Evaluation Of The Year 4 Science Assessment Task

1.1 Assessment measures the learner’s progress towards or the completion of, the learning aim and criteria, and can be used at any point during the learning cycle. It can provide information to adapt the delivery to suit the learner’s needs and abilities; a learner may need more help or time on some aspects, or has progressed quicker than planned and requires additional goals. By standardising the assessment process this creates uniformity for all learners.

The assessment method must take into account the characteristic of the learner and needs to be consistent and relevant to what is being assessed. The assessment will not only focus on improving the learning, it will measure their achievements and also remind the learner of how they are progressing.

Next, I went over the graphic organizer and we filled out the sample that was blown up on the board together. They had a hard time getting a hang of this at first but once I prompted them they were okay. I would ask “what kind of things would you put under what they eat category” and they would respond with specific things that an animal would eat. For example: “bugs and grass.” I was hoping for more board response such as “food, water, omnivore, and herbivore” but that was not the response I got. Which is okay, so I prompted them a little bit, and they got the hang of it.

The earth is a web of complex interdependent relationships in ecosystems. For example, in order for plants to survive, they rely heavily on other parts of their environment for their energy and food sources. They also rely on the wind, water, and animals to help disperse their seeds so that they can grow in many different areas. All of this occurs in the ecosystems and habitats that are here on earth. Within each habitat, there is a great diversity of the species of plants and animals that live there. At a young age, children become curious about how all of these things occur. The Next Generation Science Standards have compiled this information into three performance expectations for second graders. The first expectation, 2-LS2-1, is that they must “Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow” (NGSS). The second is 2-LS2-2 which states that students must “Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants” (NGSS). And the final one is 2-LS4-1, which states that students must “Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats” (NGSS). Educators of these students must familiarize themselves with the performance expectations and all of the concepts that go

The animals in research, teaching and testing is an important issue. Most of the discussion is revolving around the relative value, often referred to as moral value, of humans and animals. (Burrell) How do you decide what is right when the needs of animals and humans come into conflict? It’s difficult to have decisions when so many people have

After a series of direct instruction on this concept the students were given their post-one test. This was given the day before having the opportunity to explore the ecosystem outside. They were given the exact same assessment requirements. The next step to this research was giving the students the chance to explore the taiga in a hands-on experiential setting. The students were taken to Donner State Park, where they were to complete a scavenger hunt of finding, touching, seeing and feeling animals, plants and non-living organisms. They also had the opportunity to examine pelts and see a variety of taxidermy animal species at the museum provided in the park. After this experience the students were then asked to take a post-two assessment. This assessment was the exact same assessment as the two given prior. The students were asked to draw and label a taiga ecosystem including five animals, five plants and five non-living organisms.

This paper is a reflection in my practice of assessment for learning in science. As teachers, often the prime focus is to demonstrate learner’s knowledge, understanding and skills. We observe and interpret these to make judgements, although seemingly straightforward, to develop consideration needs to be given to this process of assessment.Therefore the research and reflections from this paper will influence future planning, assessment within my classes and possible strategies across my department.

As part of the science curriculum, it is mandatory to introduce the concept of enquiry through experiments and investigations. The practical element of science promotes the idea that children need to develop a certain level of scientific enquiry through a wide range of activities suggests, Cross and Bowden (2014). Some examples of scientific enquiry can range from; nature walks in order to observe the numerous mini beasts amongst the school

This will be the first section of the unit. It is important for students to be able to describe the differences between living and nonliving things because these are important aspects of our environment in the world. Students will be able to distinguish what makes something living and what makes something nonliving. Students will be able to define the term organism and how this is another term that shares the same meaning as living thing. Students will also be able to describe the basic needs of living things and pose questions to themselves, in order to determine if an object is living or nonliving. Students will recognize the difference between living and nonliving things and accurately identify living and nonliving while exploring their surrounding environment. Students will form predictions and observations while recording and collecting data and evidence throughout this portion of the unit, as students will learn these are the everyday tasks of real scientists. Students will learn that the data and

With the completion of the Animal Classifications lesson, students will understand and know the following:

Reliability refers to the characteristic that the assessment precisely and consistently measures the targeted learning (Black, 2013). The unit was planned through backward

In order to measure a student’s learning outcome, progression and competence attained, various types of information need to be gathered to determine the degree of student’s attainment in the learning outcomes for the curriculum. Various methods of formal and informal observation of students during their learning, examinations and quizzes, performance on assignments, projects and presentations are used to gather this information. Lecturers advise that there should be a plan for assessment at programme, course and lesson level, which is often overlooked. As Pratt (1998) stated, to make sure student achievements and grades reflect the learning outcomes established, assessments must be carefully planned, conducted, subject to continuous analysis, evaluation and enhancement. Learning outcomes (knowledge and competence of students), assessment, and teaching are all parts of an integrated whole.

Assessing student performance is a rubric’s task. Brookhart (2013) states that “criteria and descriptions of levels of performance are the two main elements in a rubric.” Criteria should be about proposed learning outcomes, without using details of the assignment alone. Rubrics can be an effective teaching and learning tool for instruction, students, peer-assessment, and self-assessment if created and utilized efficiently (Brookhart, 2013).

A way that teachers can assess to see higher learning outcomes in the scientific context is to check to see if students can answer open ended questions. Open ended questions encourage teachers to see what students can pursue on how the world works. With this being done teachers must make sure that

A high quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. (pg 3).