My ideal test

    So I come down pretty hard on multiple choice (MC) tests. And I understand why many teachers like them. They support a diverse set of learners, they are easy to mark, they reduce test anxiety etc. etc. etc. But I am just not convinced that a student that gets 50/50 on a MC test actually understanding 100% of the material.

I've heard the response "Well how are we supposed to design a test then". I am going to try to put my money where my mouth is, and tell you exactly that

1) Get the knowledge stuff out of the way first. It should be fairly easy, recognition based, this is where you can have MC, matching, fill-in-the blank etc.

2) Comprehension and application questions. Probably written, one or two sentence answers.

3) Analysis.- get the student to draw out the big idea from the unit. This provides room for them to show you what they actually know

4) Synthesis/evaluation - here you write statements that the students will evaluate based on the information they have learned in the unit.

Obviously this model does not work well for all classes (math for example), but I will attempt to demonstrate how it would work for science.


Take this science 10 plo (Proscribed learning outcome) and it's corresponding Slo (suggested learning outcome)

B2  assess the potential impacts of
bioaccumulation

define, using examples, the terms bioaccumulation, parts per
million (ppm), biodegradation, and trophic levels (with reference to
producers and to primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers)
‰
identify a variety of contaminants that can bioaccumulate (e.g.,
pesticides, heavy metals, PCBs)

‰ describe the mechanisms and possible impacts of
bioaccumulation (e.g., eradication of keystone species,
reproductive impacts)

‰ compare the impact of bioaccumulation on consumers at
different trophic levels (e.g., red tide in oysters and humans;
heavy metals in fish and humans; PCBs in fish, birds, whales)

‰ research and analyse articles on the causes and effects of
bioaccumulation (e.g., mercury contamination in Inuit
communities and the Grassy Narrows First Nation community)

Level 1 questions
 "What trophic level experiences the greatest effect from bio accumulation"

Level 2 questions
 " You suspect a gold mine has accidentally released mercury, you test the water, but your instruments are not sensitive enough to measure it at such low levels. How/what else could you measure to prove the water was contaminated by mercury? Why can you test it this way?"

Level 3 questions
It is hard to demonstrate with one PLO, this would probably take the other parts of the unit into consideration. Something like " Nature tends to find a balance, explain this statement using what you have learned from this unit"

Level 4 questions
I have the most fun with this level
 "Your friend tells you that the oysters soak up all the red tide toxins, so all the other sea  life is safe to eat, support or deny your friends claim"
or
"Your aunt tells you that 'the world is so polluted that there is no turning back'. How would you respond to this?"


What do you all think? How do you make your tests more challenging? How do you make sure you are not just checking for knowledge acquisition . 

Why grades?

Over the past year or so, I've had a lot of discussion with teachers (old and new) about grades. The opinions seem to fall into one of two categories:

1) Grades are what the game is all about. Post them early, post them often. 

There are variations on this theme, some say to keep it between you and the student, some say to put them on the wall, some even say put them on the wall from highest mark to lowest mark so the students know where they sit in the class.

2) The grades are not why the students are here, the students are here to learn. The grading is the least important issue of the whole process

I will admit my bias right now, and say that on the spectrum between 1 and 2, I am firmly on the 2 side. Not even close to 1.5

What really bothered me was the range of teacher opinion. How could all of these people, (every single one of them a fantastic educator) have such different opinions on a subject as integral as grading?

What I think it boils down to is not "why grades" but "why school". I think an educators opinion on grading is closely related to their justification for education in general. Do we have schools to keep kids busy, is it to train the next generation, is it to produce finely tuned adults, why do we send kids to school? The opinions on grading are so varied, because few teachers agree on just why exactly we send kids to school in the first place.

I can't speak for other teachers, but the following is my opinion on the matter.

Education supplies what society demands from it. Pre-industrialized nations simply needed enough education to allow farmers to count their pigs and chickens. As industry picked up and became more complicated, there was a need to have people that were trained enough to build railroads and operate machines in factories. Adjusting from an agrarian education model to an industrial education model is not terribly difficult. Math goes past 1+1=2 and into a squared plus b squared equals c squared. Easy as pie, people just go to school for longer.

What society demands from education now, is far more complex. Twenty years ago, there were jobs where you would follow formulas and punch in numbers. Those jobs still exist, but by and in large they have been outsourced. They are the focus of another society and another education system.

So what does THIS society require?

In a word, "innovation". Education 2.0 if you are into that kind of language. We need to train the youth of today to innovate and adapt. As educators, we can't see what is around the next bend anymore. The world is changing far too quickly. We need to teach our learners how to learn. Now does that mean we don't teach them the Pythagorean theorem?  Of course not, but it should not be the focus of what they are learning. The learning with that should be how it works, how to use it, then practice problem solving with it. In other words, we need to move up blooms taxonomy a little bit

It seems like we spend a lot of time at the base, with knowledge. In fact, thinking back on my education, I would say that it was almost exclusively knowledge based. (It may have been even worse in university) .

I suppose I am trying to say two things here 1) I don't want to focus on general knowledge 2) I don't want to give students tests to show me what they know, I want to give students tests so they can show themselves what they know.

This is getting pretty long, so stay tuned:
Check out my future post on
"My Ideal Test"
"Why not grades"- on motivation
"It's not what you know, it's when you know"- on late marks, final exams and scaling




- Mr. H

https://deltalearns.ca/terryainge/2013/10/28/understanding-assessment-how-i-fell-out-of-love-with-the-grading-program/

http://tomschimmer.com/2011/02/21/enough-with-the-late-penalties/


http://chriswejr.com/2013/11/10/1-videos-for-starting-dialogue-on-rethinking-awards-and-rewards/