ancient china unit assessment sarah e. george college …segeorge.wmwikis.net/file/view/assessment...

1 ASSESSMENT

Ancient China Unit Assessment

Sarah E. George

College of William and Mary

CRIN 550/EDUC 340, Dr. Jennifer Hindman

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Overview and Description

Through a course of a year students are given many opportunities to learn about cultures,

places, landforms, important figures, inventions, and events through vast topics that are covered

through different social studies units. Social studies is an important time for students in order for

them to learn and develop an appreciation for the things, people and places around them. In

second grade the students learn a wide variety of historical events, people, and places. It is

during this time that the students are able to learn about their country, the United States, by

studying the Lakota, Powhatan, and Pueblo, and also have the opportunity to discover other

countries and their importance to the Western culture such as Egypt and China. The major goal

for the course of a year is to have the students have a better understanding of how history has

molded and shaped the world as it is today.

The specific unit that is being assessed by the teacher for the subject of social studies is

Ancient China. The assessment that the teacher has created for the unit on Ancient China is to

help students have a better understanding for other ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and how

they have influenced much of the western world as it is today. The students will learn about

Ancient China and how its contributions have influenced the present world through inventions,

architecture, written language and even our calendar. The students are shown through many

different pictures, artifacts, documents, and videos just how important the history of Ancient

China has been and the influences that it has had on America.

Through the social studies curriculum framework, which is given by the Virginia

Department of Education, there are certain intended learning outcomes (ILO) that are addressed

and assessed for students in second grade on Ancient China. It is important to know what these

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are in order to understand why and how the students will be tested on the information. The ILOs

that are being assessed are:

2.1 The student will explain how the contributions of ancient China have

influenced the present world in terms of architecture, inventions, the calendar, and

written language. 2.4 The student will develop map skills by a) locating China, on world

maps; b) understanding the relationship between the environment and the culture of

ancient China. Gather, classify, and interpret information (Essential Skill 2.1 & 2.4),

Locate and use information from print and non-print sources (Essential Skill 2.1 & 2.4),

Collect, classify, and interpret information (Essential Skills 2.1 & 2.4). Locate regions on

maps and globes (Essential Skill 2.4).

The above listed ILOs that are going to be assessed during this unit are not all going to be

assessed through the end of the unit test. Some of the essential skills that are intended for the

students to learn throughout the course are unable to be assessed through strictly paper and

pencil. So the students will be assessed through other means throughout the unit through

formative assessment such as thumbs up, thumbs down, white boards, worksheets, and the

teacher observing the students through guided practice. Through the formative and summative

assessments (unit test) given throughout the unit on Ancient China the teacher will be able to get

a complete idea on what the students have learned about the importance of Ancient China and its

contributions to the present world. All of the assessments that occur during the unit are essential

in providing the teacher with the whole picture of how the students are able to learn and what

information they retain.

The characteristics of the classroom and school that the assessment is going to be given

played a huge role in how the information and assessment where created. The school is in James

City County, Virginia, and was established about five years ago; because of this the school is

relatively young and has a lot to offer in terms of technology, space, and resources. This effected

how some of the lessons were created and presented to the class that were able to enhance the

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learning and types of learning that there able to be accommodated throughout the unit process.

The students in the classroom have a narrow range when it comes to diversity of economic

status. Only a handle of students are on free or reduced lunch, the rest come from moderate

middle class families. All of the students in the class are also at or above grade level for reading,

which was helpful when creating the test and the kind of vocabulary that was able to be used.

Also the students in the classroom all have personalities that demonstrate positive behavior

towards different cultures. There are two students in the class that come from an Asian family;

three that are African-American and the rest are Caucasian. One of the students is an ESL

student, how the student does read on grade level. All of these characteristics of the school and

students had an effect on how the assessment was created and presented to the group. The

teacher made sure that the directions, pictures, vocabulary on the assessment were appropriate

for all of the students in the class.

The assessments purpose is to make sure that the students understand where China is in

relation to the United States, how the inventions from Ancient China have influenced the present

world they live in, and the importance of China as a culture and community. The test was

designed to assess the students based on material that covers all of the above ILOs as well as

give the students a chance to learn about a community of people who have developed and

influenced the present world.

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Design Elements

Unpacking the Curriculum (ILOs)

Intended Learning Outcome

Grade: 2nd

Content Area: History

SOL: 2.1 & 2.4

Content

Cognitive Level on

Blooms’ Taxonomy

STANDARD 2.1 The student will explain

how the contributions of ancient China

have influenced the present world in terms

of architecture, inventions, the calendar,

and written language.

Explicit – contributions of

ancient China have

influenced the present

world in terms of

architecture, inventions, the

calendar, and written

language

Implied – what is ancient

China, how is architecture,

inventions, calendar, and

written language defined,

what is the time frame of

ancient China?

Conditional – None

Comprehension

STANDARD 2.4 The student will develop

map skills by

a) locating the United States, China, and

Egypt on world maps;

b) understanding the relationship between

the environment and the culture of ancient

China and Egypt

Explicit – China on world

maps and the relationship

between the environment

and the culture of ancient

China.

Implied – map skills,

knowing what China is,

what an environment and

culture is, how to create or

understand a relationship

between culture and

environment,


Synthesis (Develop)

Knowledge (Locate)

Comprehension

(Understand)

Locate and use information from print and

non-print sources. (Essential Skill 2.1 &

2.4)

Explicit – information from

print and non-print sources

Implied – How is the

information found and used

Knowledge (Locate)

Application (Use)

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connected to China? How

do we find information,

what is the definition of

information, what are

examples of print and non-

print sources


Gather, classify, and interpret information.

(Essential Skill 2.1 & 2.4)


numerous sources

Implied – Students know

what is meant by

information and what

information is deemed

reliable, how do you gather

information, what are ways

to classify information, how

does interpreting

information effect the way

you view the material


Application (Gather

and Classify)

Analysis (Interpret)

Use resource materials. (Essential Skill 2.1

& 2.4)

Explicit – Resource

materials

Implied – What is a

resource, what are different

types of resources, how do

you find resources, what is

the validity and the

reliability of a resource.


Application

Collect, organize, and record information.



different sources

Implied – how to collect,

organize, and record

information in a reliable

and proper manner, what

are different ways to

collect, organize and record

information

Knowledge (Collect

and Organize)

Application

(Record and

Comprehension)

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Locate regions on maps and globes.

(Essential Skill 2.4)

Explicit – regions on maps

and globes

Implied – what are a map

and globe, how to locate a

region, what is a region


Knowledge

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Table of Specifications

Content Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

STANDARD 2.1 The student will explain how

the contributions of ancient China have

influenced the present world in terms of

architecture, inventions, the calendar, and written

language.

X

S

1, 10, 11, 12, 16

STANDARD 2.4 The student will develop map

skills by

a) locating the United States, China, and Egypt

on world maps;

b) understanding the relationship between the

environment and the culture of ancient China and

Egypt

X

M

13,9

X

S

8, 7, 5

X

M

4,15

Locate and use information from print and non-

print sources. (Essential Skill 2.1 & 2.4)

X L

3

X L

17

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Gather, classify, and interpret information.


X

M

6,18

X L

19

Locate regions on maps and globes. (Essential

Skill 2.4)

X

S

2, 14

Collect, organize, and record information.

(Essential Skill 2.1 & 2.4) (Will not assess

formally, will assess the students through a series

of maps, data, and information collected by the

teacher and students together during the unit).

X

X

X

Use resource materials. (Essential Skill 2.1 &

2.4) (Will not assess formally, will assess the

students through a series of maps, data, and

information collected by the teacher and students

together during the unit).

X

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Construct Validity

When it comes to construct validity of the assessment that has been created on Ancient

China the teacher thought about each and every questions and how it pretended to the ILOs that

were chosen at the beginning of the unit. All of the questions that were developed for the

creation of the assessment where chosen in order to test the student on knowledge acquired

throughout the unit. The questions cover most of the essential skills listed from the ILOs. The

essential skills that were not covered during the assessment portion of the unit where addressed

throughout the course of the unit through formative assessment.

Content Validity

The assessment has a moderate content validity. The reason that the assessment is

moderate instead of strong is because the ILOs that are being assessed were difficult to develop

test questions for because so many of the essential skills were skills that could not be done

through summative assessment. This cause the teacher to have to develop many questions that

revolved around the actual SOL stated for 2.1 and 2.4 and not as much for the essential skills that

were listed with each SOL. However, the questions that were asked and used during the

assessment where used to cover a wide range of abilities and knowledge based ideas. For this

reason the content that was chosen for the assessment has a strong validity. The questions are

straight forward and leave little questioning or confusion to the reader.

Rationale for Assessment

The rationale that the teacher had for the selection of choices that were made when

creating this assessment were based upon the personality and learning styles of the students. The

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students in the class that the assignment was developed for are all excellent readers; because of

this the teacher was able to create a test that had more words, definitions, and longer directions.

The test has a wide variety of questions and the way they are presented. It consists of multiple

choice, fill in the blank, true/false, short answer, matching, and listing. The rationale behind this

was to create a test that assessed all different types of learning styles. Some students like

multiple choice questions while others do better with supply response questions. Some of the

questions were taken from a previous test given by the student teachers cooperating teacher. The

questions that were selected from a previous assessment were questions 1-4 and 9-12, all of the

other questions are original to the student teacher.

Potential Threats of Reliability

When it comes to the reliability of the assessment there are a lot of positives. One area of

strength occurs within the eighteenth question. It is a strong question in the sense of its reliability

because SOL 2.1 states that the students should explain the importance and influence that inventions from

Ancient China have in terms of inventions. By having the students first list the five most important

inventions from Ancient China the teacher will assess their knowledge on whether or not they

remembered the important inventions from China. Then by asking them to choose one of the items from

their list and explain why it is important and the influence that it had it allows the teacher to assess their

comprehension of the knowledge. However there are some potential threats of reliability as well. The

question about the major rivers found in China has potential for being unreliable because of the answers

that are listed. It was hard for the teacher to come up with rivers that sounded like they could be correct.

This question does have weakness in the reliability of the answers that they students have to choose from

and could use some help. Also the assessment does have some potential threats of the reliability because

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the material that is being covered on the unit test is very board and does not focus just on one main

concept. It is about an entire culture and region.

Potential for Cautions of Validity

The teacher tried to make sure that the assessment did not have many potential threats of validity

by giving the students the opportunity to study the material that was going to be covered on the test

through a study guide. An example of a question that is moderate when it comes to validity it the

eighteenth question. This is because there is a wide range of answers that the students could produce that

would be a valid answer. For the rest of the test there are areas of potential cautions of validity because of

the material that is being covered by the test. The students are not used to taking tests in this manner.

Most of the tests that they have taken in the past are strictly matching or multiple choice. They have done

little with writing a short answer question to a prompt. Also a caution for this assessment is the fact that

there are only 19 questions on the test. The test is graded out of 31 points because each answer given in

all of the sections is worth one point but the length of the test is shorter than most unit tests. This could

cause the students to have an unfair advantage with the grading because they can only miss a few

questions in order to receive an A.

Scoring and Grading Procedures

Rubric for Short Answer Part of the Question:

Exceeds

Expectations

Meets Expectations

Below Expectations

Total

Complete Sentences

Have more than two complete sentences (capital letter, correct punctuation mark) that are detailed and make sense. (3pts.)

Have two complete sentences (capital letter, correct punctuation mark) that are detailed and make sense. (2pts.)

Has one complete sentence and/or has sentence construction errors. (max. 1pt.)

Invention Picks a correct important invention from China not

Picks a correct important invention

Does not pick an important invention

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discussed fully in class (i.e. paper or gunpowder) (1pt.)

from China discussed in class (i.e., Kite, Fireworks, Silk, Compass, or Bronze). (1pt.)

from China. (anything other than the five important inventions, excluding paper and gunpowder) (0pts.)

Importance/ Influence

Describes the importance/influence of the invention from China in great detail. (2pts.)

Describes the importance/influence of the invention from China in detail (1pt.)

Describes the importance/influence of the invention from China in little detail 0pts.

*Note: Student’s will not be graded on previous work, neatness, or handwriting capabilities, but

solely on the criteria listed above.

The teacher will apply the rubric (shown above) to reduce threats to inter-rater-reliability

and intro-rater-reliability when grading the short answer part of the assessment. In doing so the

teacher will stick to the guidelines set and outlined by the rubric. The teacher believes that the

rubric is very straight forward to what she as the teacher will be looking for in the short answers.

If two different scorers where to use this rubric and grade the same set of papers she believes that

the scores would be very close if not the same. The rubric gives specific guidelines such as two

complete sentences, which are sentences that make sense, have a capital letter and a correct

punctuation at the end. Also the rubric indicates specific details that the student must have in

order to receive exceeds or meets expectations such as a list of possible inventions and others

that fit the requirement for the student to receive extra points. This way the scorer will know

what they should be looking for and are able to indicate whether or not the student wrote details

about the indicated invention appropriately. All of these are important in order to make sure that

the scorer is able to be consistent with the grades given to the individuals.

The teacher will apply the rubric to guard against bias by making sure that she looks for

the specific things stated on the rubric when going through the tests. The teacher will place a

check next to each item that she feel meets the expectations within the rubric as she reads the

short answer statements. After she has read the short answer and made the marks necessary she

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will then justify what she has marked and compare it to the rubric. By doing this will make sure

that it fits the criteria in order to receive the check, which indicates a point should be received.

The teacher will make sure that she checks each students work with an unbiased opinion by

checking their short answer based solely on the criteria identified on the rubric. She will not base

the student’s grade on neatness of handwriting or the name written on the paper. She will be

checking for complete sentences and details discussing the inventions and not the grammar or

spelling provided by the student. The teacher believes that the rubric that has been chosen to use

for this short answer will help her complete the task successfully.

When grading the rest of the unit test (shown below), the teacher will use the answer key

that is created ahead of time as a way to check the answers that the students provide. The test

consists of multiple choice, fill in the blank, true and false, matching, and listing. In order to

ensure that all of the students are at an equal advantage the teacher will read the directions with

the class as a whole and go through each section to make sure that the class understands what

they are being asked to do. The teacher will then allow the students to ask questions if they have

any before they begin the assessment. This way all of the students have an equal advantage of

hearing what the other students ask and the answers that the teacher provides. The assessment

will be scored out of 31 total points, one point for each correct answer given on the test. The

teacher will make sure to go through all of the tests carefully when making corrections and

grading to ensure that she does not accidently mark the wrong answer. Hopefully by doing all of

these steps the scores that the students receive will be reliable.

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Test and Answer Key

Name ____________________________________ Date_______________________

Ancient China Test (SOL 2.1 and 2.4)

Multiple Choice

Circle the letter of the BEST answer for each of the following questions

1. The word ancient means:

a. Few years ago

b. Billions of years ago

c. A long, long time ago (thousands of years)

d. A few weeks ago

2. China is located on the continent of?

a. Africa

b. Asia

c. Europe

d. North America

3. People of Ancient China adapted to living in their environment by ALL of the following

things, except

a. Digging ditches to bring water to their crops

b. Cutting terraces in the land to help with farming

c. Fishing in the rivers

d. Cutting down the mountain tops

4. All of the following are examples of landforms found in China except one. Choose the

one that is NOT found in China.

a. Tropical land with palm trees

b. Mountains

c. Deserts

d. Forests

5. China boarders what ocean?

a. Atlantic

b. Artic

c. Indian

d. Pacific

16 ASSESSMENT

6. Which monument was built to keep invaders out of China?

a. Pyramids

b. Sphinx

c. Great Wall of China

d. Eiffel Tower

Fill in the Blank Multiple Choice

Directions: Fill in the blanks using the word(s) that BEST complete the sentence by using the

multiple choice answers given under to sentence. Circle the letter to your answer.

7. The ________________________ and _______________________ are two important

and major rivers in China.

A.) Red River and Ying-Yang River

B.) Nile River and Jordan River

C.) Yellow River and Yangtze River

D.) Amazon River and Pearl River

8. The largest desert in China is called the ______________________.

a. Gobi Desert

b. Yellow Desert

c. Sahara Desert

d. Mojave Desert

9. China is similar to Virginia because it ______________________.

a. is hot and dry all year long

b. has four seasons

c. is cold and snowy all year long

d. is mostly desert

10. The design of buildings of a place is called ______________________.

a. contributions

b. irrigation

c. hieroglyphics

d. architecture

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11. The sloping roof tops of Chinese buildings are called ___________________.

a. Lakota

b. Pagodas

c. Shingles

d. Pyramids

12. The rulers of Ancient China were called ____________________.

a. Kings

b. Pharaohs

c. Emperors

d. Lords

Matching

13. Directions: Match the word to the definition that fits best with each and write the letter that

corresponds next to the word. NOT all definitions will be used.

1. Climate _________ A.) The solid surface of the Earth

2. Land _________ B.) Places that have common (the same) characteristics

3. Environment ________ C.) The beliefs, customs, and way of life of a group of people

4. Culture _________ D.) The design of a building

5. Region _________ E.) Surroundings

F.) The kind of weather an area has over a long period of time

Answers: 1. F 2. A 3. E 4. C 5. B (D is not used)

18 ASSESSMENT

Map Skills

14. Directions: Using the map below, color the area that is the country of China. Then with a

black marker label it China.

15. Directions: Using the map with The Great Wall of China shown answer the following question:

The Great Wall of China is located ________________ of

the capital city of Beijing.

a. North

b. South

c. East

d. West

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Directions: Circle “T” for True if you think the statement is correct and “F” for False if you think

the statement is incorrect

16. T/F Contributions are the act of giving or doing something that is helpful in the world.

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the BEST word that completes the sentence.

17. The written language of Ancient China was made up of ___________________ and

__________________ that allowed them to communicate with one another.

Answer: characters and symbols

Listing

Directions: For the section below write on the lines provided

18. List the five most important inventions that came from Ancient China (1 pt. each)

1. ________________________________ 2. ________________________________

3. ________________________________ 4._________________________________

5.________________________________

Answers: Compass, Fireworks, Kites, Bronze, Silk Cloth

Short Answer

19. Directions: Pick one of the important inventions that came from Ancient China (1 pt.)

from your list and explain in your own words its influence to the modern world (1 pt.) in

at least two complete sentences (2 pts.).

An Acceptable Answer: The compass was an important invention that came from China. It was

important because it influenced how people traveled and navigated.

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