edited by Judith H. Shulman, Rachel A. Lotan & Jennifer Whitcomb: Teachers College Press, 1998
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]
====================================================
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.
====================================================
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]
====================================================
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?
====================================================
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?
Groupwork In Diverse Classrooms, $19.95
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Set of books, $28.00
Contact Information:
Judy Shulman
Director, Institute for Case Development
WestEd
730 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
email:
jshulma@wested.org
Phone: (415) 565-3057
Fax: (415) 512-2024