Pedagogical knowledge literature/theory base:
Assessment in PBL: Reynolds stated "It may be preferable, and more rigorous, for assessments to follow the PBL philosophy and to require the individual to analyze a problem, search for and then apply relevant information." (Reynolds, 1997,p. 272). If the main goal of PBL is to have students create the habit of mind evidenced thus assessment need to consider process-oriented objectives. PBL assessments should be authentic, which is to say that they should be structured so that students can display their understanding of problems and their solutions in contextually-meaningful ways (Gallagher, 1997). According to the previous definitions, multiple-choice assessments have a little value in assessing the extent of which students have approached. A critical part of assessment in PBL is the feedback students receive from their peers. Allen, Duch, and Groah (1996) in their study emphasized on the importance of peer rating. However, peer ratings are not sufficient feedback. The instructor should also provide detailed comments about each student's strengths and weaknesses. Having students evaluate their own performance can be a valuable task as well. (Bridges, 1996).
2- Performance assessment: is assessment based on observation and judgment. The challenge with this type of assessment is to make it as objective as possible. Performance assessments consist of two parts: a task-what we ask the students to do and criteria the basis for judging quality. To select high-quality performance criteria, we should look at four dimensions of quality: content, Clarity, Practicality, and Technical Quality/ Fairness. (J. Stiggins, Judith. Arter, Jan Chappuis 2005, p244)
3- Socio-cultural theory:
Nowadays where rap music rules among youth especially African-American students, we clearly see this kind of culture penetrate even classrooms, students bring their own culture to classroom, trying to build a social capital among their peers, and with their teachers. Many times students have to face this conflict between their culture and this of their teachers, however a successful classroom comes to existence when students and teachers can built their social capital and create solidarity in classroom, as Tobin states: “Solidarity occurs within a community when positive emotional energy, mutual focus, synchrony, and chains of successful interactions occur. (Tobin ALIGNING THE CULTURES OF TEACHING AND LEARNING SCIENCE IN URBAN HIGH SCHOOLS.) Tobin (P8 )
Wygoda & Teague define alternative assessment as unexpected approaches to the content which encourage creativity and ingenuity, usually involve writing poetry or songs, acting out content sequences, drawing or building 3D.
Authentic assessments are real life applications for the content developed as a group activity and performed before an audience.
What
I have chosen for the baseline evidence a 1-homework assignment and a quiz from college prep chemistry class as well as a 2-chemistry lab from the same course.
My later evidence consists of different examples (before#1, after #2) of students' work, which include the atomic structure, a quiz, a test, a lab created by one of my students, a rap by a student from introductory chemistry class, and "Specific Heat Skit." Moreover, a lesson plan includes lab rubric, assessment evidences (knowledge,portfolio, performance, and skill)
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Drawing an atomic model: After teaching the atomic structure, I asked my students to use a red marker to individually draw a given atom. The second step was to use a blue marker and work with a partner to share their ideas and revise their drawings. The third step was to use a green marker and work in groups of four to share ideas and revise their models. The final step, after working in groups, was for each student to draw another model of a given atom using a gray marker.
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Lab : This lab is product created by a student from my Honors Chemistry Lab course. Now after involved in Chem. 502 and Chem. 503, designing a lab from scratch is a requirement for my students to graduate from the Honors Chemistry Lab Course.
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Specific Heat Skit : Eleven students created a skit on specific heat. Students wrote the script, practiced, made up costumes, and performed. In this skit students covered the main concepts about energy transferred, specific heat, solutions, and sea breeze.
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Chemistry Rap: this presentation is made by John; a black male who identifies himself as African-American, and who chose to present his project in the form of a rap.
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Quiz/Test: before and after quizzes/tests show vast improvement in designing assessment.
How
The baseline evidence represent a sample of homework and quiz which covers some definitions (memorization/lower level thinking)and a lab report where's no rubric was provided, no procedures, and formal lab write-up is not observed.
The later evidence show my growth in designing assessment using new pedagogical knowledge. The work of my students' drawing atomic models, creating a chemistry lab, drawing VSEPR models and predict polarity quiz , chemical formula test reflects the applications of new pedagogical knowledge in designing assessment Specific Heat Skit and The Chemistry Rap represents both performance assessment as well as the use of socio-cultural theory to produce a non-traditional style of assessment.
Why
Baseline evidence and later evidence show the dramatic change in designing assessment. Lewis/VSEPR/ Polarity quiz represents new pedagogical knowledge in using PBL to assess my students' understanding in drawing valid Lewis structure, predict the polarity of each molecule, and then name these molecules using VSEPR model. The other later evidence represents my changes and growth in lab assessment where my students follow formal lab-write up procedures, lab rubric, and finally create their own labs from scratch.
Students' skit and Rap in chemistry are example of performance assessment as well as an application of the socio-cultural theory, in "Specific Heat Skit" made by ten white students and one black female student where all are learning, performing, and building social capital in classroom. However, in performance assessment there are so many extraneous factors that can contribute to a student's performance on any single performance task. students need to complete a number of tasks to serve as the basis for a stable estimate of performance (Shavelson, Baxter, & Pine, 1992).
Rap in chemistry represents a different culture of young African American male who master the science concepts when he was given the chance to bring his own culture in classroom.
Conclusion
From the last three years at STI, being able to learn, share, and practice in various classes has polished my content knowledge as well as my pedagogical style. In the MCEP I didn't learn only from my teachers, but also from my colleagues. I was inspired to design the atomic model activity after an assessment presentation by one of my colleagues, Pat Munter. Pat's presentation was about assessing students' understanding of atomic structure. In the EDU 535 class Pat presented some of her students' work which represented not only their misunderstanding of the material, but also their misconceptions in comprehending the atomic model. Pat's presentation inspired me to assess my students understanding in a practical way instead of assuming that they mastered the new concepts. My own version of this assessment was (as explained above under "What") to assess my students' understanding as well as to build a cooperative learning environment where they can share and teach each other (PBL); the second assessment, when students were asked to use the gray marker and draw a new atom, represents the students' growth and mastering of the atomic model.
The use of socio-cultural theory in designing assessment helped all my students to master scientific concepts where the black student could rap and the a white female could act. Students were given the choice to present their work the way they chose if they cover all the required criteria for the assessment. The use of PBL assessment style draw guidelines for me to design my quizzes and tests in a new way. Open ended questions, higher level thinking, analyze problem and apply relevant information are my new main keys in designing assessments.
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