Todd,
Prior knowledge about a class's past learning is a valuable bit of information, in the sense of planning for adjustments in the daily lesson and delivery strategies.
Barry Westling
Mindy,
Good spin about needed and just need to review. A perfect role for pretesting.
Barry Westling
As said in the course, to get a general idea of the knowledge base of the students and also pick up on any potential problems that a student or students may have with a specific topic.
Pretests are great way to start every class, it gadgets where your students are on the current subject. This is a guide to help establish what content needs to be taught and what content needs to be review.
Dona,
Sometimes (not always), I find an area that students really know the material pretty well, or what I expect them to know is lacking. This advantage pays off when I tweak my curriculum to better accommodate my students.
Barry Westling
Christina,
Right. What I sometimes do (as an encouragement) is to give the same pretest I used at the beginning of the term, and give it again near the end of the term. There is usually remarkable progress shown, and it gives students a big psychological "lift".
Barry Westling
Using a pretest is a new concept for me. Well, not new - just hadn't thought of it before. I think it's a great idea to get a sense of where the students are in their experience of the subject.
Pretests are a great way to see how much the student has retained from previous terms. It's also a great tool to encourage the students to continue studying past material.
Gordon,
I like to pretest when I'm unsure just how much my current class has learned prior to beginning. I don't want to waste theirs or my time.
Barry Westling
Pretesting is an excellent way to judge where exactly the students are with regards to the course material. That information is invaluable to developing and or adapting lesson plans and teaching modalities to be used.
Robert,
Pretty much in any category or type of class, prior knowledge of a students past learning is a helpful tool. Pretesting is one (of many ways) of achieving that. I'll sometimes pretest, then do the same test at the end of a course to demonstrate just how far students have come.
Barry Westling
In a general life skills class it will let me know if the students are or have used time management, budgeting, study techniques.
In a class such as accounting it lets me know where the students are in knowledge and how much they retained from prior courses.
Shawnte,
Yes, where to begin, and also edit, modify, adjust, or put more or less emphasis in areas that are identified by the pretesting.
Barry Westling
Jeffrey,
I agree, although I don't always do pretesting. I only do it when I feel I have limited knowledge about a patients prior knowledge.
Barry Westling
A pretest will allow you as the instructor to measure the knowledge that the student is bringing in with them. It will give you an idea of how to begin.
It serves as a litmus test for the overall abilities of an incoming(or on-going) class. By gauging where most students fall within the comprehension of the course materials, the instructor can more effectively progress the class through the material.
Hugh,
Yep, I experienced this early on as well, and now it just makes so much sense. The benefit I get with relatively little preparation is worth the time I put into it, and as you relate, it's always interesting to view the results.
Barry Westling
When I first became an instructor I thought that pre-tests were a waste of time for all concerned. The school where I taught made it mandatory to pretest so I started against my will and was shocked to learn that my students were much more ahead of where I thought they were.
Maria Estela,
A good pretest helps the instructor as much as learning student's prior knowledge. It is a planning tool for use in modifying the lessons in order top maximize the time, with emphasis on where it will do the most good.
Barry Westling
Maria Estela,
A good pretest helps the instructor as much as learning student's prior knowledge. It is a planning tool for use in modifying the lessons in order top maximize the time, with emphasis on where it will do the most good.
Barry Westling
