Daniel A.

Chapman 12 January 2014 Fieldwork Seminar Fieldwork Journal Chapter 3 Test & Retake Last week, my students were i!en the opportunity to retake their "hapter # test, as the !ast ma$ority %o!er &0' o( our two periods "om)ined* had earned s"ores )elow passin . +any students did (ar )etter on the retake, and the ma$ority earned at least a D or hi her, althou h some still did !ery poorly. , )elie!e that the poor test s"ores were less a result o( students not knowin the material that we "o!ered, )ut in (a"t, their poor per(orman"e was determined )y the test itsel(. Additionally, (or a student to do well on the re-take, they really $ust needed to know what they ot wron , and less a)out how they ot it wron or an enhan"ed.deeper understandin o( the "ontent. /he re-take that was i!en to our students in"luded all o( the same 0uestions (rom the (irst test, )ut this time the 0uestions were rearran ed into a di((erent order. 1e had i!en the students all o( the "orre"t answers to the (irst test, and a!e them two days to re!iew in "lass, and two ni hts to study at home (or the re-take. , )elie!e that (or many o( our students, the results we saw do not a""urately measure the de ree o( learnin that our students had done, )ut rather their a)ility to memori2e and re"o ni2e the "orre"t answers. Similarly, students who hadn3t per(ormed as well may ha!e done poorly as a result o( their ina)ility to a""urately display their own de ree o( learnin . Some o( the 0uestions on the test re0uired the students to know "ontent and make "onne"tions that were either not "o!ered or la"ked the ne"essary depth in our "lass "o!era e (or us to e4pe"t our students to per(orm well. For e4ample, the lan ua e used in 0uestions 5 and 6, 78ost o((i"e9 and 7/ransport System,9 were not used in our le"tures, notes, or assi nments. For our students to per(orm well on these 0uestions, they would ha!e had to make these "onne"tions on their own, and , )elie!e our students were underprepared (or this le!el o( assessment. Additionally, the (ormat and the dia rams shown to aid 0uestions 1-: and 14-20 "aused a lot o( "on(usion and were not laid out in a manner that was "ondu"i!e to su""ess. /he mi"ros"ope dia ram is !ery "on(usin , in that the la)els on the parts are not the same as the a-e answer options. 1hile the ima e o( the la)eled "ell is !ery poor resolution, su"h that the "hloroplasts and mito"hondria are nearly indistin uisha)le; (or at least : students , had to draw them supplementary e4amples. , )elie!e that these poor test 0uestions "ould ha!e reatly inhi)ited our students per(orman"e on the test and the su)se0uent re-take. Further, this e4perien"e has made me re(le"t a lot on how one should prepare their test so that they "an pre!ent "lassroom wide re-takes, the !alue o( retakes, and the approa"hes ne"essary to make re-takes a !alua)le assessment. , )elie!e that more o(ten than not, in a <iolo y "lassroom, the tea"her

must 7tea"h to their test.9 1hat , mean )y that, is the tea"her should ha!e a "lear idea o( what "ontent they want to test and how they want to test it )e(ore they e!en tea"h. /his insures that the 0uestions you are oin to )e askin line up distin"tly with the "ontent you tea"h and how you went a)out tea"hin it. Similarly, tea"hers need to set a""urate e4pe"tations and standards (or their students; this applies to )oth 7(irst-round9 tests and re-takes. Students should ha!e a "lear idea o( what they need to study %key pie"es*, how they "an.should o a)out studyin , and where they "an o (or 7help9 %te4t, notes, tea"her, "lass re!iew, peers, et"*. , )elie!e that re-takes "an )e !ery !alua)le i( they are (ramed as a learnin e4perien"e. =(ten times, test re-takes "an )e used solely as a ne"essary means o( raisin opposed to a re-take )ein rades, somethin that must )e done, that doesn3t re0uire or stress a lot o( study or supplementary learnin ; as i!en as a means o( en"oura in and promotin student rowth and learnin in the tau ht "ontent. ,n this s"enario, this "ould ha!e happened throu h i!in the students time to work amon themsel!es or peers to rea"h their own "on"lusions re ardin the "orre"t answers to the test. Additionally, i( the test had an additional se"tion that a""urately displayed whether they had made deeper learnin impro!ements )etween the two tests, instead o( simply memori2in the "orre"t answers. Also, i( the test had )een (ormatted su"h that it was "learer, ,3m sure that the students would ha!e per(ormed )etter. Appendix: I. Chapter 3 Test Retake: