Using Phenomena in Testing
Nora Walsh reflects on her experience using phenomena in her chemistry courses and assessments for the first time.
Nora Walsh reflects on her experience using phenomena in her chemistry courses and assessments for the first time.
Anthony Stetzenmeyer's grading strategy provides an alternative option to offering required retakes on summative assessments. It has the added bonus of helping his AP chemistry students prepare for the AP exam while learning to cut their losses.
Practice problem answer keys that provide correct and incorrect answers increase student metacognition and lead to more thorough learning.
Mastery-based grading involves assessing student mastery of a defined set of learning objectives. In this virtual talk the practical implementation of additional assessments, outcomes of student achievement, and lessons learned will be discussed.
Helping students develop abstract understanding is a universal goal. This article describes an activity that involves students developing and then solving novel quantitative chemistry problems following a MadLibsTM style framework.
Formative assessment questions provide a useful lens into students' minds regarding what they are thinking about chemistry. By ascertaining what students are thinking, teachers can make decisions regarding what to do with what they learn. The members of ACCT (Assessing for Change in Chemical Thinking) presented a ChemEd X Talk on the topic on May 26th. You can watch the edited recording of this Talk and find more resources here.
Grades should provide feedback to students, parents, and teachers as to the progress students are making toward learning targets. Meaningful grades require good assessment practices. Erica Posthuma presented a ChemEd X Talk on May 11th, 2021, providing an overview of effective assessment design. She discussed writing and communicating learning goals, developing targeted questions and prompts, and scoring using a standards-based approach. You can watch the edited recording of Erica's Talk here.
In order to teach chemistry effectively, we must ascertain what our students are thinking about chemistry and make a decision regarding what to do with what we learn. Formative assessment questions provide a useful lens into students' minds regarding what they are thinking about chemistry. Let us consider then, how categorizing formative assessment questions could help us plan out our classes more deliberately, in order to better design purposeful written formative assessments that align with our curricular goals.
It has been a challenging year. The challenge gave rise to a unique way to provide exams in a multitude of platforms. Check it out and do not be afraid to share some ideas of your own!
ChemEd X Talks with Katy Dornbos about how she has transformed the way she is assessing her students - particularly on exams. Her new method of assessing was born from her desire to decrease student stress, minimize her grading time and keep the questions challenging enough to encourage deep thinking. You can watch the edited recording of Katy's Talk here.