Daniel A. Chapman 9 December 2013 Fieldwork Seminar Fieldwork Journal - Analysis of an Assessment The assessment that I ha e chosen to anal!

"e was a short# ten $%estion $%i" &Appendi' A( that I assi)ned at the end o* o%r si'th period +iolo)! co%rse on Th%rsda!# December *i*th. The $%i" ser ed as a means o* assessin) st%dent retention o* material that we ha e been )oin) o er er! consistentl! *or the past week and a hal*. I *ormed this $%i" s%ch that i* the st%dent had been both present in class# and participatin) with the material# the! sho%ld do er! well. For a st%dent to do poorl!# this wo%ld be a serio%s red *la) *or me# con e!in) that either the st%dent was absent# I was not teachin) the material. The $%i" was separated into three sections, the *irst section incl%ded si' matchin) $%estions on the parts o* the microscope# the second incl%ded three matchin) $%estions on the three di**erent t!pes o* microscopes that we ha e co ered so *ar# and the third section asked the st%dents to calc%late the ma)ni*ication o* a compo%nd li)ht microscope &with the e!epiece ma)ni*ication and the ob-ecti e ma)ni*ication incl%ded(. .ot to m! s%rprise# the st%dents did er! well on the $%i". /%t o* the se enteen st%dents who took the test# aro%nd *i*t! percent earned an A# thirt! percent earned a +# ten percent earned a C# and ten percent earned a D or lower. 0ookin) closer at how these scores came abo%t# m! st%dents per*ormed their best on the parts o* the microscope $%estion &which makes sense# as we ha e been talkin) abo%t this and workin) with microscopes so m%ch(# the! per*ormed nearl! as well on the ma)ni*ication $%estion &with -%st a *ew people either lea in) it blank or con*%sed on how to complete the calc%lation(# and the section the! per*ormed the poorest in were the three $%estions re)ardin) the di**erent t!pes o* microscopes. 1hile we had talked abo%t the di**erent t!pes o* microscopes in class# and the! had completed a two da! pro-ect describin) and compilin) ima)es o* and *rom the di**erent microscopes# man! still str%))led with distin)%ishin) the two t!pes o* electron microscopes *rom one another. I empathi"e *or the st%dents in their di**ic%lt! to distin)%ish the two# as the two are so closel! related to one another. I think that it wo%ld be worthwhile to look at how I asked and *ormatted the $%estion# and how I co%ld chan)e the $%estion s%ch that I )et responses that honestl! show the de)ree o* learnin) that has occ%rred in this content. I think that I co%ld ha e c%t o%t the 2this t!pe o* microscope3 introd%ction to each answer to limit the amo%nt o* comprehension distraction and to decrease the similarit! between the three answers. I also think that this $%estion co%ld be enhanced b! attachin) ima)es to each o* the answers# as the st%dents ha e all spent time lookin) at ima)es that the three di**erent microscopes prod%ce. In addition# in re)ards to teachin) process that went on be*ore the $%i"# I wo%ld implement a note4takin) hando%t to )%ide the st%dents thro%)h their note4takin)# and

ass%re that the! had all o* the in*ormation written down# and that it was identical to the in*ormation that wo%ld be placed on the $%i". All in all# I *eel that this assessment was a )ood means o* seein) where m! st%dents are at# and sim%ltaneo%sl!# what I sho%ld be pa!in) more attention to in m! own creation and implementation o* assessments. Appendix A: Microscope Quiz

Parts of the Microscope ( points!: ("!# $ase: %%%%%%%%%%%%%% (&!# 'yepiece (ens: %%%%%%% ()!# Arm: %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% (*!# +,-ecti.e (ens: %%%%%%% (/!# 0ta1e: %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ( !# 2ourse Focus kno,: %%%%

B C D E

3ypes of Microscopes () points!: a# 2ompound (i1ht Microscope ,# 3ransmission 'lectron Microscope c# 0cannin1 'lectron Microscope 4# %%%%%%%%%% 5#%%%%%%%%%%% 6#%%%%%%%%%%% This t!pe o* microscope %ses a beam o* electrons to iew specimen5s surface in )d# specimen m%st be dead. This t!pe o* microscope %ses a li)ht so%rce to iew specimen# specimen can b! ali e. This is also the microscope that we ha e %sed in class. This t!pe o* microscope %ses a beam o* electrons to iew the inside of specimen in 1reat detail# can ma)ni*! %p to 200#000'.

Ma1nification (" points!: ("7!# 8f your 2ompound (i1ht Microscope has an eyepiece lens ma1nification of "7x9 and an o,-ecti.e lens ma1nification of *x9 then what would your total ma1nification ,e: