Assessment for Learning in Science
Learning from Teachers' Journey in Using ICT to Enhance AfL
Mayflower Primary School
Abstract
Teachers in the modern day classroom are keen to achieve an optimal balance of Assessment for Learning (AfL) and Assessment of Learning (AoL). AfL has gained significant momentum in recent years as the regular use of formative assessment can substantially improve student achievement (Wiliam, 2011).
A group of teachers in Mayflower Primary School embarked on a journey to explore how AfL can be enhanced with the integration of technology to close the gaps in pupils' understanding of Science concepts. Guided by the increasing understanding of AfL practices & TPACK, our teachers designed and implemented learning interventions that provided opportunities for students to be activated as learning resources for one another through a blend of ICT tools such as features within the Learning Management System (LMS) and TitanPad.
Introduction
Since 2013, Science teachers in MFPS have embarked on using the Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) approach in the delivery of the Science curriculum. As pupils construct their understanding of concepts through interesting and engaging activities, there was a need to provide pupils with opportunities to make their thinking visible in order to assess their understanding.
Our journey involved the introduction of two Primary 5 classes to technological tools, Literatu and TitanPad, to improve pupils' engagement and their collaborative skills and metacognition through peer critique. The activities designed for the topic of 'Water Cycle' provided important information and data for the adaptation of subsequent lessons (feed forward) to meet pupils' needs.
The success of these teachers' journeys in closing pupils' learning gaps and deepening their own pedagogy in the teaching of Science had also translated into rich sharing with fellow teachers in the school. This had led to a higher level of confidence and clearer direction in refining the activities in the pupils' IBL booklets.
Literature Review
Assessment for Learning (AfL)
Leahy, Lyon, Thompson and Wiliam (2005) analysed various research done on AfL and found that employing AfL strategies improves student achievement. They explored a number of ways to introduce teachers to the key ideas of AfL and found a set of five broad strategies to be equally powerful for teachers of all content areas and at all grade levels:
- Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success.
- Engineering effective classroom discussions, questions, and learning tasks.
- Providing feedback that moves learners forward.
- Activating students as the owners of their own learning.
- Activating students as instructional resources for one another.
They also emphasised the importance of using assessment information to adapt instruction to meet students' needs.
TPACK
Research Focus
To track the learning journeys of teachers who enhanced AfL practices with various open educational technologies in the teaching of Primary Science.
Research Question
How does collaborative learning within differentiated groups improve pupils' Scientific reasoning using the right Scientific terms?
Methodology
Lesson Design and Implementation
Introduction to ICT Tools
TitanPad
TitanPad is a real-time, online document editing and collaboration tool that helps pupils quickly collaborate on text documents withing their group members. There is no user registration required in order to use this ICT tool. The teacher just clicks on the “Create public pad button” to get started and makes the URL accessible to pupils. Pupils will be able to access a public pad where they can type anything in the given field. The changes made by one appear instantly on the each pupil’s screen. The group members can chat with each other in real time while editing the document. The comments made by each group member will be highlighted in a unique color so that pupils can easily determine their contributions. Another useful function is a time slider, which replays all the changes made, enable teachers to track the changes made by pupils. This makes it possible for teachers to see how pupils' thought processes evolve as the group discussion went on.
Literatu
Literatu is a cloud delivered application that enables teachers to create activities to assess pupils' understanding of concepts learnt. Using Literatu, teachers better engage students, streamline grading and have immediate access to live, insightful pupil performance data.
Introduction to Social Learning Wall
Social Learning Wall is a virtual platform that is implemented inside the Learning Management System (LMS). Its primary objective is to provide a safe environment for collaborative discussion and information sharing that develop pupils that are more proactive and dedicated in their learning.
Pupils' discussions and artefacts were assessed by the group of teachers after every lesson. The purpose was to identify common misconceptions and areas for improvement in collaborative tasks. Subsequent lessons were adapted based on the needs and readiness of each class.
Lesson 1
Using TitanPad, pupils were instructed to answer a set of questions relating the changes in state of water to heat gain/loss. Upon completion of their individual responses, they had to collaborate and arrive at a group's best answer. TitanPad allowed for real time monitoring of pupils' responses and the teacher could facilitate richer discussions by providing immediate feedback as well.
At the end of the lesson, an exit pass activity using Literatu was assigned to pupils to assess their understanding of heat gain/loss in relation to the process of melting, evaporation, freezing and condensation. Using the results from this assessment, each teacher would modify the subsequent lesson and resolve any learning gaps pupils have.
Lesson 2
Teachers reassessed their individual class' performance on the concept of heat gain/loss Weaker pupils spent further class time re-visiting the Primary 4 concepts of heat gain/loss. Higher progress pupils proceeded to watch a video of substances formed on a covered lid of hot water and outer surface of a beaker filled with cold water. Using their newly acquired understanding from the video, they were tasked to identify the substances formed and provide an explanation why. This data would then be used by teachers to plan subsequent lessons.
The lesson ended by getting pupils to apply what they have learned. Pupils had to design and draw an experiment to collect clear water from coloured water. They were provided the TitanPad platform for discussion. Pupils adopted a peer commenting approach to surface key ideas or point out errors in peers' answers. Pupils also had to follow a set of sentence starters which helped to provide a structure in peer commenting.
Lesson 3
Lesson 3 was built upon the task given in Lesson 2. Having completed their experimental design, pupils uploaded the diagrams and explained their answers on the Social Learning Wall in the Learning Management System. The focus of lesson 3 was on peer commenting to surface pupils' understanding and activate every pupil as a learning resource for one another. Based on observations in Lesson 2, further refinements were made to the sentence starters provided to meet the needs of the different classes. The mid progress pupils were encouraged to start with "I agree/disagree with because..."
Results (Findings)
Teacher Survey Results
All teachers involved in the action research project had to complete the same set of survey before and after conducting the planned lessons. The surveys focused on teachers' learning and reflection in three broad areas - pedagogy, technology and content. The components that recorded the largest positive differential are as follow:
- Teachers' feedback is focused on helping students how to learn and work with others (AfL and collaboration techniques)
- Teachers' ability to plan group activities (Collaboration techniques)
- Teachers' ability to plan and reflect more deeply on how technology can influence teaching approaches in the classroom (ICT)
This clearly demonstrated that the group of teachers who participated in the lesson design package have deepened their understanding of effective pedagogy pertaining to collaborative tasks and displayed greater confidence in the integration of ICT tools for purposeful group activities.
Teachers' Learning and Insights (Discussions)
- Teachers gained a higher level of competency in handling AfL information and data and used them to adapt subsequent lessons to meet pupils' learning needs.
- Teachers gained an insight into integrating ICT purposefully and meaningfully into lessons.
- The process of collaboration between pupils needs to be scaffolded (e.g. process of peer critque was scaffolded with the use of sentence starters). For pupils to internalise the required skills, scaffolding tools must be built into the class routine.
- ICT tools provided pupils who are less outspoken with a voice. The ICT classroom has changed the social dynamics of 21st century learners.
- Usage of ICT must begin with clear expectations and rules in place to prevent cyberwellness issues.
- Pupils demonstrated better understanding of concepts pertaining to the processes involved in the water cycle. Pupils started to accustom themselves to a constructive structure of peer commenting, substantiating their opinions with scientific reasoning.
References
- S. Leahy, C. Lyon, M. Thompson and D. Wiliam (2005). Educational Leadership. Classroom Assessment: Minute by Minute, Day by Day, 63, 19-24.
- S. Cox, C. R. Graham (2009). Tech Trends. Using an Elaborated Model of the TPACK Framework to Analyze and Depict Teacher Knowledge, 53, 60-69.
- Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded Formative Assessment, Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Van den Bergh, A. Ros and D. Beijaard (2014). American Educational Research Journal. Improving Teacher Feedback During Active Learning: Effects of a Professional Development Program, 51, 772-809.
- C. S. Chai, J. H. L. Koh, C. C. Tsai, L. L. W. Tan (2011). Computers & Education. Modeling primary school pre-service teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) for meaningful learning with information and communication technology (ICT), 57, 1184-1193.
- Koehler, M. (2012, January 1). Using the TPACK Image. Retrieved January 7, 2015, from http://www.matt-koehler.com/tpack/using-the-tpack-image/