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Smart Assessment for KS3 Practicals

Dr Alex HolmesASE 2016

Thursday 1500-1600 Arts LR6

How can you best assess practicals at KS3?

Objectives of this workshop• Methods of assessing practical work• Identifying strategies for practical work assessment• Resources for practical assessment

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What is practical work?

Taken to mean any type of science teaching and learning activity where individual or groups of students are involved in manipulating and observing real objects and materials (Abrahams and Reiss, 2012)

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Why do practical work?

• Motivation for students • Consolidation of theory • Development of process skills • Understanding of data handling

Development of planning, analytic, evaluative, numeracy skills

• Understanding of how science works

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Why is practical work important?

• Develops skills useful in higher education or industry

• Develops understanding of science• Allows recognition that science is

based on evidence

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What is Assessment?

The word assess comes from the Latin verb assidere meaning to sit by or near to. The Latin noun assessor is one who sits by to give advice.

Thus it is something we do with and for pupils and not to pupils Green, 1998

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What is being assessed?

Formative: assessment for learning, focusing on future achievement “… often means no more than that the assessment is carried out frequently and is planned at the same time as teaching.” (Black and Wiliam, 1999)

Summative: assessment of learning i.e. what has been learnt in the past “… is carried out at intervals when achievement has to be summarised and reported.” (Harlen, 1998)

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What is being assessed?

• Conceptual understanding – the knowledge of the scientific concept

• Procedural understanding – knowledge abut scientific method

• Process skills – transferable skills• Practical skills – includes procedural

understanding and process skills

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Current assessment

Currently, the only assessment of practical work is at GCSE that are under varying degrees of teacher control (the ISAs). • Research• Planning• Collecting data• Analysis and evaluationCREST awards

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Process skills

Using equipment correctly, such as setting up a microscope or correctly adjusting a balance before weighing an item

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Procedural skills

• Choosing equipment linked to a hypothesis• Responsibility for using equipment

carefully• Leaving the investigation area tidy

afterwards

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Procedural skills

Relevant measurements and observations are recorded appropriately in a table with correct headings and appropriate units

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Procedural skills

Analysis• Data is presented in a graph with

suitable scales, labels and units and correctly plotted

• A conclusion is drawn using evidence from the experiment.

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Procedural skills

Evaluation• effectiveness of the method• controlled variables• equipment limitations• possible sources of error and

improvements

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Ofqual states that

In the new Science GCSEs, students will be required to demonstrate their understanding of scientific experimentation

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Resources for practical assessment

It is acknowledged that practical work is considered a key component of science education, it is rarely assessed directly, for example, by students being observed while they undertake a practical activity.

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How can you best assess practicals at KS3?

Need for distinguishing between the end products of investigations (e.g. recording correct results and reaching a known conclusion) and the mental and physical processes involved in reaching them.

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How can you best assess practicals at KS3?

Direct observation of the students ability to manipulate real objects as they carry out an investigationOpen ended investigations following teaching of key concepts – assessment can focus on procedures or processes

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Practical work assessment

Key science skills - identifying evidence, testing, evaluating and communicating conclusions.Not dependent on pre-existing scientific knowledge, but not applicable without content.Applying science knowledge to different situations

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Foci for practical work assessment

Communication ThinkingLiteracy Data processing

Mathematics ReasoningGroup work Enquiry

Self-evaluation Creative thinkingProblem solving Evaluation

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Skills and Knowledge Assessment Model

Attainment bands

Learning Mastering Expanding

Progress escalator NC level equivalent

3 4 5 6 7 8

GCSE grade ‘flight path’

E D C B A A*

Bloom’s taxonomy

Remembering and Developing

Understanding

Applying and Analysing

Evaluating and Creating

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Assessment model and procedural skillsLearning –students follow instructions to use equipment, can describe results and what went well in their investigation.Mastering – students can plan an investigation and predict what might happen, record observations in a table and graph and identify patterns in a conclusion.Expanding - students develop a method to answer a scientific question and predict using scientific knowledge; carry out a controlled experiment and use results to predict other outcomes; link patterns to their scientific knowledge; critically evaluate their method and suggest alternatives.

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Assessment model and process skillsLearning – students set up equipment using instructions and identify risks with help; observe and take measurements with support.Mastering – students set up equipment for a fair test; identify and minimise obvious risks and take careful measurements accuratelyExpanding - students independently set up equipment to test their hypothesis, identify and minimise several risks; take repeated precise and accurate measurements

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Resources for practical assessment

In Year 1 and 2, Smart Science provides the basics necessary for pupils to have an understanding of both procedural and process skills.Details are found in the Working Scientifically information in the SoW

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Resources for practical assessment – a few examplesResources can be adapted to assess practical skills of different abilities:Using microscopes (Year 1, Term 1 )– support weaker students by demonstration before assessing their ability to make and focus slides; extend the more able by evaluating their slides for air bubbles or asking for an explanation of how to set up a slide

Ray diagrams (Year 2, Term 5) –weaker students use ray boxes to get light rays to match print outs of ray diagrams; extend the more able by comparing the light beams of lasers and ray box

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Handbook 3The Scheme of Work delivered in Teacher’s Handbooks 1 and 2 is principally designed to deliver the NC 2014 Programme of Study for Key Stage 3.Teacher’s Handbook 3 extends the learning from Years 1 and 2 and allows for more open ended investigations to take placeThe tasks are skills based and can be inserted at relevant points through KS3

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Task based approachTeachers Handbook 3 revisits a wide selection of core concepts and key ideas from the NC.Each task focuses on a particular aspect of Working Scientifically and offers opportunity for both formative and summative assessment: • Thinking scientifically • Using investigative approaches • Working critically with evidence • Using maths in science • Communicating in science

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Examples of the tasks

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NC Task matchingYear 1 Balanced and unbalanced forces NC content can be enhanced with the more open investigation from Unit 2: Physics, Task 1: How can we launch a projectile so that it covers the greatest distance?

• Allows for formative assessment to take place of either procedural or process skills during the investigation

• The associated structured questions can also be used to assess formatively or summatively

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KS3 science teaching allows students to develop a more secure understanding of scientific ideas across biology, chemistry and physics.

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The aim is that pupils will become more aware of the ideas underpinning scientific knowledge and understanding and get the opportunity to practise key science skills through practical investigations

This can be assessed through both direct observation for process skills and end of unit tests for procedural skills to check progression towards KS4

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Resources for practical assessment

Dweck, Carol. Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House LLC, 2006.

Ofsted (2011). The Impact of the ‘Assessing Pupils’ Progress’ Initiative. Manchester: Ofsted [online].

Lehrer, R. and Schauble, L. 2007. Scientific thinking and science literacy. In W. Damon & R. Lerner (Eds.) Handbook of Child Psychology, 6th Edition (pp. 153-196). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Elena Silva (2008) "Measuring skills for the 21st century." Education Sector Reports 11 (2008).

Department for Education (2013). The National Curriculum in England: Framework Document. London: DfE [online].

Anderson, L.W. Krathwohl, D.R et al 2001 "A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, abridged edition. " NY: Longman (2001).

Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998) Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Granada Learning, 1998.

Willingham, Daniel T. "Strategies That Make Learning Last." Strategies 72.2 (2014): 10-15.

Green, J. M. (1998, February). Constructing the way forward for all pupils. A speech delivered at “Innovations for Effective Schools” OECD/New Zealand joint follow-up conference, New Zealand.

Harlen, W. (1998) Classroom assessment: A dimension of purposes and procedures. In K. Carr (Ed.), SAMEpapers (pp. 75–87). Hamilton, New Zealand: Centre for SMT Ed. Res.

Abrahams, Ian, Michael J. Reiss, and Rachael Sharpe. "Improving the assessment of practical work in school science: lessons from an international comparison." (2013).

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