Knowledge Assessment
In your classroom how do you assess knowledge and understanding verses information recall?
Labs are very useful for many reasons. I, too, have found that when I use a hands-on lab, student scores are higher.
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Dave,
This sounds like quite a holistic approach. Scenarios are a wonderful way to encourage critcal and applied thinking as well.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I assess knowledge by giving scenarios to students and having them explain their thinking process. I use closed ended questions for procedural information to assess their memory recall.
The results vary from student to student, but for the majority, there feedback allows me to adjust my presentation of the information to better fit the individual learning method and this increases their attention level and promotes curiosity of the subject. Once I have done this with several individuals I combine what I have learned and restructure my initial presentation for my next set of students. This has, as it did with each individual has increased overall participation in class and desire to learn more. My student satisfaction on post class surveys has improved dramatically, and continues to improve.
John,
Great "hands on" examples - do you use other technology to project and capture yoru demonstrations for students?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I assess knowledge and understanding by doing, since most of my students are visual learners.
I demonstrate exactly what the students can expect to make in the kitchen the next day. As they are watching me, I have them take small notes and ask many questions along the way. i also have the students touch, feel, smell and taste all items that are being produced so that it elimnates a great deal of unnecessary anxiety.
Daniel,
Yes, feedback is wonderful for the reflective teacher as this improves practice. How do individual students benefit as a result of your assessment and feedback methods?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I watch and listen to how my students perform in lab and participate in discussions when debriefing lab projects. I have over the last year found that making note of the quantity and quality of the students interactions has made it easy for me to improve my teaching skills and increase the understanding of the information and participation of the students of my next class.
Having the student explain how they got to that conclusion or the process they used to assemled something in lab is a sure way to tell wether or not they did the work and understand it or if someone in their group did the work. I am always asking them questions and looking for the right answers during lecture and lab.
Markia,
Please expand your response here - are you referring to teacher preparation? Thanks!
Dr. Ruth Reynard
myself in always doing reseach evey day. internet, public forms, more
Michael,
Very true - explanation and demonstration are key ways to assess learning.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I find the easiest way to find out if the student has a good understanding of what they have learned is to explain to me the process they went through to get their answer.
steve,
Yes, it is important to distribute and weight scores according to the learning outcomes...
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Keith,
Good combination approach - how does new technology provide opportunities for various levels of diversity even within each one of those environments?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Knowledge and understanding are tricky to assess. I belive that UTI dose the right thing as to giving the student 50% of there ending grade as test score and 50% of there grade as a Lab score to show these two key areas.
I use the lab time provided in the course to see if the students are grasping the information. Some students are real good classroom learners and some others are not. So the combination of lab and class time lets me evaluate the knowledge attained by the student. Then the test is given only after the student has had the opportunity to do both lab and class.
Robert,
So both the classroom activities and labs provide wonderful hands on opportunities for your students to learn an dfully understand the material. Do you eveluate both their work and their explanations? This would rpovide a more holistic evalutaion an dsupport students in their communication skills as well.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
