Assessment for Learning

I recently completed a free online course on Assessment for Learning (AfL) in STEM teaching. The course was put together by the UK's National STEM Centre, and was hosted by Future Learn. I'm hoping to try out a few of the techniques I learned about this coming semester.

                Image source: Flickr user Ken Whytock                                     

AfL is essentially a type of formative assessment, designed to give teachers a rapid picture of how many learners in their class have understood a particular topic or concept. A draft version of a paper co-authored by one of the course co-ordinators, Dylan Wiliam, can be found here. 

The main thrust of this course was aimed at helping teachers of STEM subjects to gauge whether or not their students have understood a particular scientific concept. It highlighted common misconceptions students have when learning science, and provided ways to diagnose these misconceptions in real-time in the classroom. 

One handy technique that was advocated was the use of hinge point questions (HPQs). These are questions, often multiple choice, that relate to specific misconceptions in order to identify which students have understood a particular concept, and those students who may need additional teaching in order to fully grasp the concept or to address the misconception. The HPQ is given to the whole class. Various ways may be used to collect responses - students could hold up numbered cards, or enter their responses into an app such as Google Forms, for example. 

The options for these multiple choice questions should be considered very carefully, and be set up in such a way that it is unlikely that a student could guess the correct answer. They should also provide the teacher with a snapshot of their students' understanding that is quick and easy to interpret. 

To give an example, a common misconception that arises when students are talking how evolution and natural selection operate is that organisms 'adapt themselves' to suit their environment. A hinge point question that could be used to tease out this misconception might be as follows:

• Which of the following statements are true about convergent evolution, for example the similar body forms seen in both sharks and dolphins? (You may choose one or more from the following options):

1. The ancestors of dolphins and sharks adapted themselves to life underwater during their lifetimes, and passed these adaptations on to their offspring.
2. Dolphins and sharks have similar body shapes because they both evolved from the same common ancestor.
3. Some ancestors of dolphins and sharks had similar traits that enabled them to successfully survive and reproduce underwater, and therefore these traits were passed on to their offspring.
4. The ancestors of dolphins lived near water and therefore adapted themselves to life underwater.

The correct answer, #3, could in theory be guessed by students, and there is no fool-proof way to prevent this. One possible solution would be to provide more than one correct answer. However, this would make interpretation of the results more difficult and time-consuming. During the AfL course, participants were encouraged to develop and submit HPQs of their own, which were then compiled and may be accessed here. 

AfL can provide benefits to both learners and teachers. Learners can benefit since HPQs can help them to focus on their own learning - what they know, and what they need to know, thus helping them to develop their metacognitive skills. Teachers benefit since they can get an idea of the level of understanding in a classroom, gain insights into differentiation strategies that may be required, and what scaffolding may be necessary in order to develop learners' understanding and begin moving it to a deeper level. 

Planning for inquiry learning

With my new school year rapidly approaching, I have been thinking about ways to incorporate more inquiry-based learning into my classroom. I found a useful blog post by Kath Murdoch at JustWonderingBlog.com with some great ideas around how to prepare learners for a more inquiry-oriented approach to their learning. 

One of the key points I feel is the idea of reframing learning intentions as questions. The Right Question Institute offers a range of free resources that provide teachers with ways to encourage learners to formulate their own questions and foster an inquiry approach to learning. 

An area where I am limited is in creating a physical space that enables learners to move around and find working configurations that suit them. The best that can be achieved is the rearrangement of desks or the creation of a slightly more informal seating arrangement. There are plenty of desktop PCs available, however, and most students have their own mobile devices, so this affords a little more flexibility in setting up the physical space. 

Enabling learners to understand their own learning strengths is something I have been focusing on for a while now, and this is again something that is highlighted as an important aspect of inquiry learning. I plan to continue to developing ways to enhance learners' metacognitive awareness, whcih will form part of the inquiry journey. 

Although my learners have frequent, regular summative exams as dictated by the curriculum, my hope is that by using a more inquiry-based approach, learners will achieve more than simply good grades in their exams. 

What do online discussion forums offer second-language learners?

In my last post I outlined how online asynchronous discussion forums (ADFs) fit into the SAMR model. This week I’m going to outline some of the additional benefits that ADFs can provide to English language learners (ELLs) specifically, and for learners more generally. This is something quite close to home for me as a teacher, since the learners I work with are Thai high school students. Their first language is obviously Thai, but at my school they receive the majority of their lessons in English.

Language plays a crucial role in learning, both for metacognitive awareness, or learning how to learn, and in the formation of higher mental processes (Murphy, 2008). ADFs afford learners the opportunity to practice their written language skills, and also provide those students who are less confident about speaking English the opportunity to prepare their answers before posting them.

In addition, by participating in an online debate, students have an opportunity to learn more than simply a list of decontextualised knowledge items – they also gain critical thinking, debating, English language, and scientific research skills. In other words, ADFs afford the development of critical literacy, which includes recognising multiple and contradictory patterns of thought, and engaging in moral/philosophical critique (Davies, 2008).

It has been noted that by using authentic situations, such as a debate about a topical area where science impacts society, English language skills and subject area skills can be improved simultaneously. The development and use of specific language functions, such as explaining and hypothesising, are seen as parallel to science learning processes (Stoddart et al., 2002), e.g. when ELLs participate in an online debate they are developing both language and science skills. Recent studies of a professional development intervention with elementary teachers, aimed at simultaneously improving both science and literacy skills of ELLs in multicultural settings, have shown achievement gains in both areas (Lee et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2009).

Finally, subject area literacy can be enhanced by engagement in culturally authentic activity. Debates around controversial topics, such as stem cell research or vaccine use, are an example of this, reflecting as they do real-world debates held both within the scientific community, and between the scientific community and the wider community at large. Learners are seen to be able to move along trajectories that are not discontinuous as they move from school social practices to more general social practices, also an important feature in the development of lifelong learning skills (Roth and Lee, 2008).

I personally feel that ADFs offer a variety of affordances that make them an invaluable tool for 21st Century learning. I would be interested to hear how other teachers use ADFs in their context!

References

Davies, B. (2008). Constructing and deconstructing masculinities through critical literacy, in Hall, K., Murphy, P., and Soler, J. (eds.). Pedagogy and Practice, London, Sage in association with The Open University

Lee, O., Maerten-Rivera, J., Penfield, R.D., LeRoy, K., and Secada, W.G. (2008). Science achievement of English language learners in urban elementary schools: Results of a first-year professional development intervention. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45, 1, pp.31-52

Lee, O., Mahotiere, M., Salinas, A., Penfield, R.D., and Maerten-Rivera, J. (2009). Science writing achievement among English language learners: Results of a three-year intervention in urban elementary schools. Bilingual Research Journal, 32, pp153-167

Murphy, P. (2008). Defining pedagogy, in Hall, K., Murphy, P., and Soler, J. (eds.). Pedagogy and Practice, London, Sage in association with The Open University

Roth, W.M. and Lee, S. (2008). Science education as/for participation in the community, in Murphy, P. and Hall, K. (eds.). Learning and Practice, London, Sage in association with The Open University

Stoddart, T., Pinal, A., Latzke, M. and Canaday, D. (2002). Integrating inquiry science and language development for English Language Learners. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 8, pp.664-687