Learning to assess learning through a topic on insects

School: Brooklyn Primary

Year Level: 3/4

Teacher: Miriam Buikhuizen

Focus area: To investigate ways to improve student capability to implement authentic learning including student ability to work together effectively to develop and implement assessment criteria for key learning intentions in an Inquiry.

Research Questions:

Question 1. Implementation: How can students be supported to develop the ability to work together effectively to develop and implement assessment criteria through independent and group inquiry into 'Insects'?

Question 2. Knowledge: What impact does using independent and group inquiry on 'Insects' have on student knowledge of Ecology, particularly that living things have certain requirements to stay alive, and living things have certain impacts on their habitat?

Success Criteria for Knowledge

Expert: is able to identify gaps in their knowledge, and make a plan to take the steps towards that
Practitioner: is able to use information about an insect and its ecology to offer possible solutions to a problem they've identified, and something they could influence
Apprentice: is able to record information about an insect and its ecology and sees the relation between Cause and Effect
Novice: is able to retrieve information about an insect and its ecology

Learning Story:

During the thrid school term our class focused on the ecology of insects. I wanted to explore how well stduents could engage in the process of identifying success criteria and rating themselves against that criteria at the year three and four level. I wanted them to develop knowledge of the ecology of insects and I wanted them to develop competency in working together in a group.

As a class we firstly discussed what it meant to think interdependentlyand work together. This is one of Art Costa's 16 Habits of Mind (see photo below) which we try to equip students with at our school.



We then worked together to identify what a novice, apprentice, practitioner and expert would be able to do for this habit of mind. The photos below show what we came up with.



Students then rated themselves against each of the criteria. The photos below show where the children thought they were with respect to the Habit of Mind - Thinking Interdependently, at the beginning of the Topic work.






We then began our topic. Students in groups investigated a range of insects. They used various tools such as venn diagrams, plus-minus-interesting and flow charts to categorise and summarise their knowledge. The vast majority of the work required them to think interdependently and to work in groups.



The photo above shows a group's use of PMI grahphic organiser in their poster.



The poster above shows a group's use of a flow diagram to show a life cycle of an insect.



At the end of the topic students presented back what they found through a poster (see two examples above) using graphic organisers, pictures, a clear heading etc.

Results:

Outcome 1. Knowledge:

Number of students who were ...
8. Proficient experts - at end [0]
7. Beginning experts - at end [0]
6. Proficient practitioners - at end [0]
5. Beginning practitioners - at end [9]
4. Proficient apprentices - at end [3]
3. Beginning apprentices - at end [1]
2. Proficient novices - at end [5]
1. Beginning novices - at end [8]

Conclusions:

I worked with students to develop the cirteria for thinking interdepedently - working together. We established a continuum from novice to expert. On reflection we should have described what it was to "think interdependently - work together" at the year 3-4 level and just used this as our novice criteria. If the students could do that then they were a novice with that competency. They would become an apprentice if they could describe clearly to someone else and give examples of how to think interdependently and work together. They would become a practitioner if they could use that competency to help them learn in another context. They would be experts if they could identify what they needed to work on to improve their competency and had a plan to bring this improvement about.

Students at this age were able to help identify the criteria for competency. There was a large degree of teacher facilitation of the process but this is to be expected at this year level. They were able to rate themselves on our continuum but this proved a little pointless in the end as I realised that I had applied the learning poutama (novice - expert) continuum incorrectly. As a result I didn't implement a post assessment of student competency against the continuum we developed.

I hadn't idenfied early on the before/after assessment for knowledge, therefore I only have assessment data for knowledge at the conclusion of the topic. This has shown that, although half the children could have a conversation about their insect and habitat and have ideas of Cause and Effect, they are not yet able to record this on a graphic organiser independently. The other half have shown varying ability to both use the graphic organiser appropriately, and to record 'realistic' scenarios. A few so far, have even indicated some ideas of a possible solution to a problem they have identified. For example, a scientist coming up with an anti-venom for people being stung by mosquitoes carrying malaria.

On completion of our topic on 'Insects and the Animal World' we brainstormed around a scenario - "What would happen if in Brooklyn, trees kept getting cut down and never replaced". The children came up with many ideas that linked to a new outcome. From this they were asked whether they could think of a way they could effect any of the outcomes. Some children showed they could think of a viable idea; they became our Beginning Practitioners in the knowledge area.

Because this topic needed to come to a conclusion, next term I will be continuing with a 'Plan of Action' with a reading group. This is to develop an 'Insect Garden' within our school. I will be leaving the majority of the planning, researching and running around to the children, and what this will demonstrate is whether these particular children are Proficient Practitioners or even Experts - being able to follow something like this through and then identify gaps in their knowledge that could be the focus of their next stage of learning in this area.

I have found that it is important to establish the Knowledge Criteria early on so that a pre-test can be developed. This also provides a better idea of where I'd like them to end up. This however, may not always be straight forward, because of the nature of where teaching/learning is going with 'Student Centred Learning'.

The process 'threw up' many questions, too many to mention here. These questions need to be teased out at a Syndicate and School level. For example, how much of the direction of learning should we devolve to the children at Year 3/4 level? No doubt these questions will form the focus of future teacher research projects!