Formal Means of Assessment - Forms of Assessment used in teaching

Glossary

Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4 Total

5.10 Forms of Assessment used in teaching

5.10.2 Formal Means of Assessment

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here we have to do our experiments first. We can use different kinds of objects as well like tissue paper, foil, hair and grass and whatever you can think of. The kids enjoy this. Once you have finished the experiments, you ask them what they saw, what happened?

They will start to explain this in their own words, such as rubbing, touching, etc. Already, they are starting to conceptualize Static Electricity. From this point on, your lesson takes off. Develop upon this. Ask them questions that arouse their curiosity, such as, is

everything attractive? Why? This gets them thinking, and they start to reason.

From here you get them to draw up tables and compare objects. You go step by step. And then, you relate it to nature. Move to precautions. Why is static electricity dangerous? They know it is dangerous, but they don‟t know why. You explain to them and give them

examples. Then you go on to measuring, recording and drawing up tables. So you are developing many skills concurrently.”

While practical work assumed the form of being predominantly teacher-led demonstrations, as presented above, the potential for practical work was also explored to some minimal extent in the case of all three participants.

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that might have been present as a result of poor test scores. These posters were proudly displayed on the walls of her classroom.

Priya‟s use of a poster as a form of assessment was limited to once a year, while Neel considered posters to offer no value in assessing learners and therefore did not use them in his lessons at all.

5.10.2.2 Homework

All three participants believed that assessment tasks given as homework did not yield the desired effect because these were returned incomplete or simply not attempted at all. The assessment tasks completed by a few learners were often done by their parents. This became problematic with regard to assessing the child‟s aptitude. A detailed discussion of the challenges associated with assigning homework tasks to learners as a form of assessment, is detailed in section 5.10.2.3, below. Consequently assessments were confined to class work involving participation of all learners.

5.10.2.3 Assignments and Projects

Neel added that projects and assignments involving the learners at Sterling Primary were not practical. He elaborated upon the reasons for this in the following manner:

“As much as I know projects and assignments are nice things to do, these are just not workable and practical. Many learners don‟t like to read. Others can‟t read. They don‟t have the necessary tools at their disposal to conduct the research. The bulk of the learners fall into one of these categories. Only brighter learners would actually complete a research assignment, given these factors.”

In light of the challenges presented above, Neel confined the use of assignments and projects in the formal assessment of learners to one project and two assignments for the year. These were conducted in class under his direct supervision.

Kajil, on the other hand, felt a little more confident in using assignments and projects in the class. In fact, at the time of the study Kajil had given her learners the task of making a water- wheel as a project for formal assessment purposes. However, the manner in which she used

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these assessment forms was highly structured and very much teacher-regulated, as she explains below:

“I go step-by-step when I give a research assignment or project. I structure it so as to guide learners as to what information they should be looking for. If the assignment is given in a question format, the questions needed to be read and explained to learners, before they could be answered.

Whilst we try to encourage independent work and promote the development of research skills among the learners, projects and assignments need to be guided by the teacher, from start to finish, for the successful completion of these. Therefore such tasks are always done in class under the supervision of the teacher”

Priya used assignments and projects to assess her learners in a similar way, as is reflected in the following sentiments:

“I allocate time slots, usually my double periods, to complete assignments and projects given as formal assessment tasks. If it is an assignment, I usually use the school library to obtain reference materials for the learners and make these available to them for use in class. I take them through the whole process of completing the assignment in stages.

This is done over a period of a few weeks until the task is completed. Therefore, I can only do one assignment or one project per term.”

All the participants agreed that projects and assignments helped them to gauge whether learners had understood their work or not. Consequently they all made attempts to

incorporate these assessment forms in their teaching. However, these assessment forms were highly structured and teacher-regulated every step of the way, as the discussion above suggests.

5.10.2.4 Tests

All participants had to comply with the school assessment policy, which means they had to administer a test to the learners every school term, as Priya says:

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“When it comes to tests, we have to do the controlled tests. We always did this .We have a first quarterly test and a third quarterly test. We also have the Mid-Year Test and the Final or Year-end test.

As for the other assessments, we have divided and varied these. For example, we give an assignment one term, a project another, and so on because we have to do it that way. These assessments supplement the tests, with regards to the formal side of assessment.”

Since Priya viewed tests as being inadequate in that they don‟t test the processes and skills that learners have acquired and developed during the learning process, she also used posters, assignments and projects to formally assess learners.

When setting tests, Kajil would structure the questions in such a manner that would cater for the mixed-ability classes that educators at Sterling Primary were confronted with. She explained this in the following manner:

“Our tests have to be set at a very low level. You have to include different levels of testing in your paper. At least 60% of your paper should include questions that all learners can

answer merely by recalling work covered in class. 30% of the test will require some thinking through and reasoning. The other 10% is designed for high flyers, where application is required. This allows for all children to pass, so no child should fail.

We teach the work for the term and then do revision in the form of written work. The questions asked in these exercises are similar to those that will be in the test. We mark and correct these revision exercises and then urge the children to learn these. We give the test, which half of the learners fail anyway. To make up for this deficit, I also use poster-making, assignments and projects to assess the learners to increase their chances of passing.”

Neel‟s personal view on tests was that he believed there was a place for tests but that these should be used in conjunction with other modes of assessment. His reasoning was that utilising varied forms of assessment that would best suit the learners was a fair practice to afford all learners a chance to succeed:

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“Our tests assess work covered for that specific term only. We cannot give a test that also covers work completed in previous terms as our learners are too young for this. They can‟t remember work covered in the first term, in the fourth term. Their level of capacity is such that they can only take in so much and no more. This is why I prefer using formative means of assessment in my teaching. Regularising assessments and tests is something that is also important.”

Clearly all three participants used tests as the predominant means of formally assessing their learners. The fact that using a test to assess learners every term was an accepted normal practice bears testimony to the significance that participants attached to tests over other forms of assessment. The data presented in section 5.10 above are summarised in the following table in an attempt to offer a birds-eye view of the nature of assessment activities that the participants used in their teaching practices.

5.10.3 Summary of Forms of Assessment Table: 3 - Forms of assessments used by participants

Types of Assessment Activities

Priya Kajil Neel

1. Oral

Questioning

 Used as a tool to obtain feedback about the performance of learners.

 Featured as the most popular means of informally assessing learners.

 Used as a tool to obtain feedback about the performance of learners.

 Featured as the most popular means of informally assessing learners.

 Used as a tool to obtain feedback about the performance of learners.

 Featured as the most popular means of informally assessing learners.

2. Observation  Used on a daily basis

 Informal means of

 Used on a daily basis

 Informal means of

 Used on a daily basis

 Informal means of

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feedback feedback feedback

3. Self-Assessment  Used as an informal means of assessment

 Employed this approach on a regular basis

 Did not use this approach at all

4. group work  Used to a minimal extent

 Used as an informal means of assessment

 Used to a minimal extent

 Used as an informal means of assessment

 Did not use this method at all

5. Homework  Tried and tested in the traditional sense, but did not prove effective

 Modified to include designated time-slots for the

completion of tasks in class Used as part of the formal assessment programme

 Tried and tested in the traditional sense, but did not prove effective

 Modified to include designated time-slots for the

completion of tasks in class

 Used as part of the formal assessment programme

 Tried and tested in the traditional sense, but did not prove effective

 Modified to include designated time-slots for the

completion of tasks in class

 Used as part of the formal assessment programme

6. Worksheet- based Question &

Answer method