AITSL Standards
Standard 5.1
Assessing student achievement requires a combination of formative, summative and diagnostic assessments. Student achievement is very contextual and changes depending on factors such as engagement, subject, emotional and physical changes (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016).
Being able to develop and choose the appropriate assessment, relevant to the students, is considered the skill that AITSL deems appropriate for the standard (AITSL, 2011).
A key element in science education is inquiry based learning, where students are prompted to explore the scientific concepts in a genuine context, to develop content understanding (SCSA, 2014).
A common model used to guide teachers in planning for inquiry based learning is the 5-E model, as seen to the right (Dawson, Venville & Dovovan, 2019).
Students are to start with engaging in the content, to pique their interest. Exploring the concept allows students to build their own understanding, then hear and explanation. Elaboration follows with the appropriate classroom activities.
Evaluation is key to the model, either being central or the final stage of the process (Dawson, Venville & Dovovan, 2019). Evaluating is for students and teachers reflect and understand what needs to be taught.
The 5-E model. Sourced from https://nasaeclips.arc.nasa.gov/teachertoolbox/the5e
On practicum, I was able to use a mix of diagnostic and formal assessments to help guide my inquiry based learning. An example of this is with the application called Kahoot! (2021) Year 9 students were asked to provide a fingerprint in agar solution, to demonstrate the growth of different bacteria. This practical experiment was done as a way to engage students in the knowledge of the immune system and pathogens (SCSA, 2014). After some direct instruction on the immune system, a formative assessment was needed to determine if the students were on track.
A kahoot was created (accessed via the hyperlink to the right) to determine the students level of knowledge. Although not a perfect representation of student knowledge, the use of a kahoot allows for an informal formative model of assessment.
Logo for Kahhoot! Accessed via https://kahoot.com/library/kahoot-logo/.
Click the logo for the quiz mentioned.
By using Kahoot as a formative quiz, the ICT used is a direct substiute for the task completion, as per Puentedura's SAMR (2009) model, see right.
In order to increase the level of student engagement, it may be necessary to re-design the task where students create their own Kahoot quiz.
This would move the task up the SAMR model, whilst still using the creation of a quiz as an evaluation strategy, as per the 5-E model (Dawson, Venville & Dovovan, 2019).
SAMR Model by Puentedura (2013)
References:
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) . (2011). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/national-policy-framework/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers.pdf
Churchill, R., Godhino, S,. Johnson, N.F., Keddie, A., Letts, W., Lowe, K., Mackay, J., McGill, M., Moss, J., Nagel, M.C., Shaw, K., & Rogers, J. (2018).Teaching: Making a difference (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.
Dawson, V., Venville, G., & Dovovan, J. (2019). The art of teaching science: A comprehensive guide to the teaching of secondary school science (3rd ed). Allen and Unwin.
Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2016). Educational Psychology (6th ed.). Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
Puentedura, R. R. (2013, May 29). SAMR: Moving from enhancement to transformation [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/000095.html
School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA). (2014). Western Australian Curriculum. https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/teaching/curriculum-browser.
Kahoot!. (2021). Kahoot! for Schools: How it Works [webpage]. Retrieved from https://kahoot.com/schools/how-it-works/