Practicals Dr Alex Holmes ASE 2016 Thursday 15001600 Arts LR6 How can you best assess practicals at KS3 Objectives of this workshop Methods of assessing practical work Identifying strategies for practical work assessment ID: 554470
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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
Effective assessmentEffective assessment
is tied
to its
purpose.
Assessment methods should reflect:
• Why pupils are being assessed
• The things which the assessment is intended to measure
• What the assessment is intended to achieve
• How the assessment information will be usedSlide8
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)Slide9
Every-day formative assessment
Question and answer during class
Marking
of pupils’ work
Observational
assessment
Regular
short re-cap quizzes
Scanning
work for pupil attainment and developmentSlide10
In-school summative assessment
End of year
exams
Short
end of
unit
testsSlide11
What is being assessed?
Conceptual understanding – the knowledge of the scientific concept
Procedural understanding – knowledge about scientific method
Process skills – transferable skills
Practical skills – both procedural understanding and process skillsSlide12
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
Extra-curricular: CREST and similar awardsSlide13
Process skills Using equipment correctly, such as setting up a microscope or
correctly
adjusting
a balance
before weighing an itemSlide14
Procedural skills
Choosing equipment linked
to
a hypothesis
Responsibility for using equipment carefully
Leaving the investigation area tidy afterwardsSlide15
Procedural skillsRelevant
measurements and observations are recorded
appropriately in a
table with correct headings and appropriate
unitsSlide16
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.Slide17
Procedural skillsEvaluation
effectiveness
of
the method
controlled variables
equipment
limitations
possible
sources of
error and improvements Slide18
Ofqual states that
In the new
Science
GCSEs, students
will be required to demonstrate
their understanding
of scientific experimentationSlide19
Resources for practical assessment
It is acknowledged that practical work is considered a key component of science education, it is rarely
assessed
directly by
students being observed while they undertake a practical
activity.Slide20
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. Slide21
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 processesSlide22
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 situationsSlide23
Foci for practical work assessment
Communication
Thinking
Literacy
Data processing
Mathematics
Reasoning
Group
work
Enquiry
Self-evaluation
Creative thinking
Problem solving
EvaluationSlide24
Mastery learning
‘Mastery learning’ is a specific approach in which learning is broken down into discrete units and presented in logical order.
Assumption
that all pupils will achieve
a level
of mastery if they are appropriately supported
.
Reflected in Smart Science Assessment model,
where
mastery is assessed through questions that focus
on the different aspects of the
topic.Slide25
Skills and Knowledge Assessment ModelSlide26
Assessment model and procedural skillsLearning
–students follow instructions to use equipment, can describe results and what went well in their investigation.
Mastering
– students plan an investigation and predict what might happen, record observations, graph and identify patterns in their 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
.Slide27
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 measurementsSlide28
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
SoWSlide29
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
Slide30
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 KS3Slide31
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
Slide32
Examples of the tasksSlide33
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 summativelySlide34
KS3 science teaching allows students to develop a
more secure understanding
of
scientific
ideas
across biology
, chemistry and physics. Slide35
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 KS4Slide36
Final wordsThere is no ‘one-size fits all’ system for assessment.
The
best forms of
school
formative and summative assessment
are tailored
to the school’s own curriculum and the needs of the pupils, parents and staff.Slide37
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).Slide38
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