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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
It’s hard to believe a ten-letter word can cause such anguish to educators in general and account for numerous hours of torment for me. Evaluation of groupwork activities raises some real tough questions with many unresolved answers.
I teach chemistry at a public high school that has some of the richest and poorest students in the San Francisco Bay Area. Approximately 50 ethnic groups are represented by our students, and my chemistry classes are an excellent reflection of the school’s ethnic and academic diversity.
During my seven years as a teacher, I have tried a number of teaching techniques. In the last two years, I added Complex Instruction* as a major tool in my teaching repertoire. During the first month of school, I taught a unit on the concept of density –– typically a difficult idea for students to understand. I created the four-day unit, called the Ups and Downs of Things, using the curriculum design principles of Complex Instruction. My goal was to provide an opportunity for students to discover that all substances have a specific density and that density is the ratio of mass to volume for any substance. On the first day, each group performed a different activity that concentrated on the central question "What is density?" Only I knew the question, however. I had intentionally avoided using the word "density" when I’d introduced the activities. I wanted my students to perform various activities and then hypothesize the central question or idea.
One group had a large bucket and 20 different items. The members hypothesized and stated their rationale for which objects would float and which would sink. Then the group designed and conducted an experiment to test its hypothesis. Finally, the students created a table to illustrate their results.
The second group experimented with four unknown solutions that contained different food coloring. Using a potato and a drinking straw, the members determined how the four liquids could be separated into distinctly different layers. The group tested the liquids and completed a visual display for the class.
A third group read a story about two women hiking in the woods. The women stumble upon a small stream and decide to leave their Coke and Diet Coke cans in the water to keep them cool. When they return, one of the cans is missing. The group had to hypothesize which can was missing and then justify the hypothesis. I provided a large bucket of water and cans of Coke and Diet Coke to assist the group in its exploration. Finally, the group wrote a letter to the two women explaining what had happened.
Another group measured the mass and volume of a number of metal samples. The students used a scale to weigh the samples and used a water displacement method to calculate the volume. After collecting the data, the members plotted the information on a graph and analyzed the relationship between mass and volume.
At the end of the period, students all completed an individual report (see Figure 5.1, individual reports of activities 1–4) responding to a few questions about their specific tasks. The questions were designed to determine if the students understood the activity and could apply the information to a real-life situation.
The second day, we held a "scientific convention" where each group presented its results. The class asked questions about the proposed hypothesis, the experiments, the results presented, and the assumptions made by the investigators. I was exhilarated. My students were actually doing science. The class generated a number of questions for each of the groups and discussed how the group might explore the questions. The variety of questions impressed me. One student asked, for instance, "Why did the Diet Coke have a different mass than the regular Coke? The label indicates that they have the same volume and the cans appear to be the same." The answers were equally impressive. "Maybe the Diet Coke has more gas in it than the regular Coke!" responded one student. "I always burp more when I drink Diet Coke." A third student volunteered her opinion, "I think sugar has a larger mass than Nutrasweet. I want the next group to compare the mass of sugar and Nutrasweet when they do the activity. I hope my group gets to do this tomorrow!"
Were these the same students who a few days before had refused to use the term "mass"? What was happening to them? They really wanted to figure out the difference between the Coke and Diet Coke. I would never have imagined that this question would be so engaging for them [continued below]
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Figure 5.1 Individual Student Reports, Activities 1–4
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THINGS !!
Key Idea: In what ways do ups & downs of things affect our lives?
Activity #1 What sinks and why?
Individual Report #1
Life jackets are an integral part of boating in the U.S. Even when you rent a paddle boat, you are required to use a life jacket, and when a boat or ship capsizes or a plane goes down at sea, the life jackets are literally life preservers.
1. If you were manufacturing life jackets to be used in an area where the possibility of puncturing an airfilled life jacket is too high, what kind of material would you use, and why would you choose that material over anything else?
2. Why are air or gas filled life jackets the ones most commonly found on aircraft but not so common for activities like pleasure boating or water skiing?
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THINGS !!
Key Idea: In what ways do ups & downs of things affect our lives?
Activity #2 Creating a rainbow
Individual Report #1
Predict what you think will happen to the layers if the straw is turned upside down (with a finger covering the open end of the straw).
Have a group member invert the straw. What was the result? Why do you think this happened?
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THINGS !!
Key Idea: In what ways do ups & downs of things affect our lives?
Activity #3 Don’t judge a Coke can by its label!
Individual Report #1
Wilma and Margo are still puzzled as to what happened to that can of Coke. Write a letter to them explaining what happened and give them some practical advice when they go backpacking again.
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THINGS !!
Key Idea: In what ways do ups & downs of things affect our lives?
Activity #4 Is it or is it not, pure gold?
Individual Report #1
Sometimes industry has the need for a material which is a result of 2 or more elements blended to make an alloy.
What do you hypothesize will be the density of an alloy? Will it be closer to the higher density, the lower density, between, or greater than the higher, or lower than the lowest density?
Test your hypothesis.
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On the third day, the groups rotated and performed one of the other activities with the modified questions that had been generated by the class. The fourth day we continued the "scientific convention" to present the conclusions to the newly generated questions.
The activities had been a complete success, and the students were feeling good about how things were going. A few students shared their thoughts in their journal entries. "We should do all of our labs like this," they wrote, and "These activities really helped me understand what’s going on in the class." I was thrilled at the responses but I was concerned about the amount of time we had spent on the topic of density. Whereas I would normally spend only one 50-minute period on the topic, I had already spent four class periods. The time commitments for using groupwork had definitely put a strain on my yearly time table, but I was really thrilled that the students were thinking and solving problems in a more meaningful way. Concerned about the curriculum still to be covered, I decided to give a short quiz on density and then continue with the rest of the chapter.
The quiz was traditional in format (see Figure 5.2). It required students to calculate the density of a substance given its mass and volume by rearranging an equation and solving for the unknown variable. It also required them to interpret a data table. It was the same quiz I had always given for density.
I was astonished when I graded the quizzes. These students had not done any better on the test than had students from previous years. I was crushed. I really thought that the students had [continued below]
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Figure 5.2 Two Tests: Traditional and Alternative
Chemistry Density Mini Quiz 1
Complete the table using the density equation that was discussed during our scientific convention. You are given two of the variables and asked to solve for the third variable. Please show all of your work in the space provided and include units with your final answers.
Substance Mass (g) Volume (ml) Density (g/ml)
1. NaCl 74.3 27 ________
SHOW WORK:
2. HCl ________ 96 .36
SHOW WORK:
3. MgBr2 72.8 ________ .64
SHOW WORK:
4. What is the volume, in cubic centimeters, of a sample of cough syrup if it has a mass of 50.0 grams and a density of 0.950 g/cm3?
5. What is the density of a shiny bar of metal weighing 57.3 grams and having a volume of 4.7 cm3?
Chemistry Density Mini Quiz 2
Part 1: Use the attached pieces of binder paper to answer this section of the quiz. Select one of the following three alternatives:
1. Write a creative story to explain the concept of density. Imagine you are writing a story for a middle school student.
2. Compose a song that will convey the meaning of density and will explain how density is used in life.
3. Select a real life problem and use your knowledge of density to solve the problem. Explain how you would solve the problem.
Part 2: Please complete all of the problems below. Be sure to show all of your work and include units throughout the problem.
1. How large a container do you need to store 40 grams of a liquid that has a density of 2.0 grams per liter?
2. A copper penny has a mass of 3.1 grams and a volume of 0.35 cm3. What is the density of copper?
3. A cube is 2 cm on each side. The density of the cube is 10.0 g/cm3. What is its mass?
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grasped the concept of density and would be able to apply it. I decided to discuss my disappointment with the students and solicit their input.
The next day I asked, "What did you find difficult about the quiz on density?" The class was unusually quiet. Finally, Marta raised her hand and said, "Our group had a great time doing the activities, and I believe that we had a good understanding of the idea. But the test didn’t give us an opportunity to show what we had learned." Everyone was quick to agree with Marta’s perspective.
I was still digesting Marta’s comments when Carlos raised his hand. This student had never asked a question or raised his hand, so I called upon him immediately. In a very soft voice, Carlos explained: "The quiz was all math. I’m no good in math. I didn’t think any of the questions were about the activities we did in class." I thanked the students for their honest responses and asked them to write test questions that they thought would have been more closely related to the activities.
I sat down at my desk, still amazed that the students had not made the connection between the activities and the key ideas of the units. They had participated in the activities and were very attentive when the important issues had come out in the "scientific convention." Two of the groups had actually demonstrated how to derive density from mass and volume data. Yet despite their engagement and attentiveness, they were missing the key concepts. Was there something I should have done to help make the connections more explicit?
At the end of the period, the students turned in their proposed quizzes, which were quite surprising. All of the suggested questions were completely open-ended, and they represented a number of alternatives to evaluate student knowledge. One student suggested a creative story to explain the concept of density. Another would require that a song be written and sung to convey the information about density. A third idea was to take a real-life problem and solve it using the concept of density.
In general, the students selected nontraditional open-ended methods for evaluation. I had never really thought about traditional versus alternative evaluation before. I had tried to anticipate potential problems when the students had actually performed the activities, but I had not given much thought to how to evaluate. I had planned to use the individual reports, the group presentation grades, and the quiz grades to assess the effectiveness of the lessons.
Instead, I now decided to develop a new quiz that incorporated the students’ suggested questions (see Figure 5.2). The students were asked to select one of the three possible questions, to complete some calculations, and to demonstrate their knowledge of density. Although the second set of quizzes was much more time consuming to grade, the results were remarkably better than the first. The grades were higher and the tests indicated that the students were able to calculate density and had a concrete understanding of a relatively abstract concept.
Why did the students do better on the second test? I speculated that the scores were higher because the students were able to express their understanding of the concept in methods most comfortable to them. To test my hypothesis, I asked the students to share their thoughts about the quiz in their daily journal entries. Megan wrote, "I really felt like you wanted to know my ideas instead of asking me to repeat what was taught." Juan commented, "It was really cool to be able to use what I’m good at (writing) to do a science test." Greg felt that "the quiz was okay but I prefer the first quiz ‘cause it was easier for me."
Why were the students able to perform the math calculations on the second test? I had never gone over the first test or showed them how to do the density calculations. Was it because they had seen them on the first test and felt more comfortable the second time around? Had they used their textbook as a reference to learn how to set up the problems? Was it a combination of things? I decided to include the second quiz grade with the other grades. I realized that I needed to carefully plan how I would evaluate groupwork lessons in the future.
A few days later, I was explaining what had happened to another teacher, who expressed shock that I had allowed the students to take an alternative test. I said, "I know it takes a lot more time and creativity, but I think that the students really appreciated being a part of the decision making process and having a say in how they would be evaluated. I have really seen a change in their attitude about the class. They seem more confident and they appear to be making a greater effort in the course work." The other teacher looked at me and said, "You are doing a real disservice to your students. They need to be able to take standardized tests. If they want to go to college they have to be able to function in a traditional mode. No one is going to let them create a story or write a song. Think about their future!" Before I even had a chance to respond, the other teacher walked out.
I wanted to scream, but there was no one to hear me. My first reaction was to discredit my colleague. Who was this teacher, anyway? She didn’t use groupwork as a part of her teaching, so how would she know about alternative evaluation?
But after I calmed down, her words began to penetrate. Although we had totally different philosophies about teaching and learning, I couldn’t help but think about our conversation. Was I doing the students a disservice? Would alternative evaluation methods somehow hamper my students’ ability to be successful on standardized exams? Is it important to match evaluation methods with teaching strategies?
Facilitator's discussion pages for Case 5
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