Chapter 3Teacher as Archeologist: Assessing Background Knowledge

Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2009). Background Knowledge: The Missing Piece of the Comprehension Puzzle. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

• Discuss the ways to determine the background knowledge a student might possess• Examine the role of misconceptions on learning• Review assessment tools to expose background knowledge

Today’s Purposes

Table Talk

Discuss a time when you initially believed one thing about a student and then learned something unexpected. How did you learn this? What teacher skills helped you?

• Surveying: Knowing where to look

• Excavating: Bringing it to the surface

• Examining: Using tools for analysis

Teacher As Archeologist

• Requires knowing where to look• Incidental knowledge vs. core

knowledge• This is the difference between

what is interesting vs. what is essential

• Wiggins & McTighe: enduring understandings

Surveying Knowledge

Core Incidental

Foundational to understanding main concepts.

Representation Interesting but incidental.

Requires multiple exposures and experiences.

Transmission Can be explained or defined easily (label, fact, or name).

Needed again to understand future concepts.

Transferability Specific to this concept; unlikely to be used later.

Will be remembered after details are forgotten.

Enduring Not likely to be recalled later.

Comparing Incidental and Core Knowledge

Core Incidental

• Knowledge of the era regarding the importance of maintaining reputations.•Importance of revenge to resolve grievances.•Role of family reputation through generations.•Symbolism of the Montressor coat of arms. •The unreliable narrator as a literary device. •Impunity: getting away with something with no punishment.

•Carnival celebrations.

•Amontillado is a kind of wine.

•Wine cellars and catacombs are underground.

•Freemasons are a secret society.

The Cask of the Amontillado (Poe)

Core Concept in Middle School Plane Geometry

• Bringing it to the surface so that students notice what they know and do not know

• Focus is on anticipating misconceptions

Excavating Knowledge

Misconceptions

• Represent a fundamental flaw in knowledge and reasoning

• Cascading effect

• Building new knowledge on a shaky foundation results in selective learning to justify the misconception

Content Area Misconception

Life Science The water in the water cycle today is the same water from millions of years ago.

Organisms higher on the food chain are predators of all organisms below it.

Muscle cells push and pull. Physical Science Faster moving objects have a larger force acting upon them.

Two objects traveling at the same velocity will also have the same acceleration.

History World War II in Europe was waged against Germany (omitting Italy and Russia.)

The American Civil War was fought to free enslaved people. Failure to understand the progression of time and history across

multiple timelines (the Ņsnapshot effectÓ). Mathematics The absolute value of a number is a positive number (rather than

the distance from zero.) Confusing variables for objects (3d + 2c means 3 dollars and 2

cents). Identification of a shape is based on appearance rather than

properties. English A sentence must never begin with ŅAndÓ or ŅButÓ.

Never end a sentence in a preposition. Formal academic writing should never include the word ŅI.Ó

Biology Weber University

http://departments.weber.edu/sciencecenter/biology%20misconceptions.htm

Physics University of Montana Student Difficulties in Physics Information Center

http://www.physics.montana.edu/physed/misconceptions/index.html

Algebra Willamette University Algebra Misconceptions Project

http://www.willamette.edu/~srhine/Projects/AMP.html

Earth

Science

US Geological Survey

http://www.usgs.gov/

Resources for Misconceptions

Anticipation Guide in Earth Science

Name: Period:

Directions: Read each statement and answer True or False.

Before Statement After

1. Rocks stretch and flex during an earthquake.

2. Damage continues to occur after the earthquake ends because of

landslides, fires, and tsunamis.

3. An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 is twice as strong as one that is

magnitude 5.0.

4. Earthquakes begin deep in the EarthÕs core.

5. Seismic waves from an earthquake can be measured on the

other side of the Earth.

6. California might break off from the continent because of a large

earthquake.

Name: Period: Date:

Directions: Think about your own reactions to these statements and circle the description

that best matches. There are no right and wrong answers.

WhatÕs Your Opinion?

SA=Strongly Agree A=Agree D=Disagree SD=Strongly Disagree

Statement SA A D SD

History is the winnerÕs story.

A representative democracy is the best form of government.

Revolution is necessary for political change to occur.

Exploration and industrialization have done more harm than good

in Africa and Asia.

The human cost of war is too great to justify military conflict.

The world became a safer place after World War II.

Nation-building is the obligation of the victor.

Opinionnaire in History

Table Talk

What are misconceptions common to your discipline? What instructional routines can you use to unearth these misconceptions?

Examining Knowledge • Requires tools for analysis• Can include previous benchmark

assessments• Informal reading inventories to determine

reading levels• Metacomprehension Strategies Index• Cloze assessments• Interest surveys

Metacomprehension• Metacomprehension Strategies Index (Schmitt, 1990)• 25-item assessment that can be administered in one

session• Example item:While I am reading, it is a good idea to:

A. Keep track of how long it is taking me to read the story B. Check to see if I can answer any of the questions I asked

before I started reading

C. Read the title to see what the story is going to be aboutD. Add the missing details to the pictures.

• Originally developed for readability• Now used to assess content knowledge• Teacher-made• 250-word passage• Every fifth word deleted• Scoring

• Independent level: 60% correct or above• Instructional level: 40–59% correct• Frustration level: 39% or below

Cloze Assessments

• Locate a passage of about 250 words (a summary paragraph from the textbook is a good choice)

• Leave first sentence intact so that the reader can understand the context

• Remove every fifth word (even the little words): don’t change this!

• No word bank

Constructing a Cloze

• Can reduce overall length of passage (do not go below 150 words)

• Can increase frequency of blanks to every seventh word

Differentiation of Cloze

• Used in market research

• Commonly used to determine reading interests

• Rarely used for other purposes

• Why?

Interest Surveys

Rate These Topics !

Directions: I am designing several mini-units for you to explore this year, but first I need some help. On a scale of 1-4, please rate your interest in these topics. 1Ń IÕm thereŃ sign me up! 2Ń This sounds interesting and I would possibly choose this. 3Ń Only if I have to. 4Ń Not a million years!

What are the causes and effects of eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia)?

1 2 3 4

What happens after something dies? 1 2 3 4 The effects of poisons on the body. 1 2 3 4 What are the advances in cancer treatment? 1 2 3 4 Why do some brain injuries result in behavior changes, while others donÕt?

1 2 3 4

WhatÕs the debate on stem cell research? 1 2 3 4 How do epidemics (black plague, bird flu) spread? 1 2 3 4 What contributes to the loss of endangered species? 1 2 3 4 How does war advance biotechnology? 1 2 3 4 What are the effects of radiation on the body? 1 2 3 4 How close are we to a vaccine for HIV/AIDS? 1 2 3 4 Why donÕt hereditary diseases like cystic fibrosis ever disappear? 1 2 3 4 How can organisms tolerate the hottest, coldest, wettest, and driest places on Earth?

1 2 3 4

Does everyone really have a twin? 1 2 3 4

Interest Survey in Biology

Table Talk

What practices can you incorporate into your classroom in order to assess background knowledge?

How do teachers foster background knowledge across the sc hool day? 5 4 3 2 1 Knowledge of Misconceptions Common to the Discipline

Units include discipline-specific misconceptions that are directly assessed. Explicit teaching is designed to interrupt misconceptions.

Units include discipline-specific misconceptions. These are assessed, but are not directly addressed in teaching.

Misconceptions are sometimes included and may or may not be assessed or directly addressed in teaching.

Awareness of some discipline-specific misconceptions. These are integrated into some aspects of assessment or teaching.

Unfamiliar with the discipline-specific misconceptions that should be anticipated from students.

Assessing Background Knowledge

Common formative assessments focus on core background knowledge, not incidental knowledge. Assessment results are used to plan instruction and re-teaching. Results are shared and discussed with colleagues.

Formative assessment focuses mostly on core background knowledge. These assessment results are used to plan instruction and re-teaching, but are based within single classrooms.

Formative assessment is used, but core and incidental background knowledge is not differentiated. Results are used for some instructional planning, but not routinely. Results are not discussed with colleagues.

Assessment is used as a pretest, but is rarely analyzed for planning instruction and re-teaching. Results are not discussed with colleagues.

Assessment is summative and is used primarily for grading purposes. Results are not used for the purposes of improving future instruction.

Assessing Your PracticeUse the rubric to determine your goals for addressing

misconceptions and assessing background knowledge.

• Visit the MOSART (Misconception Oriented Standards-based Assessment Resource for Teachers) at http://mosart.mspnet.org/. This center is developing misconceptions assessments in science and math.

• Take a look at the Saskatoon (CN) Public School’s website support called Instructional Strategies Online. Their resource for the cloze procedure is at http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/Instr/strats/cloze/index.html

• Subscribe to Voice of Literacy, a free podcast series available at http://www.voiceofliteracy.org/. These are short (15 minutes) and informative and address many aspects of children’s and adolescent’s literacy.

Building Your Own Background Knowledge