Smart Assessment for KS3 - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Smart Assessment for KS3 PracticalsDr Alex HolmesASE 2016

Thursday 1500-1600 Arts LR6 Slide2

How can you best assess practicals at KS3? Objectives of this workshop

Methods of assessing practical work

Identifying strategies for practical work assessment

Resources for practical assessmentSlide3

What is practical work?

Taken to mean

any type of science teaching and learning activity

where individual or groups of students are involved

in manipulating

and

observing real objects

and materials

(Abrahams and Reiss, 2012)Slide4

Why do practical work?

Motivation for students

Consolidation

of theory

Development

of

process skills

Understanding

of data handling

Development

of planning, analytic, evaluative,

numeracy skills

Understanding

of how science

worksSlide5

Why is practical work important?

Develops skills useful in higher education or industry

Develops

understanding of

science

Allows recognition that

science is based on evidence Slide6

What is Assessment?The word

assess

comes from the Latin verb

assidere

meaning

to sit by or near to

.

The Latin noun

assessor

is one

who sits by to give advice

.

Thus it is something we do

with

and

for

pupils and not

to

pupils

Green, 199

8Slide7

What is being assessed?

Formative: assessment

for

learning, focusing on future achievement “… often means no more than that the assessment is carried out frequently and is planned at the same time as teaching.”

(Black and

Wiliam

, 1999)

Summative: assessment

of

learning i.e. what has been learnt in the past “… is carried out at intervals when achievement has to be

summarised

and reported.”

(

Harlen

, 1998)Slide8

What is being assessed?

Conceptual understanding – the knowledge of the scientific concept

Procedural understanding – knowledge abut scientific method

Process skills – transferable skills

Practical skills – includes procedural understanding and process skillsSlide9

Current assessmentCurrently, the only assessment of practical

work

is at GCSE that

are under varying degrees of teacher

control (the ISAs).

Research

Planning

Collecting data

Analysis and evaluation

CREST awardsSlide10

Process skills Using equipment correctly, such as setting up a microscope or

correctly

adjusting

a balance

before weighing an itemSlide11

Procedural skills

Choosing equipment linked

to

a hypothesis

Responsibility for using equipment carefully

Leaving the investigation area tidy afterwardsSlide12

Procedural skillsRelevant

measurements and observations are recorded

appropriately in a

table with correct headings and appropriate

unitsSlide13

Procedural skillsAnalysis

Data is presented

in

a graph with suitable scales, labels and units and correctly plotted

A conclusion

is

drawn using

evidence from the

experiment.Slide14

Procedural skillsEvaluation

effectiveness

of

the method

controlled variables

equipment

limitations

possible

sources of

error and improvements Slide15

Ofqual states that

In the new

Science

GCSEs, students

will be required to demonstrate

their understanding

of scientific experimentationSlide16

Resources for practical assessment

It is acknowledged that practical work is considered a key component of science education, it is rarely

assessed directly, for example, by students being observed while they undertake a practical

activity.Slide17

How can you best assess practicals at KS3?

Need for distinguishing

between the end products of investigations (e.g. recording correct results and reaching a known conclusion)

and the

mental and physical processes involved in reaching them. Slide18

How can you best assess practicals at KS3?

Direct observation of the students ability to manipulate real objects as they

carry out an investigation

Open ended investigations following teaching of key concepts – assessment can focus on procedures or processesSlide19

Practical work assessment

Key science skills - identifying evidence, testing, evaluating and communicating conclusions.

Not dependent on pre-existing scientific knowledge, but not applicable without content.

Applying science

knowledge

to

different situationsSlide20

Foci for practical work assessment

Communication

Thinking

Literacy

Data processing

Mathematics

Reasoning

Group

work

Enquiry

Self-evaluation

Creative thinking

Problem solving

EvaluationSlide21

Skills and Knowledge Assessment ModelSlide22

Assessment model and procedural skillsLearning

–students follow instructions to use equipment, can describe results and what went well in their investigation.

Mastering

– students can plan an investigation and predict what might happen, record observations in a table and graph and identify patterns in a conclusion.

Expanding

- students develop a method to answer a scientific question and predict using scientific knowledge; carry out a controlled experiment and use results to predict other outcomes; link patterns to their

scientific knowledge; critically evaluate

their method and

suggest

alternatives

.Slide23

Assessment model and process skillsLearning

– students set up equipment using instructions and identify risks with help; observe and take measurements with support.

Mastering

–

students set up

equipment for a fair test; identify and minimise obvious risks and take careful measurements accurately

Expanding -

students

independently

set up equipment to test their hypothesis,

identify and minimise several risks; take repeated precise and accurate measurementsSlide24

Resources for practical assessmentIn Year 1 and 2, Smart Science provides the basics necessary for pupils to have an understanding of both procedural and process skills.

Details are found in the Working Scientifically information in the

SoWSlide25

Resources for practical assessment – a few examples

Resources can be adapted to assess practical skills of different abilities:

Using microscopes (Year 1, Term 1 )

– support weaker students by demonstration before assessing their ability to make and focus slides; extend the more able by evaluating their slides for air bubbles or asking for an explanation of how to set up a slide

Ray diagrams (Year 2, Term 5)

–weaker students use ray boxes to get light rays to match print outs of ray diagrams; extend the more able by comparing the light beams of lasers and ray box

Slide26

Handbook 3The Scheme of Work delivered in Teacher’s Handbooks 1 and 2 is principally designed to deliver the NC 2014 Programme of Study for Key Stage

3.

Teacher’s Handbook 3

extends

the learning from

Years 1

and

2

and allows for more open ended investigations to take place

The tasks are skills based and can be inserted at relevant points through KS3Slide27

Task based approachTeachers Handbook 3 revisits

a wide selection of core concepts and key

ideas from the NC.

Each task focuses

on a particular aspect of Working

Scientifically and offers opportunity for both formative and summative assessment:

Thinking scientifically

Using investigative approaches

Working critically with evidence

Using maths in science

Communicating in science

Slide28

Examples of the tasksSlide29

NC Task matchingYear 1

Balanced and unbalanced forces

NC content can be enhanced with the more open investigation from

Unit

2: Physics, Task 1:

How can we launch a projectile so that it covers the greatest distance?

Allows for formative assessment to take place of either procedural or process skills during the investigation

The associated structured questions can also be used to assess formatively or summativelySlide30

KS3 science teaching allows students to develop a

more secure understanding

of

scientific

ideas

across biology

, chemistry and physics. Slide31

The aim is that pupils will become more aware of the ideas underpinning scientific knowledge and understanding and get the opportunity to practise key science skills through practical investigations

This can be assessed through both direct observation for process skills and end of unit tests for procedural

skills to check progression towards KS4Slide32

Resources for practical assessment

Dweck

, Carol. 

Mindset

: The new psychology of success

. Random House LLC, 2006.

Ofsted (2011). The Impact of the ‘Assessing Pupils’ Progress’ Initiative. Manchester: Ofsted [online].

Lehrer, R. and

Schauble

, L. 2007. Scientific thinking and science literacy. In W. Damon & R. Lerner (Eds.) Handbook of Child Psychology, 6th Edition (pp. 153-196). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Elena Silva (2008) "Measuring skills for the 21st century." Education Sector Reports 11 (2008).

Department for Education (2013). The National Curriculum in England: Framework Document. London: DfE [online

].

Anderson, L.W.

Krathwohl

, D.R

et al

2001

"A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, abridged

edition. "

NY: Longman

 (2001).

Black, P. and

Wiliam

, D. (1998)

Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment

. Granada Learning, 1998.

Willingham, Daniel T. "Strategies That Make Learning Last." Strategies 72.2 (2014): 10-15.

Green, J. M. (1998, February).

Constructing the way forward for all

pupils

.

A speech delivered at “Innovations for Effective Schools” OECD/New Zealand joint follow-up conference

,

New Zealand

.

Harlen

, W. (1998) Classroom assessment: A dimension of purposes and procedures. In K.

Carr

(Ed.),

SAMEpapers

(pp. 75

–

87). Hamilton, New Zealand: Centre for

SMT Ed. Res.

Abrahams, Ian, Michael J. Reiss, and Rachael Sharpe. "Improving the assessment of practical work in school science: lessons from an international comparison." (2013).Slide33

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