Chapter 6 FIAE

The traditional assessment consists of multiple choice, true & false, fill in the blanks, short answer, and essays. These type of assessment questions have since lost favorability in modern classrooms. A modern assessment consists of diagrams, realistic scenarios, and knowledge comprehension tasks. It is highly advised to integrate both styles into an assignment. Regardless of type, each question must be straight-forward in its expectation. For multiple choice, there should be one guaranteed correct answer and three to four semi-correct or incorrect answers. True and false should contain T’s and F’s that students can circle to avoid confusion. For essays, there should be parameters; such as length, time limit, and examples.

            I have only been familiar with the traditional forms of assessment questions. The section devoted to making traditional questions more effective was greatly helpful. Arranging matching questions with definitions on the left and words on the right is an effective strategy. Other include double recording guides and tiering questions in some form. These strategies serve as logistical ways of possibly improving test scores, but it is ultimately up to the teacher to insure the student understands the content. My mentor and myself learned this during the second week. I was tasked with assessing students on their understanding of Google Earth tools. The assessment was verbal, involving me asking questions on various tools and the students completing those tasks. If the student completed each task almost flawlessly, they scored a 3. If the student struggled with some tools, but could use Google Earth effectively they scored a 2.5. If a student struggled significantly, they scored a 2. A large majority of students earned a 3, a small minority earned a 2.5, and 1 student earned a 2.