Technology and Classroom-Based Assessment
Barbara Means, SRI International
John Bransford, Sean Brophy, and James Pellegrino, Vanderbilt
University
The Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CILT) has joined with the National Education Association (NEA) to create a publication addressing issues related to technology and classroom-based assessment. This monograph focuses on uses of technology in assessments that promote learning (i.e., formative rather than summative assessments). The goals of this publication are to synthesize current assessment practices and to provide new insights for future assessment methods.
Theories of Transfer and Their Implications for
Assessment
John Bransford, Vanderbilt University
Daniel Schwartz, Review of Educational Research (RER)
This chapter, developed with help from editors at RER, introduces a new theory of transfer that has important implications for assessing the benefits of educational interventions, including technology-based interventions. The chapter will be published in 1999.
Technology and Dynamic Assessment
John Bransford, Sean Brophy, Nancy Vye, Dan Schwartz and
CTGV - Vanderbilt University
Jim Minstrell and Earl Hunt, University of Washington
The goal of this project is to explore assessment methods that derive from new theories of learning and transfer (see preceding project) and target students' ability to learn new information when provided with resources that support that learning. Students taught only to do well on a test often do poorly in a new learning task that provides opportunities for them to extend their knowledge. Dynamic assessment methods feature built-in instruction and seek to assess the dynamics of students' abilities to adapt flexibly to the questions asked, to find new information from a variety of resources, and to monitor their own understanding.
Aligning TIMSS Items with the National Standards
Ken Koedinger and Marcia Steely, Carnegie Mellon
University
This project has several key objectives: identifying challenging TIMMS items for U.S. students, aligning these items with NCTM standards, establishing a framework demonstrating the relationship between test items and NCTM standards, drafting a document for review for CILT, and submitting a final report for CILT affiliates to use in assessment and evaluation projects. Ultimately, the product of this research will provide materials that can be used by the Dynamic Assessment project mentioned above.
Guide to file NCTM-to-TIMSS.doc
The file shows the TIMSS items that correlate with each of the Grade 5-8 1989 NCTM Standards. For instance, consider the start of the file shown below.
In grades 5-8, the mathematics curriculum should include numerous and varied experiences with problem solving as a method of inquiry and application so that students can... - use problem-solving approaches to investigate and understand mathematical content; (S1:5-8, 1 of 6)
CURRICULUM STANDARDS FOR GRADES 5-8 : STANDARD 1: MATHEMATICS AS PROBLEM SOLVING
Component: Area of a rectangle
Reference: Measurement K-05
Required: - Suggested: 6-8 Interested: -
Component: Total distance traveled by ball.
Reference: Algebra L-11
Required: - Suggested: 6-8 Interested: -
The beginning is the description of NCTM Standard 1.1 (indicated
by "S1:5-8, 1 of 6") and following indented section is a list of
the TIMSS items that correlate. The excerpt above shows two
correlated TIMSS items K-05 and L-11. The "Component" line provides
a brief description of the item (e.g., Area of a rectangle) and the
"Reference" line indicates the TIMSS item category (e.g.,
Measurement) and number (e.g., K-05). The item number can be used
to find the item in the released 8th grade TIMSS items. To get the
released items go to
http://nces.ed.gov/TIMSS/timss95/rsrc_pub.asp#released and download
"TIMSS Mathematics Items Released Set for Population 2".
Guide to Excel file TIMSS_to_NCTM_5-8.xls
This file is an Excel spreadsheet in which the rows list the Grade 5-8 1989 NCTM Standards and columns list the 8th grade TIMSS items. A cell in the table has an "X" if the TIMSS item in that row correlates with the NCTM Standard in that column. The row totals (on the right) indicate the number of TIMSS items that correlate with each Standard. The column totals indicate the number of Standards that correlate with each TIMSS item. The Standards and items are organized according to their categories. Thus, it is possible to see for instance that the NCTM Measurement Standards (13.1-13.7) sensibly correlate well with many of the TIMSS measurement items (columns 84-98) but not well with the TIMSS algebra items (columns 1-18). The second worksheet "Category Counts" shows the counts of the standard-item correlations within these broad categories.
Note: We do not recommend printing this file as it is many pages and unwieldy.
Formative and Summative Assessment of Inquiry
Science
Richard Duschl and Susan Goldman, Vanderbilt
University
John Frederiksen and Barbara White, University of California,
Berkeley
This project focuses on examining and understanding how discourse interactions in an on-line database provide opportunities for formative assessment of argumentation discourse in science classrooms. Research indicates that students' discourse tends to be more reflective and thoughtful when it occurs in technologically supported asynchronous learning environments such as CSILE. However, little is known about 'carry-over' between argumentation patterns that occur in classroom discussions and those that occur in on-line venues. This project represents ongoing work in seventh-grade science classrooms that are equipped with the asynchronous communication environment Knowledge Forum (formerly CSILE). Students develop their arguments in this on-line discussion venue throughout the process of constructing and understanding the science content. Science content is taught through the creation and conduct of experiments over several cycles of revision. As a first step, we are examining argumentation in the context of a unit on flotation and buoyancy. We are looking at how argumentation structures develop and emerge in response to (1) prompts (scaffolds) that emphasize evidence-based reasoning and (2) the circumstances under which teachers and peers provide prompts that emphasize evidence for claims.
Studying the Design and Impact of a Systemwide Formative
Assessment System
Sean Brophy and John Bransford, Vanderbilt University
Barbara Means, SRI International
William Nelson, Little Planet Publishing
This project explores the design and implementation of a new formative assessment system designed by Little Planet Publishing and implemented in a variety of classrooms in Nashville, Tennessee. The assessment system is flexible, allowing us to explore how different ways of using it affect student learning and teachers' and parents' knowledge of that learning. The software has been developed and provided for use in the Nashville Metropolitan School District.