Obayed_Ullah_EDSC5029_Assess 2_Draft

docx

School

Curtin University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

EDSC5029

Subject

Chemistry

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by DukeNeutronBison33

Unit Code: EDSC5029 Unit Name: Secondary Professional Experience 1: Planning Uni Term 2, 2023, Bentley Campus FO [2] Assessment 2 Assessment Report Student Name: Mohammad Obayed Ullah Unit Coordinator Name: Dr Bich Nguyen Assignment Due Date: August 26, 2023 Word Count: 2101

1. Introduction A teacher must track students' learning progress in the classroom through assessment. Assessment is a systematic measure of student success and progress in curriculum throughout the learning journey in the school. The choice of assessment types depends on the set goal and overall curriculum objective (Hassan, 2011). A formative assessment designed with multiple choice questions (MCQ) and short response questions targeting Year 11 VCE chemistry is well aligned with the curriculum (VCCA), specifically the topic of oxidation and reduction reaction and their impact on society. This assessment will inform the progress of the student's learning, particularly subject numeracy, literacy and content knowledge, which will form the basis of future teaching. In addition, it will provide feedback to both teacher and student as well as provide better opportunities for students to master the curriculum objectives (Brady & Kennedy, 2012). 2. Designing the assessment task This assessment was designed in consultation, collaboration and participation with my mentor teacher and aligned with the content descriptor of the VCCA chemistry curriculum. To be a master in the focused area of VCE chemistry, students need to practice and learn subject numeracy, literacy and the theoretical concept of the chemistry topic. This formative assessment aligns with the behaviourist theory of learning together with Bloom’s Mastery of Learning approach, which is a traditional in type. Based on the curriculum content and its nature, it requires students to practice a few skills to develop them and build an understanding of them. This aims to develop new skills and build awareness, improving competence and helping students achieve mastery (Hattie, 2008; James, 2006). In this particular focus of chemistry curriculum, students need to practice several examples of mathematical formulas

and calculations by taking different examples to become masters on how to follow the set rules and steps to successfully solve the problems. To do this, the tasks need to be broken into several parts so that they can be learnt by frequent practices. After mastering each of these parts or components, the complex task needs to be rebuilt (James, 2006). In such a scenario, memorisation of information and facts and the formation of habit allows students to successfully learn and accumulate skills, particularly in this focus area. This assessment aims to identify how far students could practice and master certain subject numeracy and calculation through short response questions and MCQ. Mainly, MCQ is an excellent tool to improve students' learning experience through the diagnosis of the perception of students in their quality of learning (Velan et al., 2008). In addition, this assessment will be used as a tool to identify whether students need more practice or not based on either correct or incorrect and poor performance. It will signal whether a teacher should go back to teach more basic skills (James, 2006). These conventional assessments help students by making them aware of what they have learned and where they need to focus to improve (Weurlander et al., 2012). An assessment needs to fulfil the principle of assessment for an accurate outcome. That is why it needs to be aligned with the teaching, learning and curriculum content knowledge to be valid, as outlined in the literatures (Brady & Kennedy, 2012; McMillan, 2014). This aseesment was aligned to the focuse area of VCCA chemistry and covered the content knowledge. Clear instruction as well as marking criteria for the student are an important component for a valid and fair assessment (McMillan, 2014) which was also covered in the assessment. In addition, inclusion of both qualitative and quantitative components in the assessment contributing to the validity and fairness of the assessment (Hassan, 2011). Bloom’s Mastery Learning Approach recommend that the understanding, skills, abilities and interests of individual student need to be catered in the form of differentitation (Hattie, 2008;

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

McMillan, 2014). Including different level of MCQ and types of questions such as short response question provides the opportunity of measuring individual student performance which will be the basis of implementing personalised learning strategies (Appendix …). Furthermore providing differentiated instruction about key important components and tasks as well as providing scaffolding such as prompts, formula table and data table will maximize the learning of students and the validity and fairness of the assessment (Hattie, 2008). 3. Implementation of assessment The assessment was implemented through McMillan (2014) approach where the prior knowledge of the subject were gauged by asking few quick questions following by providing information on the focused curriculum establish a connection between prior knowledge and current content knowledge. Explicit explanation on the topic was provided as part of gradual release of responsibilities (McVee et al., 2019). Scaffolding is an option available for the students requiring additional support to encourage further development and student led activity on the task and problem were completed prior to the implementation of the assessment (McMillan, 2014). In addition, prompts, cheat sheet, access to ICT, data table and periodic table as well as selective seating arrangement were provided so that students with differentiated needs can be catered durimg the assessment (McMillan, 2014). Furthermore, sufficient time allocation based on individual student needs was considered during the implementation of the assessment in the classroom (Hattie, 2008; McMillan, 2014). 4. Marking, moderation and reporting: The student responses were marked based on the assessment rubric which was analytic in nature although there are component of check list. For example, the MCQ part were marked on the basis of correct answer but the short response questions were broken into different

components to mark accordingly (Appendix….. ). Research outlined that the purpose of rubric is to assess the performance of student and their level of mastery in the topic (Brookhart, 2013). Brady and Kennedy (2012) outlined that it is important to consider student progress and performance during the design of marking criteria such as analytical rubric which is in conformity with the AITSL standard 5.2 (AITSL, 2017) as well. Each student was given a rubric with similar example of work (Appendix…) where all the component were broken into different elements with allocated marks. This analytical rubric can help student in learning by describing the criteria and expectation of learning (Brookhart, 2013). Furthermore, student can empower themselves to take the responsibility of their own learning from the appropriate instruction in the marking criteria through self-reflection, indentificaiton of the area to improve and asking feedback (Brookhart, 2013; McMillan, 2014). Prior to the delivery of the assessment, an internal moderation together with a mentor teacher was conducted to comply with the assessment principles and AITSL standard 5.3. so that the assessment can meet the standard of reliability, validity, fairness and inclusivity (Appendix ..). Aalignment of the chemistry curriculum, marking criteria, rubric and student performance were taken into consideration during the moderation process to ensure consistency and comparability of judgement as outlined in the literature (Klenowski & Wyatt- Smith, 2013). In addition, the assessment was moderated in a way that it aligned with the school’s assessment policy, maintaion the principles of assessment. My mentor teacher reviewed the assessment as part of the post moderation by checking randomly selected few of the assessments attended by low achievers, at achieve and high

achievers considering the involvement of teacher meeting and internal moderation practices to find how best support student in learning within the teacher standard as outlined in the literature (Klenowski & Wyatt-Smith, 2013; McMillan, 2014). We justified the marks based on the quality of task and performance as evident from the assessment while refereeing back to the marking sheet (for MCQ) and analytical rubric (for short response questions) (Appendix ) discussed the quality of the evidence identified in students answers to justify grades given to students while referring back to the analytical rubric. This mode of professional interaction enables us to align our understanding of rubric components and criteria, fostering a general agreement on assessed work quality. This process results a range of recommendations to improve the instructions, consistency in judgement, work quality, reliability and area to focus for the improvement (Appendix ..). For example, the instruction in the analytical rubric need to be more specific and explicit for student with different abilities, which ultimately support teacher to implement and deliver a valid, fair and reliable assessment assisting student in achieving success (Klenowski & Wyatt-Smith, 2013). As outlined in research, personalised and specific instructional support should be the main component of an effective feedback (Hattie, 2012; McMillan, 2014). This entails customizing responses to help students pinpoint key improvement areas, including the task, process, self- regulation, and self-feedback (Appendix ..). Verbal feedback, in the form of questions and suggestions, was given to selected students requiring extra support to meet success criteria (Hattie, 2012). Post-assessment involves communication with parents other stakeholders as a process of reporting outlined in AITSL standard 5.5 to be reliable, fair and accurate (AITSL, 2017). Accordingy to Brady and Kennedy (2012), the process of reporting involve comprehensive and specific information on students achievement together with transperant and effective communication with other stakeholders. Note has been taken on the assessment

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

of individual students to provide further feedback to families on student achievement and progress during parent-teacher interviews. 5. Reflection on practice Reflectiont process which was started through post-moderation is a important tools for a teacher to review, rethink, accumulate edivence and data, compare the cumulative edivence and data to ensure the entire process of assessment is valid, rilable and fair. In fact it is an important practice to comply with the AITSL standard 5.4 (AITSL, 2017) through the identification of the trend and pattern of student learning using a range of data, evidence and information collected from the assessment. It will provide a teacher the opportunity to reflect on what worked well and what not, to pinpoint the key area to focuse for the improvement through specific and differentiated pedagogical and teaching stretegies (Jennings, 2019). The data were collected in a table with two major section as the assessment was designed with both MCQ and short response questions (Appendix…). As the aim and goal of these two sections were different, the evidence from the MCQ section inform the level of subject neumeracy learning where as the short response question tell us more about the masgtery level of content knowledge and critical thinking. The collected data were analysed and identified a few patterns and correlations among the students throung a process of brainstorming considering the applied teaching strategies, instructions style, students group, learning preferences and assessment types (Jennings, 2019; McMillan, 2014). The cumulative data and evidence clearly identify that most of the students were achieving low in the content area where the skills and mastery of subject numeracy in the key to become successful although during the classroom quizzes the trend of success were different. That is why it is crucially important that a teacher mind is broad and use a range of data such

as students performance pattern, classroom responses, previous assement result and any special circumstances need to be consider as well as teacher is well aware of how the parameters (for example; numeracy or critical thinking) are comparing to come to a conclusion. For example; if a presious assessment result were taken into consideration in this case, then it is very important to ensure that this particular assement was also focuesed on evaluating numeracy skills. Otherwise the interpretation could lead to a wrong conclusion (Jennings, 2019). However, the data need to be reliable and should be collected from a range of sources to conclude and to pinpoint the area to focuse and to design further teaching strategies accordingly. In addition, the data also provided with the correlation between subject numeracy and critical thinking skills of the students. Most of the student who were low achiever in subject numeracy also follow the same in the section of the short response questions where critical thinking is the key to be successful. I believe, the key diagnosis is that the neumeracy skills on the content knowledge need to be improved through specific teaching strategies such as scaffolding and practicle over and over on the similar problems. The short response question provided the evidence of critical thinking skills among the students which is surprisingly below in compare to the performance in the classroom during the content delivery. Effective strategies need to address this issue are outlined from the evidence of the student performance is further explicit instruction on the same topic. Furthermore, breaking down the task into more steps to reduce the cognitive load. For example, several steps are introduced to writre a chemical reaction equation and fillanly addup those steps to write an overall reaction equation. A student activity on similar examples for frequent practice was proposed for few identified students as part of differentiation.

Success of a student with special need depends on engaging with individual students to understand their optimal learning methods (Walker & Gobby, 2017). The data demands on careful planning and a moderated teaching style for couple of individual students as outlined in research that students should collaborate as partners, allowing for alternative methods and empowering them in their learning process(McMillan, 2014). By employing tailored strategies and analyzing subsequent assessment data, educators can continually enhance their teaching methods (McMillan, 2014). 6. Conclusion. The formative assessment is tools for a teacher to identify the real scenario of student learning progression while teaching a particular topic of the curriculum. Formative assessment is very diverse in types, style and ways of delivery which and the selection of a particular formula of formative assessment depends on the goal. However, MCQ and short response question is a quick way of assessing students level and progress which provides a teacher an opportunity to further redefine the teaching strategies and assessment types in an effective manner. This type of formative is well criticised for limited opportunities to assess the cognitive skill of learner (Velan et al., 2008). However, adding MCQ with more autonomous options identifying the confidence level of the students choice together with the pre and post moderation process could help to meet expectation and assessment standard. In addition, continuous feedback and iterative assessment aligned with curriuculum and learning goal could improve student learning experience (Hattie, 2012). Ongoing assessment requires more time for reviewing, providing feedback, and fostering peer collaboration to uphold assessment principles.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

References: AITSL. (2017). The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). In. Brady, L., & Kennedy, K. (2012). Assessment and Reporting: Celebrating Student Achievement . Pearson Australia. https://books.google.com.au/books? id=dKhZygAACAAJ Brookhart, S. M. (2013). How to create and use rubrics for formative assessment and grading . Ascd. Hassan, O. A. B. (2011). Learning theories and assessment methodologies – an engineering educational perspective. European Journal of Engineering Education , 36 (4), 327-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2011.591486 Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement . routledge. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning . Routledge. James, M. (2006). Assessment, teaching and theories of learning. Assessment and learning , 47 , 60. Jennings, A. S. (2019). Situating interim assessments within teachers’ practice of data use: How upper elementary school teachers attend to, interpret, and understand interim assessment data . University of Delaware. Klenowski, V., & Wyatt-Smith, C. (2013). Assessment for education: Standards, judgement and moderation . Sage. McMillan, J. H. (2014). Classroom assessment: Principles and practice for effective standards-based instruction . Pearson. McVee, M. B., Ortlieb, E., Reichenberg, J. S., & Pearson, P. D. (2019). The gradual release of responsibility in literacy research and practice . Emerald Publishing Limited. Velan, G. M., Jones, P., McNeil, H. P., & Kumar, R. K. (2008). Integrated online formative assessments in the biomedical sciences for medical students: benefits for learning. BMC Medical Education , 8 , 1-11. Walker, R., & Gobby, B. (2017). Testing times for assessment and pedagogy. In Powers of Curriculum: Sociological perspectives on education (pp. 323-349). Weurlander, M., Söderberg, M., Scheja, M., Hult, H., & Wernerson, A. (2012). Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , 37 (6), 747- 760.