The formative
assessment activity helped to deepen my understanding of formative assessment.
It was beneficial to work through it with my group members because they were
able to clarify several things that seemed slightly fuzzy at first. Also, we
were able to work together effectively to complete the task at hand.
My group was able to identify many important features of formative assessment,
but we had a more difficult time figuring out the definition between outcomes
and goals. It was much more difficult and time consuming to plan a unit through
the use of backward design than I had imagined.
Describing the most salient features of formative assessment
to a science colleague would revolve around the idea that learning and
understanding should be targeted in several ways, whether through group work,
projects/presentations, and discussion based classes in order for students to
get the full understanding of a concept without being lectured at constantly.
Can you give more specifics in your first paragraph? How did the activity deepend you understanding? What things were clarified by your group members? I think answers to these would help me to better understand how you are thinking about "salient features" in your second paragraph.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard for me to distinguish the difference between "student-centered" teaching strategies and formative assessment in your second paragraph. What you describe sounds like the activities you would do in class. How do these align with or support good formative assessment practices?