LauraDouglas

EPS513
FinalPaper

Assessmentscanbevaluabletoolsingainingknowledgeaboutyourstudents,and
evenyourteachingpractices.Forthispaperaninterimassessmentonatomicstructure
(cycle4)wasanalyzed.Theassessmentwastakenaweekandahalfaftertheintroduction
ofthenewunit.Asmallgroupoffourstudentswereobservedforoneofthedaysthat
coveredmaterialfortheinterimassessmenteventsamplingandtimesamplingdatawas
collectedduringthislesson.Theinterimassessmentwillbeanalyzedfirst,andthen
connectionstoobservationswillbemade.Finally,implicationsforfuturestudentlearning
andfollowupstepswillbediscussed.
TheCycle4interimassessmentconsistedoftenmultiplechoicequestionsonthe
topicofatomicstructure.ItassessedtheILSSciencelearningstandards12.7.39and
12.7.43.Thisassessmentcanbeconsideredmoreofminiassessment,whosepurposeis
tocheckforstudentunderstandinghalfwaythroughthenewcycle.Resultsaremeantto
yielddataonwhatmaterialneedstoberetaughtbeforemovingforwardinthecycle.While
theassessmentisvalidbecauseitisbasedonstatestandards,itsreliabilitycouldbe
challengedduetothelimitednumberofquestions.However,asstatedpreviously,the
purposeofthisassessmentistogaugestudentlearninghalfwaythroughthecycle.The
summativeassessment,endofcycletest,includesalargernumberofquestionswitha
shortanswersection.
Acomprehensiveanalysisofstudentsincorrectanswerswasperformed,asseen
inFigure1.AnalysiswascompletedbasedontestinhandguidelinesfromBambrick
(2010).AccordingtoFigure1,questionsthreeandfourprovedthemostdifficultforthe
classwithover70%oftheclassansweringincorrectly.Questionsoneandfivearealsoof
concernwith58%oftheclassansweringincorrectly.Figure2hasthetopfourincorrectly
answeredquestions.Figure3givesabreakdownofwhatincorrectanswerswerechosen
foreachquestion.
Grade Student Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10
90% Myesha D
80% Davion D C
80% Nia D B
80% Anthony A D
70% Shawna A D B
70% Dashai B D B
70% Keywuna B C C
60% Jasmine D B D
60% Frankie B C B C
60% Keith C A A D
60% Amberia D D C C
60% Curshawn A A D C
60% Khalya D C C B
60% Taylor C C C B
60% Rickita A D B C
50% Javen B C D A C
50% Moya D C D C C
40% Jermaine D D D A

%
Incorrect 58% 5% 74% 79% 58% 16% 0% 32% 5% 0%
Figure1:IncorrectDataAnalysisofCycle4MiniAssessment.
Studentsobservedfortimeandeventsamplingdataarehighlightedinorange.Blank
squaresindicatethatstudentansweredquestion(Q)correctly.

1.Thesmallestparticleintowhichanelementcanbedividedandstillhavethepropertiesofthatelement
iscalleda(n)
A)nucleus B)electron C)atom D)compound

3.Whereareelectronslikelytobefound?
A)Inthenucleus B)inelectronclouds
C)mixedthroughoutanatom D)indefinitepaths

4.Everyatomofagivenelementhasthesamenumberof
A)protons B)neutrons C)electrons D)isotopes

5.Whichofthefollowinghastheleastmassinanatom?
A)nucleus B)Proton C)neutron D)electron
Figure2:MostCommonIncorrectlyAnsweredQuestions
Correctanswersarebolded.

Figure3:PercentIncorrectAnswersonAssessment

Nearly80%oftheclassansweredquestionnumberfourincorrectly.Themost
commonincorrectanswerfornumberfourwasD)isotopes,with60%ofincorrectchoices.
ThesignificanceofanswerD)isotopes,isthattheclassdidnotevenlearnwhatanisotope
isyet.Thispointstothestudentsnotunderstandingthecommoncomponentsofanatom
becausetheyoptedtochoosethewordtheydidntfullyknow.Accordingtoquestion1,
incorrectanswersweredistributedevenlyamongstD,BandA.Thissuggeststhatstudents
mayhavebeensimplyguessingandthattherewasntamisconceptioninplace.Offurther
significance,ifyoureadquestion1(figure2),atomisthecorrectresponseforquestion
one.Thefactthat58%ofstudentsdidnotknowthedefinitionofanatomfurthersupports
thenotionthatstudentshavenotmasteredthebasiccomponentsofatoms.
Asseeninfigure3,studentsconsistentlychosethesameincorrectanswerfor
questionfive.Thispointstoacommonmisconception.Ibelievethestudentsmustbe
confusingmasswithchargebecausestudentshaddonealotofworkonchargesinan
atom.Thelowpercentageofincorrectanswersforquestiontwosupportsthatstudents
havemasteredchargesinanatom.
Anadditionalmisconceptionseenonthetestoccurredwithquestionnumberthree.
ThemostcommonincorrectanswerwasD)indefinitepathsfollowedbyC)mixed
throughouttheatom.IbelieveD)wasacommonanswerbecausestudentsweredrawing
theBorhelectronmodelfrequentlyinlessons.IntheBorhmodel,electronsareinvalence
shells,ordefinitepaths.Thelowpercentageofincorrectanswersforquestionnumber9
demonstratesthestudentsmasteryofelectronshells.ChoiceC,mixedthroughout,could
beacommonchoiceifstudentsconfusedelectronswithprotons/neutrons(theyaremixed
inthenucleus).WhenIspoketoMs.Wu,whohadtaughtthissectionofthecycle,she
confirmedthatmostoftheworkdonewithelectronshadtodowiththeBorhmodelandthat
shedidntspendmuchtimeonelectronclouds.

Figure4:ObservationalGroupsIncorrectAnswers
AccordingtoFigure4,theobservationalgroupallanswerednumberoneandthree
incorrectly.Whilebeingsomeofthemostcommonincorrectanswersamongsttheclass
(figure1),thesequestionsaresignificantbecausetheywerecoveredintheobserved
lesson.Asseeninfigure5,themajorityofthatdayslessonwasspentonanindependent
worksheet.Analysisoftheindependentworktimerevealsthatstudentspersistencegoes
downaftereightminutes,whileShawnaisunabletofocusonindependentworkafteronlya
minute.Contrarily,studentsweremostlyontaskduringthewholegroupactivity.This
suggeststhatstudentsmayhavebeenabletolearnandretainthelessonbetterifitwas
focusedonasmallgroupactivityratherthanrelyingonanindependentworksheet.

Activity Minute Anthony Da'shai Frankie Shawna KEY

DoNow 1 T/HR T F/L F/L T=(offtask)Talking
DoNow 2 T L L F/W HR=HandRaised
DoNow 3 HR/F L L/F L L=Listening
DoNow 4 T/F T L L F=Fidgeting
WholeClassActivity 5 L L L L W=Writing
WholeClassActivity 6 L/F L T/L T/L R=Reading
WholeClassActivity 7 PA L PA PA S=Staringintospace
WholeClassActivity 8 PA PA F/S F/PA
PA=Participating(in
class)Activity
WholeClassActivity 9 PA T/R PA SF/PA OnTask
WholeClassActivity 10 T L T/L FT/L PartiallyonTask
IndependentWork 11 PA W/PA W/PA PA OffTask
IndependentWork 12 HR R W/PA S/W
IndependentWork 13 T/inbackpack R inbackpack F/ST
IndependentWork 14 W W inbackpack S/W
IndependentWork 15 W W W W/S
IndependentWork 16 W/HR
asksstudent
?/W W W
IndependentWork 17 HR R/W R/W F/R
IndependentWork 18 HR W R/W S
IndependentWork 19 HR RW/T R/W F/T
IndependentWork 20 HR T R/W T
IndependentWork 21 T/FR T R/W asksstudent?/F
IndependentWork 22 F T R/W S/T
IndependentWork 23 F/RW W/T R/W S/T
IndependentWork 24 R/W T R/W T
IndependentWork 25 W T/W R/W T/W
Figure5:TimeSamplingObservation
Interestingly,whileFrankiewasabletoperseverethelongestduringthe
independentworksheet,hescoredthelowestontheassessmentwitha60%.Perhaps,
Frankieonlyappearedtobeengagedinhisworksheet,butwasnotcompletingitproperly.
Idonothavethedataonthegradesforthatday,soIcannotinvestigateintothisnotion
further.Morelikelyhowever,theworksheetwasnotareliableformofreinforcingstudent
knowledge.Lessonsleadinguptothecycle4miniassessmenthadahighvolumeof
worksheets.Ifstudentswereunabletolearnandretaininformationwithworksheets,this
couldaccountforthepoorperformanceontheassessment.
Alsoofnote,wasShawnasscoreof70%ontheassessmentwhichisabovethe
classaverageof64%andonparwiththerestofhergroup.Thisisnoteworthybecause
duringherobservation,Shawnawasonlyontaskfor20%ofthelesson,asseeninFigure
6.Iwouldhaveexpected,basedonthetimeontaskanalysis,thatherscorewouldbelower
comparedtohermoreontaskclassmates.However,accordingtotheeventsampling
observation,Shawnamadethemostattemptstogetbackontrackduringthelesson
(figure7).ThisisagoodindicatorthatShawnahasnotjustgivenupcompletelyonthe
lessonandisputtinginsome,albeit,minimaleffort.Perhaps,thisperseverancecontinues
athomeandthiswouldaccountforhergrade.Shawnaisverygoodabouthandingin
homework,whichactsasareviewforthesummativeassessment.

Figure6:PercentofTimeonTask

Anthony Da'shai Frankie Shawna

PersistenceinProblem
Solving
WorkingIndependently 4 5 6 1
Fidgeting 7 1 3 9
Makingnoises 1
Attemptstogetbackon 3 1 5
track
Participatesinclass
activity 6 4 3 4
Communication
Listeningtospeaker 4 4 4 4
Asks?stoteacher 1
Asks?stogroupmates 2 1 1
Offtasktalking 5 5 1 3
RaisesHand 9 2 2 2
PriorKnowledgeof
Content
assistsotherslearning 3
makesconnectionstoprior
lessons 3 2 1 1
Figure7:EventSamplingObservation

AccordingtoShepard(2000)inorderforassessmenttoplayamoreusefulrolein
helpingstudentslearnitshouldbemovedintothemiddleoftheteachingandlearning
processinsteadofbeingpostponedasonlytheendpointofinstruction.Thepurposeof
thecycle4miniassessment,wasjustthataninterimassessmentbeforethesummative
assessmentonthecycle(unit).Therefore,oneofthekeydriversforthisassessmentwasto
createateacheractionplan.Actionplansrequirethereteachingofmaterialnotmastered
bystudents.Inordertoeffectivelyassesseswhatneedstoberetaught,adeepanalysisof
theassessmentmustbeperformed(Bambrick,2010).
Previously,analysisoftestsconsistedoftakingnotewhatquestionsstudentswere
havingdifficultyonwhilegradingatest.Bycarefullyanalyzingthisassessment,Iwasable
topinpointmisconceptionsthestudentshadandgapsintheirlearning.Basedonanalysis
results,itisclearthatatomicstructureneedstoberetaughttothestudents.Before
reteaching,however,itisimportanttoprovideproperfeedbacktostudents,sothatthey
mayhavetheopportunitytoselfcorrectthemselves(Shepard,2000).Onceassessments
aregraded,itiscommonpracticetoreviewthemwithstudentsandtrytoaddress
questionsbeforemovingahead.
Basedonstudentobservationsandassessmentscores,theteachershould
reconsiderhowlessonsweretaughtinthefirstplace.Groupactivitiesseemedtoworkwell
withstudentsintheobservationalgroup,whilelengthyindependentworkseemedtohavea
negativeimpactonstudentperseverance.Oncemoreengaginglessonshavebeen
planned,studentprogresscanbeassesseddailywithexittickets.Thisinthemomentdata
iscrucialtoseeifasubjecthasbeenmasteredorneedsmoretimeforreinforcement.Itis
alsocrucialtomakesurepreviousmaterialiscontinuouslybeingreassessedduring
interimassessments(Bambrick,2010).Thisinsuresstudentsareretainingmaterialfrom
previousstandards.Priorassessmentsfailedtoincludethisaspectinthepast,butthat
mistakewillnotbecontinued.
Shepard(2000)notesthatacommonmistakeofteachersisnotusingpretest
informationininstruction.Thisissomethingthatalsoshouldbeaddressed.A
preassessmentwasgiventostudentspriortothestartofcycle4.However,lessonswere
alreadywrittenandbeingimplementedbythetimethepreassessmentwasgraded.
Perhaps,itwouldbemorebeneficialtogivethepretestatanearliertime,sothatitsdate
maybeimplementedinlessonplans.Thiscouldprovetosynthesisemoreeffectivelesson
planswhichwouldinturnyieldimprovedinterimtestscores.
Inthehandanalysisofthecycle4miniassessmentrevealedmisconceptionsand
gapsinlearningforstandardsbeingtaughtonatomicstructure.Thisdata,combinedwith
datacollectedduringstudentsobservation,providedaroadmapofnextstepsof
instructionsfortheunit.Assessmentanalysisrevealedwhatneedstoberetaught,while
observationsgaveinsightonthebestwaytoapproachthereteachingofthetopic.Exit
slipswillbeusedtocheckforunderstandingofretaughtmaterialandallfutureinterim
assessmentswillincludematerialfrompreviouslytestedstandards.Inconclusion,careful
analysisofassessmentsandstudentsobservationsprovedtobeavaluabletoolinstudent
learning.

References

BambrickSantoyo,P.(2010).Drivenbydata.SanFrancisco,CA:JosseyBass.

Shepard,L.A.(2000).Theroleofassessmentinalearningculture.Educational
Researcher,29(9),414.(2005).