During class I learned about formative assessment in Science and the importance of it in order to assess students in a way that allow them to show their full potential of what they can do. Anne Davies clapping video showing what formative assessment should look like, I believe was such a great representation of how teachers can help their students be successful learners.

In the article “Formative Assessment in the Science Classroom” by Linda Dunnavant, I learned about different tools and strategies that help with formative assessment in the science classroom. The following are strategies I would be interested in using in my classroom:

Exit Slips: Exit slips are used at the end of a lesson to gain an understanding of what the students learned, and who understood and who didn’t. Exit slips provide the teacher with evidence of learning and also are a way for the teacher to understand how to best support the learning needs of individual students to help them be successful. Dunnavant suggests one way to organize exit slips is by getting students to put them in colour coded bins based on their level of understanding. I think one change I might make is to sort students work in the colour coded bins after confidentially. I’m not sure how I feel about students putting their work in these colour coded bins in front of their peers as they may feel self conscious about where they place their exit slip.

3,2,1: Students can write 3 things they learned, 2 things they found interesting, and one question they have or something they didn’t understand. This strategy can also be easily modified for example making it 1,2,3 or switching the order up for example (3,2,1: 3 questions, 2 things you found interesting, 1 thing you learned).

Top Ten List: Students write the top ten things they learned from a lesson or topic. This can also be done as a full class activity, partner/group activity, or individually. I like the idea of them doing this in partners or groups so they can learn from one another and practice their communication, personal and social, and thinking skills. These are all things that the teacher can assess and record through observation.

*path photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash