What Types of Assessments Will Students Take?
What Types of Assessments Do I Use in My Classroom?
Many individuals hear the word 'assessment' or 'test' and think of a multiple choice or short answer exam where students are asked to regurgitate information that was discussed during previous class sessions. However, with the shift to NGSS, the approach to assessing students has greatly changed. As a part of NGSS, the performance expectations describe what students should know and be able to do and, for that reason, assessments must occur in many different forms. In some cases, students need to demonstrate that they can develop a model or plan and conduct an experiment to investigate a particular topic. This type of expectation cannot be met by the completion of a multiple choice exam. For this reason, assessments in my classroom may range from explaining a scientific concept using data, to engineering a product meeting certain specifications, to creating a simulation that demonstrates a scientific process. Due to the use of different types of assessments throughout the school year, I am able to measure students' progress
not only in understanding scientific concepts, but also in their ability to apply scientific concepts to real-world scenarios.
For further information regarding types of assessments, please check out the book Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards.
Examples of Assessments
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