respect to how well our curriculum matches
our teaching and learning goals?
What do we need to do to improve our lessons so there is greater
opportunity to learn?
Do some FA embed more easily in our teaching than others? Which FA
produced the greatest results?
What changes or modification do we need to make the FA to improve their
effectiveness?
What new FA can we add to the ones we have read about or used?
Formative Assessment
Examples without using technology
A&D Statements
● Focus on inquiry by
designing experiments
● Best at the beginning of
a learning cycle
● Helps identify
preconceptions
I Used to Think...But Now I Know
● Compare before
and after thinking
● Can use in a thinkpair-share
Familiar Phenomenon
Probes
● Check preconceptions
● Check transfer of learning
to a new concept
Justified List
Start with a statement about
an object, process or concept.
Examples that fit or do not fit
in are listed. Students check
off the items on the list that fit
the statement and provide
justification explaining their
rule
Odd One Out
● Can be used in small
groups or pairs
● Can be used at
beginning, middle or end
of unit.
K.W.L
3-2-1
Twitter without the technology
Students can summarize the lesson or question
in 140 characters
Lots of Examples!
Formative Assessment
Examples using technology
Technology To the Rescue
The next slides have technology
resources that can help with
formative assessment by providing
quick and meaningful feedback.
Click on any YouTube logo to watch
a short video on how the resource
works in the classroom
Most logos are linked to their
websites too!
Socrative
http://www.socrative.com/
online polling/quizzes
Free
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
quiz/polling
can ask open ended
questions
https://getkahoot.com/
Tutorial/Overview
Quiz/Polling
can use quizzes that are already
created by other teachers
Instant feedback
Similar to “bar trivia”
Students playing the game
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Web based clicker tool - any device
Use as a quiz or poll format
Can be used as a discussion platform
Ability for students to post anonymously
Students join an event, through an
app or www.gosoapbox.com
What is it?
Students can answer questions,
leave questions or engage in
discussion in real time
● Turn your smartphone into the
clicker system
● Students only need a paper card
and they can answer questions or
polls
Demo
Tutorial
● Turn online videos into formative
assessments
● Embed your own question into the
videos that students have to answer
while watching.
● You can use pre-made “tours”
● Free!!
Demo
Tutorial
● Great for ESL students
● Students can respond in several
different ways including drawing
● Share links to students
Demo
http://en.linoit.com/
A virtual corkboard of sticky-notes so
students can provide questions or
comments on their learning. These
can be used like exit tickets during
the course of a lesson
Can add, pictures, video, tweets, etc.
Lino
To measure and
document the extent
to which students
have achieved a
learning target
Thank you!!
Questions?
What has been successful for you?