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GROUPWORK IN DIVERSE CLASSROOMS:
A Casebook for Educators
(with companion facilitator’s guide)
edited by Judith H. Shulman, Rachel A. Lotan & Jennifer Whitcomb: Teachers College Press, 1998
Case 5
Exploring Alternative Assessment
In this case, a veteran science teacher delves into the serious dilemma of how to assess student learning that is the result of groupwork. As she talks about her dilemma, the author experiences a gamut of emotions: from acute anguish at the mere thought of evaluation, to exhilaration because her students were doing science, and deep astonishment that in spite of successful groupwork, students didn’t perform any better than they had when they were using more traditional approaches.
After rethinking the connection between instruction and assessment and listening to her students’ comments, the teacher decides to develop a new test that is closely linked to the instruction and to involve the students in the process. When the new test is administered, scores improve and the students feel that the new test assesses their learning better than the traditional one. For the teacher, the experience raises fundamental questions about assessment, traditional and alternative, and leads her to reexamine her philosophy about the goals and practices of student assessment.
CONTEXT
This case is from a suburban high school that has students from some of the richest and poorest neighborhoods in the area. The chemistry classes reflect the school’s diverse student body. Recently, the teacher added Complex Instruction to her teaching repertoire. During the first month of school, she used this particular model of groupwork to teach a unit on density, which is typically a difficult concept for students to understand.
QUESTIONS AND ISSUES
In this section we have framed major issues from "Exploring Alternative Assessment" and provided questions for the facilitator to use in preparing for the case discussion and while leading it.
Although the central dilemma raised by the author of this case is alternative assessment, because of the close connection among assessment, instruction, and instructional tasks, you may also wish to explore the learning tasks presented in the case.
Purposes of groupwork and examination of the task
After seven years of teaching, this teacher added Complex Instruction to her repertoire of teaching techniques. She created a four-day unit, using the curriculum design principles of this model of groupwork. In Complex Instruction, activities of a unit are organized around a central concept, question, or "big idea." As students rotate to complete the activities of a unit (hence the four days dedicated to it) they encounter this idea, question, or concept in different contexts or settings. Thus they have multiple opportunities to grapple with the material, to explore related questions, to look at different representations, and to think of different applications. In this case the teacher did not orient the students to the central concept before they began the activities. Rather, she planned for them to work with the concept of density as they performed the activities.
How and why would groupwork contribute to students’ understanding of a difficult concept such as density? In what ways would the rotations contribute to deepening this understanding?
As mentioned, the teacher chose not to introduce the concept of density explicitly, probably to avoid preteaching the concept, thereby short-circuiting students’ own discovery of the scientific properties of density. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy? If you were teaching this unit, when would you choose to introduce a big idea or central concept? When would you leave it up to the students to gradually formulate their own theories and understanding?
Science teachers discussing this case were particularly intrigued by the following issues: What were the scientific objectives of the different tasks of the unit? How was the central concept of density reflected in each of these tasks? What would be the teacher’s role in making the connection between these tasks and the central concept? Among the various tasks? Among density and other scientific phenomena or concepts?
How could the teacher use students’ reports during the "scientific conventions" to make connections among the various activities, reinforce the central concept, and deepen students’ understanding? How did students build upon their own work in the groups and their classmates’ reports during the "scientific conventions"? (Probe for modified questions that were generated by the class.)
The teacher is pleasantly surprised by the metamorphosis her students underwent. (Probe for the participants to question whether these were the same students.) How do you account for this metamorphosis? Have participants look closely at the individual reports included in the case showing what students were required to discuss and consider.
What could the teacher mean when she said, "[Some] students refused to use the term ‘mass’ just a few days ago"? In your opinion, why was the difference between Coke and Diet Coke such an engaging question for them?
Depth versus breadth
Although pleased with how the unit went, the teacher is concerned about spending four days on one topic. Traditionally, she had spent only one period on the concept of density, because she was worried about the amount of material that needed to be covered in this chemistry class. Many teachers (especially at the secondary level) are deeply concerned with the tension between curriculum coverage and in-depth exploration of selected topics; in many cases teachers find they can’t make a personal choice because of administrative edicts, pressures to prepare students for various kinds of tests, or department-level or grade-level decisions.
What are your thoughts about the dilemma of depth versus breadth? Under what circumstances, if any, do you have the freedom to make a choice between covering more material or exploring a concept in greater depth? How do pressures external to the classroom and to learning influence a teacher’s decision? If you were to choose to spend a whole week on one topic (rather than one period as other teachers in your department or at your grade level do), how would you defend your decision to your colleagues? To your students? To their parents? What arguments would you bring before them?
The first quiz
Examine the quizzes at the end of the case. Why was the teacher astonished as she graded the quizzes? What made her think that her students would do any better this year than students had in previous years? As you think about the activities, the individual reports, and the questions on the first quiz, is it surprising the students didn’t do better?
Although the learning tasks and the instructional approach were highly innovative, the first quiz was traditional in format and content. Why do you think the teacher used this test? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this format?
(Probe: how is math connected to the activities of the unit and the first quiz?)
The author expresses strong emotions: she is crushed. The quiz is the first benchmark by which she can judge the effectiveness of a new teaching approach. Many teachers have shared with us the deep disappointment they felt when an instructional innovation didn’t work for them in the way developers promised it would. Have you had similar experiences? How did you feel? What did you do?
What were the students’ feelings about the results of the quiz? One student said that he couldn’t succeed on this quiz because he didn’t know math. Do you agree?
There seems to be a great discrepancy between the results of this quiz and the teacher’s perceptions about what students knew and were able to do. Have you found yourself in similar situations? What happened? What did you do?
The second quiz
Examine the second quiz carefully. In what ways is it different from the first? In what ways is it similar? To what extent does the second quiz have the potential to capture students’ understanding of the concept of density better than the first?
The teacher proposes a number of explanations for why the students might have been more successful on the math portion of the second quiz than on the first. How do you assess her explanations? Do you have additional explanations the teacher didn’t include?
How were the questions designed by students similar or different from questions on the first quiz? What do you think about students’ suggestions? How can singing a song or writing a story reflect students’ understanding of a scientific concept? How would you describe the difference between traditional and alternative assessment?
Assessment
This case prompted the teacher to reexamine her philosophy of assessment. In your opinion, what is the link between instruction and assessment? What should this link be? How can instruction and assessment be linked more closely?
Some teachers felt that when she developed the unit, the teacher should also have developed a different quiz that would reflect her goals for the unit. Do you agree? What would this new test have looked like? In your opinion, do you have to redesign assessment each time you redesign a task or redesign the instruction?
The teacher planned to use various assessment tools: the individual reports, the quality of the group product, and the quiz. What kind of information about students’ understanding can be gleaned from each type of assessment? How is the information from the various assessment tools complementary? Can information about students’ learning from various assessment tools seem contradictory?
How are students’ reports on their findings similar to a scientific convention? What specifically can a teacher find out about what students understand and are able to do at these scientific conventions?
In Complex Instruction, every student in the group completes an individual report at the end of each activity. Carefully examine the example of the individual report included in this case. How does completing such a report contribute to students’ accountability as they work in groups? How does completion of individual reports stimulate substantive discussions about science?
The teacher also used the group products for assessment. To what extent is it important to evaluate the group as a whole (e.g., group process, group products)? What, if any, is the responsibility of the teacher in ensuring that the important information is included in group presentations? What would you do if students presented misinformation? (See Case 1.)
Some teachers were surprised that students in a high school science class would be asked to write journal entries. What kinds of information did the teacher gain from these journals? What is your opinion of the value of this information in general and for a high school science class in particular?
In this case, we don’t know how the teacher responded to the journal entries. If your students were to write journal entries in your class, what would you do with them? How can journal entries be used for student assessment? For teacher self-assessment?
Interactions with colleagues
In a discussion with a colleague, the author commented that she noticed significant changes in her students. They seemed to appreciate the alternative test and the fact that they had taken part in the decision about how they were to be evaluated; they appeared more confident and were putting more effort into the course than they had previously. The colleague, however, had a less positive view. She felt that giving an alternative test was a disservice to the students, who would have to function and succeed in traditional settings in future. The author was exasperated. Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? What did you do? What would you do if you were this author? What would your response be today if you were to find yourself in a similar situation? What would you say to a colleague? To a principal? To a parent? To a student?
Groupwork In Diverse Classrooms, $19.95
Facilitator’s Guide, $ 14.95
Set of books, $28.00
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