Colavito McKie Educ.

423: Teaching Science to Children Michiko McClary, Instructor April 19, 2014 Assessing Science Learning During this semester, I observed a number of different assessment strategies used to assess student learning. While working with third graders this semester, some of the assessment strategies I observed included verbal assessments (where the teacher would listen to see whether or not students could provide responses to open-ended statements), written response assessments (where the teacher gave students a question or situation and asked students to provide a written response to answer the question or respond to the statement), illustrations (where the teacher asked students to illustrate a specific event, chain of events, or outcome), demonstrations (where students were instructed to demonstrate a specific example of an event or action), question and answer sessions (where the teacher would provide students with questions and challenge students to provide a specific answer to the question), collaborative discussion (where the teacher and students would discuss scientific events for in depth study and research), homework (to include students finding evidence of science at home through the use of everyday objects), and by providing students with quizzes and tests at the end of a specific lesson. In speaking with Mrs. Wallace in regards to her methods of assessing students, I learned that she implements both the use of formative and summative assessments. In varying the needs of the learners in her classroom, I noticed that these objectives (usually for the entire class) were disseminated through various ways in providing students with equal opportunities to learn. In some cases, Mrs.

Wallace worked with small groups of students and individual students at her desk in the back of the classroom. In my opinion, the various forms of assessment used by Mrs. Wallace this semester was beneficial to student achievement. I agree with the fact that teachers must be skilled at knowing how and when to administer various assessments to students based on their needs. One assessment is not always the best method in recording student achievement. Educators should employ the use of multiple forms of assessment to assess student achievement and therefore optimize every opportunity for their students to accomplish goals set out by the teacher in an effort to be successful. Utilizing various forms of assessment equips students with the desired performance to make achievements at any and every rate possible. In this case, Mrs. Wallaces use of various forms of assessment proved to be beneficial to the students in her third grade classroom. As a teaching candidate, I know for a fact that Ill employ various forms of assessment in assessing the needs of my students and setting up an educational foundation that will equally equip students with the right form of positive motivation to want to succeed, intrinsically. Im not an advocate of the written assessment instruments used in the state of South Carolina. However, given the circumstances, I believe as a teacher I will equip my students with more than just the academic knowledge to successfully pass a test, but with the common intelligence of questioning the material and objectives provided in such tests such as the PASS tests.