ST1.5 Students demonstrate their learning through performance-based assessments and express their conclusions through elaborated explanations of their thinking.
Response:
Performance assessments are used to evaluate the STEM learning goals of our students. Students are afforded opportunities to improve their STEM builds and present to a variety of stakeholders in the community. Our students utilize the engineering design process and our “Problems to Profits” model to create marketing opportunities and defend their STEM builds.
Narrative:
Our assessments are focused on expanding students’ depth of knowledge in relation to college and career readiness. Our goal is to create assessments that seek to prepare students for college and careers in the 21st century by focusing on building and assessing critical thinking skills. These assessments require that students demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge and model rigorous performance tasks. By integrating both summative and formative tools, assessment becomes more integrated with the overall process of teaching and learning by providing relevant and timely insight into the learning process as well as evidence of achievement (National Research Council, 2013). Students participating in our STEM program are assessed via integrated weekly assessments. As a culminating activity students complete a rigorous performance based assessment that encompasses grade level skills and content knowledge at advanced levels via teacher created assessments. Students are also assessed via rubrics for presentations on engineering activities.
Strengths:
Our students are actively engaged in performance assessments because they require students to demonstrate a task rather than simply answer questions. Performance tasks are designed to be similar in nature to everyday challenges that adults face every day, requiring students to use higher-order thinking skills. STEM journals are also a large part of our student assessment. They provide a useful record of student work over time. As a summative assessment, students use their journals to write about what they have learned. Additionally, past CRCT scores indicate that students in grades 4-5 continue to meet or exceed in the testing content areas of math and science. Grade level standards, assessments and the resulting data continue to drive instruction.
Weaknesses:
Our students rely heavily upon STEM interactive notebooks as their primary data collection source. We are expanding the use of digital portfolios in the form of websites and other means to collect artifacts of student learning. We are working on a proposal to allow all STEM students K-5 to present their Career Portfolios in addition to the fifth grade students.
Evidence:
4_cs rubric.pdf | |
File Size: | 3001 kb |
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problem_to_profit_rubric_explanation.pdf | |
File Size: | 251 kb |
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Third Grade Pollution and Government Unit
During their Pollution Unit the students learned about pollution in science and government in social studies. The teachers took this opportunity to have students run for a political office with a focus on pollution as their platform. This an excerpt of the students and this activity.
During their Pollution Unit the students learned about pollution in science and government in social studies. The teachers took this opportunity to have students run for a political office with a focus on pollution as their platform. This an excerpt of the students and this activity.
Students Sharing their Learning with Business Partners
Students shared with the partners what they have been and are learning. Students also took the partners to the different labs for them to share what they are learning in each lab.
Students shared with the partners what they have been and are learning. Students also took the partners to the different labs for them to share what they are learning in each lab.