Assesment of the Science Test

Even though Listening and Speaking is more difficult for me to evaluate, I would like to asses a Science exam, the main reason is: my students get lower grades in this subject. I would like to know if the way I am evaluating them is affecting their performance.

According to Coombe, Folse & Hubley (2007) items can be classified in two big groups: selection and supply items. The author highlights the importance of being aware of the impact items have on students proficiency. In this exam, there are 12 points to be evaluated through selection items, and 28 points for supply items. I have noticed that students do better in selection items, this is good if we think as teachers (those items are easier to check and they are very objective), but students are not producing the way I expect. My students with curricular accommodations or special needs find supply items really difficult, and they are getting very low grades, because they cannot answer them.

Another important point to analyze is how objective or subjective items are, in this case since the test mostly has short answer, I would definitely say that most of the items lack of objectivity. I have to be honest, even though selection items are very practical, I prefer supply items. Unfortunately I have realized that an exam with too many items for production or short answer are tough and tiring for kids. The reason why I like them better is because students are actually saying something, thinking, organizing ideas, etc. Though these items can become very subjective.

The exam does not have multiple choice items, because I remember how much I guess when I was in high school. It might be selfishness, but I do not want to give them that chance. I have not included them so far. Even though matchings might allow guessing as well, I do include them in exams. This exam has a matching which values 4 points, it is about the Earth layers, and it is tricky. Some bad things about this matching are: It does not have more options than promises as suggested by the author. I did not make clear if students could repeat numbers. Good things about it are: there were lines provided for students to write on the lines the numbers. Options and premises were short. All the statements were related to one central topic which was the Earths Layers. There were no widows, in the matching. Matching:

Picture 1

The identification has two parts, one is for students to label the layers of Earth, from a list of words in a chart. That might be a gap-fill question, but I am not sure how to asses it. Identification:

Picture 2

However the second part I do know! Part B of the identification has four sentences, they are Gap-fill questions. According to the author they are categorized as semantic gaps because the words that are missing are: verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. After reading the recommendations about writing this type of item I noticed that the sentences provided in the exam might lack of context for students to complete them. But the statements have also strengths, the firs one relates to the blanks length, because they have to be similar, to avoid guessing.Picture 3 The longest part of the exam is short answer, it values 22 points of the exam. One of the tips suggested by the author is that the questions must have one concise answer, I consider my questions are pretty straight forward and short. I have noticed that in some cases students answer based on prior knowledge or experience and not only based on that has been studied in class. This type of item allows them to think and synthesize. I did not specified hoy many words I was expecting, I will definitely include it eventually. Like I mentioned before this type of item usually is time consuming and a little bit more difficult to solve. Similar to short answer, I have a part called production. Production at this level is not as complex as in higher levels. In third grade, at least in the school I work at, cannot value more than 6 points. In this case production is based on questions that are not as short as in the short answer item. But they are not as long as essay questions. In this exam, students have to explain the migration process of the Monarch Butterfly, I specified hoy many ideas or points they were supposed to develop. Then they were asked about a specific concept, to provide examples and to give their point of view about the topic. In that sense production in this exam is similar to essay questions, because language use as well as content is evaluated. Besides it requires thinking and effort from the students. Since I included too many questions in this two parts, I realized how tired my students were. Corporacin Educativa de Occidente Time: 80 min

Colegio Bilinge San Ramn Total points: 40

English Department

Percentage: 15%

2nd Partial, First Trimester 2015

Science

Third Grade

Obtained points: ______

Obtained %: _________Teacher: Libia Retana Araya Grade:

Students name _______________________________. Parents Signature: ____________________________.

General instructions: Read the instructions carefully before answering the test. Use pencil only.

Work individually, neat and clear.

Cellphones are not allowed.I PART. Identification. (8 points)

A. Look at the picture and label the layers of the Earth correctly. Use the words from the chart. (4 points.1 p/e/c/a)Outer core- Mantle- Inner core- Crust

B. Read the following sentences about the starfish. Choose the word that best complete each sentence and write it on the line. (4 points.1 p/e/c/a)rocks- regenerate- feet- seashore

1. Starfish live near the ______________________.

2. They often attach themselves to ________________.

3. The tubes under a starfishs arms function as __________________.4. Starfish can ________________ parts of their body.II PART. Matching. (4 points)

A. Under Column A, you will find the name of the Earth layers and under Column B, you will find the characteristics of those layers. Write the number of the layer from Column A in the parenthesis on Column B. (4 points.1 p/e/c/a)Column A

Column B1. Crust

( ) The rocks and metals are in liquid form.

2. Outer core

( ) It is solid, but the hottest layer.3. Mantle

( ) Its made up of melted rock that bursts out.4. Inner core

( ) It is the outside layer, it is very thin.III PART. Short Answer. (22 points)Read the items below. Answer them with a complete sentence according to the topics and information studied in class in a correct way. 1. Write four parts of the starfish. (4 points.1 p/e/c/a)___________________________

________________________

___________________________

________________________

2. Write two examples of natural resources. (2 points.1 p/e/c/a)___________________________

________________________

3. Write two examples of renewable resources. (2 points.1 p/e/c/a)___________________________

________________________

4. Write two examples of nonrenewable resources. (2 points.1 p/e/c/a)___________________________

________________________

5. Write the name of 4 endangered species. (4 points.1 p/e/c/a)___________________________

________________________

___________________________

________________________

6. Write the name of two animals that are hunted for their fur, skin or other body parts. (2 points.1 p/e/c/a)___________________________

________________________7. What is overfishing? (1 point)_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

8. What is overhunting? (1 point)_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

9. What are nonrenewable resources? (1 point)________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

10. What are renewable resources? (1 point)________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

11. Write two consequences of deforestation. (2 points.1 p/e/c/a)_________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________IV PART. Production. (6 points)

Answer the following questions based on the information studied in class, correctly.1. Explain in four steps the migration process of the Monarch Butterfly. (4 points, 1 p/e/c/a)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

2. What is deforestation? (1 point)_________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

3. What do you think about deforestation? Is it good/bad? Why? (1 point)_________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________Letter to Teacher LibiaEven though you like this exam a lot, there are some details you might want to consider next time. I would like to start by pointing out the weaknesses of the test. After analyzing every part of it, I have to say that it is a pretty tiring exam, because most of the items are supply items. This refers to one of the cornerstones of evaluation, practicability, it is not practical neither for you nor for your students. You might want to consider the idea of having multiple choice items once in a while, however you have to be very careful, because this type of item seems to be the hardest to prepare. I see you do include matchings in your exams, please remember to state in the instructions if there are missing numbers or if students can repeat numbers, for students might be confusing. Please always remember to include enough context for your students to write an answers, especially when it comes to gap-fill questions. Do not forget to keep a balance in the type of items, I refer to subjective and objective items. Some of the good points or strengths of the test are: the instructions, because they are very specific and clear. The variety of items throughout the exam and also the order of it. You are doing a good job, it is cool that your exams are always assessed by the English Coordinator of your school that ensures improvement and growth. After reading more about this type of assessment, I think you are going to keep details in mind and continuing walking. Work Cited:Coombe, C. A., Folse, K. S., & Hubley, N. J. (2007). A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.

Good you see the cornerstone of practicality in your test! Especially if you have a lot of exams to check.

Wow! Well done! It is really advisable to vary the tem, that way we can be more fair with the different learning styles.

I see what you mean here, and that makes me think on the design of the MCQ. On the book we read about common problems when designing MCQ. I think it would be interesting for to design MCQ now that you now more about them. What do you think?

When giving feedback, even for yourself, it is advasable to use positive and progress oriented words, like some reas to work on, some reas for improvement. Humberto Maturana, a thinker, biologist and educator I really like t oread says that if we want to change society we need to start changing the way we think, and the way to break old structures is to change the way we think, and to change the way we think we need to change the words we use. What do you think?says that if gh the way we think, therefore, the way we speak. I love that idea. What do you think?e think, and that will only b

There are somethings I would like to highlight about this section:

I noticed that you boldface the words Earth layers as to draw students atention, great! Espeacially with kids, these kinds of decisions make the difference!

2. As you said before, there should be at least one more option left. I would say one option because they are kids. I would also make sure I take sometime at the beginning of the exam to reaaaaaally explain it to them. I remember you said you do that!

I think that due the nature of your course (I would love to know what leve lis it for) this tem will work just fine. It is a gap filling. Now, I was really thinking on another tem to use, and what I could think of (in combination with what might 11 year old niece told me ;) ) you could also have students answering some questions like: Where is the mantle located? Or what is the crust made of? That way you can have more options in the Word bank and they would also be answering and not just gap filling. Then, if you want them to indicate where the mantle is, you could also ask them to color it with certain color! For example, color the Mantle red. That will also make your exam more dynamic! What do you think?

Very good! I agree! Providing more contexts is necessary. I was thinking that instead of isolated sentences you could have and actual text, as it were taken from a magazine (you can even take tha NatGeo logo to give it more face validity!, and why not pictures (of the startfish). Any thoughts?

Gap-fill questions.

Semantic Gaps

Analyzed!

Short answer and production questions seem very similar to me.

Interesting, what does this mean?

Something advisable is to keep the same content in each section that way you can include more context in the instructions, and include pictures to.

You can have sections like circle the odd one. For example, in this particular one you can have a section with a list of natural resources and things that are not natural resources and they could circle those that are natural. You can also use pictures instead of words. It depends on the level.

Same thought as before: each section should evaluate one topic. You can have different sections of the same topic but is it advisable to avoid overlaping of topics.

I love this question! As you said it promotes them to think and really say what they think! Keep on using this kind of personalized questions.

I am really glad to see you use open and positive language!

Yes you are!!!

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