Case-Based Questions

CASE 9.A

For the last several days, your cooperating teacher for student teaching, Mrs. Timms, has been trying to work out a set of assessments for an upcoming seventh grade project-based unit related to ecology. So far, she has constructed the following table in an attempt to outline the assessments you and she will use with the class. She is now ready to share this table with you and get your input.

Assessment Table

1		What are the three steps of assessment exemplified within Mrs. Timms's table? (Chapter Learning Performance 9.1)
2		The last row of Mrs. Timms's table indicates that you can suggest other assessments to use. Complete one row for an assessment that you would suggest to Mrs. Timms. (Chapter Learning Performance 9.2)
3		Compare and contrast two assessments that Mrs. Timms used in her assessment table. To what extent are they interchangeable for an intended use or purpose? (Chapter Learning Performance 9.3)
4		In what ways are the assessments outlined by Mrs. Timms consistent with a project-based learning environment? (Chapter Learning Performance 9.5)
5		Explain how the assessments Mrs. Timms identified will be valuable to the teaching and learning that will occur within the ecology unit. (Chapter Learning Performance 9.7)

CASE 9.B

Mr. Moore decides that he wants to try an alternative assessment strategy in addition to conventional paper-and-pencil tests. He decides to have each group of four students write and perform a one-act play that demonstrates their understanding of the unit at hand. To do this successfully, he needs to think through the following questions; therefore, he asks you to help him.

6		Should the rubric for evaluating the play be holistic or analytic? Explain the reasons for your choice. (Chapter Learning Performance 9.6)
7		What criterion or criteria should the rubric measure? (Chapter Learning Performance 9.6)
8		How many performance levels should the rubric have for each criterion? (Chapter Learning Performance 9.6)
9		Create an example of descriptions for each level of one criterion. (Chapter Learning Performance 9. 6)

CASE 9.C

Mr. Fred Munsen teaches sixth grade science and is your colleague within the science department of the middle school where you work. Within the department, Fred is known as being "set in his ways." Fred attends the PBS in-service training sessions conducted throughout the school year but seems disinterested in them. Toward the end of the workshop series, teachers are encouraged to break out into grade-level specific working groups and begin to map out PBS units that could be used during the coming school year. During the group encounter, Fred opens up by saying,

This PBS idea is stupid! It's just one more attempt to "dumb-down" the curriculum. Look, my kids are never going to be successful on the tests I give if I start teaching them in this way. Facts are important and science is like a foreign language to these kids. Mark my words, we'll be embarrassed when the high school teachers tell the administration that the kids don't know the basics. I mean, how would you feel if you were a high school teacher and the kids you got couldn't even define photosynthesis or name cell parts? That's why I give objective tests that focus on the "basics." I'll bring in one of my tests and then you can show me how I'm supposed to teach from a PBS approach and still use it.

10		When Fred brings in the test, you find that it has fifty questions; thirty of which are multiple-choice, ten are true/false, five are matching, and five are fill-ins. Almost all the questions are recall or knowledge level items. Why is Fred's test a poor one? (Chapter Learning Performance 9.4)
11		What changes would make Fred's test better? (Chapter Learning Performance 9.4)
12		Explain to Fred why other artifacts besides tests should be used to assess the sixth graders in science. (Chapter Learning Performance 9.3, 9.5)
13		Should objective tests be used to assess students? Explain your reasoning. (Chapter Learning Performance 9.3)