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Initiating formative assessment practices in kindergarten informs teaching and learning. By Renee Williams Graham, Emily Dennis, Jan Korenich, and Marilyn Cornell Science and Children 36

Initiating formative assessment practices in kindergarten ... · Initiating formative assessment practices in kindergarten informs ... Mrs. Cornell began the lesson ... Mrs. Cornell

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Initiating formative assessment practices in kindergarten informs teaching and learning.

By Renee Williams Graham, Emily Dennis, Jan Korenich, and Marilyn Cornell

Science and Children36

S tudents in Mrs. Cornell’s kindergarten class shared their observations about what hap-pened when drops of water were placed on

different types of wood. The students were engag-ing in a science lesson focusing on the observable properties of wood, an activity from the FOSS Wood and Paper science module (Lawrence Hall of Science 2005). This lesson is one of many that Mrs. Cornell designed to lay the foundation for the second-grade disciplinary core idea, PS1.A., Matter exists as different substances that have ob-servable properties. The lesson also begins to de-velop an understanding concerning the strengths and weaknesses of materials, something that can be used later when students participate in design challenges as specified in the performance ex-pectation K–2–ETS1–3 (Achieve Inc. 2013; see

Connecting to the Standards). Not only were the students engaging in inquiry, but they were also working toward meeting the learning intentions set forth by their teacher.

Teachers of kindergarten through grade 4 have been implementing research-based formative as-sessment strategies in their daily practice as a result of attending a weeklong Institute for Assessment provided by ASSET STEM Education through a federal Investing in Innovation grant. In this ar-ticle, we focus on the role that formative assess-ment plays in one kindergarten classroom in Berlin Brothersvalley School District in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. We also take a look at the assessment tools used by the teacher to gauge student under-standing as well as different products of assessment that provide evidence of student learning.

November 2013 37

“It’s sinking into the wood!”“It’s getting wet!”“It’s changing colors!”“It’s soaking in!”

BackgroundDuring the institute, all participating teachers were in-troduced to five key strategies of formative assessment: learning intentions and criteria for success, question-ing, feedback, self-assessment, and peer assessment (Leahy et al. 2005; Wiliam 2011). The design of the institute was aligned with Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black’s meta-analysis of assessment research. Their work showed “that innovations that include strength-ening the practice of formative assessment produce significant and often substantial learning gains” (Black and Wiliam 2010, p.1).

Mrs. Cornell infuses many of these strategies into her daily practice with each science lesson and stretches them across the curriculum into all the subjects she teaches. Every teacher’s ultimate goal is to make sure that stu-dents understand the learning inten-tions. To establish motivation to meet those learning intentions, Mrs. Cornell uses the visual of a soccer ball and goal, because soccer is a sport with which all of her students are familiar. They know that to “score” in their learning, they need to get the ball into the goal. There-fore, when Mrs. Cornell aims the stu-dents’ attention at this goal, she knows the students will take ownership of their learning and work toward achieving the goal, ultimately scoring (see Figure 1). By implementing formative assessment practices in kindergarten, she is laying the foundation for students to become “self-regulated learners” (Brookhart and D’Arcangelo 2008, p. 3).

Assessment Tools in PracticeMrs. Cornell began the lesson by reviewing the properties of wood with the students. She asked, “What can you tell me about wood?” The students responded: “The wood is strong,” “We can use it to build things,” and “It is hard.” To generate interest in the lesson, Mrs. Cornell asked the students if they could think of a time when they saw wood getting wet. She provided time for the students to share their thinking with each other and listened for common themes to gauge their prior knowledge. While making her observations, she heard students mention times where they observed wood getting darker and feeling wet when wa-ter came into contact with it. It was at this time that Mrs. Cornell used the formative assessment strategy learning intentions and criteria for success to introduce the students to what they would be learning during the lesson. She used the vehicles of WALT and WILF, two acronyms that help to communicate learning intentions and criteria for success in an engaging and student-friendly way. WALT stands for “We Are Learning To” and WILF stands for “What I’m Looking For” (Clarke 2001). The kindergarten students were quite familiar with WALT and WILF, which they had been using in all subject areas since the beginning of the school year. At this point in the lesson, Mrs. Cornell en-sures that the students understand the learning intentions and criteria for success by reviewing with the students how to get the soccer ball into the goal.

Learning intentions and criteria for success, which are the foundation for formative assessment, address the need for the teacher to identify desired results and establish acceptable evidence for learning. When well-crafted, the

FIgure 2.

WALT and WILF strips.

FIgure 1.

Soccer ball and goal.

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Science and Children38

Scoring a Goal for Learning

group of students to observe. To gather observations and questions from the group, Mrs. Cornell brought the whole class together and captured what they noticed and what they wondered through the use of “I notice, I wonder” statements. These language frames are used to engage the students in inquiry-based conversations. In this case, these statements encouraged the students to use their senses to look closely at each wood sample, observing and sharing their findings in a group setting. Mrs. Cornell re-corded the students’ responses on the chalkboard for all to see (Figures 3a and 3b).

FIgure 3A .

“I notice…” statement.

FIgure 3B.

“I wonder…” statement.

two pieces of this strategy will enable students to answer questions such as, “Why are you being asked to do this or learn this?” “How does it fit in with what you already know or do?” and “How will you show that you have learned or understood it?” Learning intentions should be written in student-friendly terms and based on a key concept or big idea. They should be generic, transferable across the cur-riculum, and separate from the context of the lesson. It is important to not only display the learning intention, but also to say it and discuss it with the students, revisiting it throughout the lesson. The criteria for success should be used as the basis for feedback given to the student.

In this lesson the learning intention, or WALT, was, “We are learning to use two science words to describe what we see.” The criteria for success, or WILF, was, “What I’m looking for is that you can tell what you have observed with the correct vocabulary (e.g., absorb, repel)” (see Figure 2). Mrs. Cornell posted the learning intentions and read them to the students. She pointed to the sentence strip while stating, “This is what we are learning to do today.” Next, she posted and read the sentence strip with the criteria for success posted under the learning intention and said, “This is how we are both going to know that you met the learning intention for the lesson.” Each time Mrs. Cornell follows this procedure, the students know that they must work toward the learning intention by meeting the criteria for success; doing that will enable them to place the soc-cer ball into the goal. They understand the need to work together as a learning team. Mrs. Cornell has established a collaborative culture within her classroom where all stu-dents feel empowered to contribute toward their learning.

exploring the Question and Collecting DataPlanned questions directly tied to the learning intention were used throughout the lesson. Not only did Mrs. Cor-nell plan the questions, but she also listened carefully to student responses and used that information to guide her instruction.

To engage students in the work of scientists, science notebooks are used as a tool for them to record data and write conclusions based on evidence. This directly cor-relates to the science and engineering practice Analyzing and Interpreting Data, with students expected to collect, record, and share their observations (Achieve Inc. 2013; see Connecting to the Standards). Mrs. Cornell set the fo-cus for the lesson by presenting the focus question.

The students began their entries by gluing the focus question into their notebooks: “What happens when drops of water are placed on different types of wood?” One by one, different pieces of wood were given to each

November 2013 39

The first piece of wood that the students investi-gated was pine, an intentional choice by Mrs. Cornell since the students would see immediate results. Each group of students used a dropper to place one drop of water directly onto the piece of pine. Instantly, the students responded by saying: “It’s sinking into the wood!” “It’s getting wet!” “It’s changing colors!” and “It’s soaking in!” Mrs. Cornell quickly assessed their responses and determined that it was the appropriate time to introduce the word absorb. She showed the stu-dents a sponge, reviewed its function, and helped them come to the conclusion that water has the same reac-tion on the wood as it does on the sponge. “A

FIgure 4.

A student tests particleboard.

While directing the students’ at-tention toward the soccer goal, Mrs. Cornell reminded students that they would soon be assess-ing themselves to see if they had

met the criteria for success.

sponge absorbs water,” Mrs. Cornell said to connect their observations to scientific vocabulary. She asked, “What happened when we placed water on the piece of pine?” Without hesitation, the students responded in unison, “It absorbs the water.”

Mrs. Cornell continued her lesson by asking, “What do you think happens if the water does not ab-sorb?” One student responded, “It falls off.” Another student said, “It dries up.” A third student replied, “It doesn’t absorb.” The students are familiar with oppo-

sites, and Mrs. Cornell stated, “If the wa-ter doesn’t absorb, we call that ‘repel.’

Repel is the opposite of absorb. The water sits on top of the wood in a

dome shape.”

gathering evidence of Student LearningAt this point in the lesson, Mrs. Cornell uses the following learn-

ing activity to get feedback from the students and then give them

descriptive feedback to guide their learning.

Science and Children40

Scoring a Goal for Learning

FIgure 5.

A “goal” is made when the learning intention is met.

Mrs. Cornell introduced the chart they would be using to collect data as they tested two more pieces of wood. She told the students to write an “A” for the word absorb or an “R” for the word repel in each of the boxes on their chart. The students began to test a new piece of wood called redwood. They instantly began making pre-dictions about what they thought would happen when they placed water on that type of wood by recording an “A” or an “R” in the prediction box next to the word redwood on their chart. As they tested, they noticed a re-sult similar to what had happened when they had tested the pine. They quickly concluded that water is absorbed when placed on redwood. They recorded a capital “A” in the box titled “Actual” next to their original prediction for redwood.

The students got their third and final piece of wood, particleboard. After the students recorded their predic-tions, they began to test (see Figure 4). They were sur-prised to observe that the water formed a dome shape on top of the wood. “It’s not absorbing!” exclaimed an excited student. Mrs. Cornell asked, “What happened here? Can anyone share what they observed when we placed the water on the particleboard?” Another student answered her question by saying, “It doesn’t absorb.” Mrs. Cornell told the students, “If the water does not absorb, we call that repel,” once again reviewing the cor-rect scientific vocabulary. “The water sits on top of the wood in a dome shape,” she continued. To demonstrate understanding, Mrs. Cornell had the class replicate a dome shape by drawing the shape in the air. The stu-

FIgure 6.

A student’s self-assessment.

dents recorded their observations in their notebooks, now writing the letter “R” next to “particleboard” on the chart. Before continuing with the lesson, Mrs. Cor-nell took a moment to review the learning intention and the criteria for success by asking the students if they thought they were on track to meet the learning inten-tion thus far. She checked for understanding by asking, “Have we used any science words yet, today?” When she saw several smiles and thumbs pointing up, Mrs. Cornell knew that she could continue. While directing the students’ attention toward the soccer ball and goal, Mrs. Cornell reminded the students that they would soon be assessing themselves to see if they had met the criteria for success.

The next day, Mrs. Cornell asked the students to bring their notebooks to the carpet for a science meet-ing. During the meeting, the students shared and dis-cussed their findings from the wood-and-water tests they had already performed. Mrs. Cornell used an en-larged version of the chart the students had completed in their notebooks to gather collective evidence from the group.

Self-Assessing and Next StepsAs the lesson came to a close, Mrs. Cornell directed the students’ attention to the learning intention and the cri-teria for success on the board. She asked, “What goal did we want to reach?” One student responded, “Use two science words to describe what we see.” Mrs. Cornell en-

November 2013 41

Scoring a Goal for Learning

couraged the students to talk with each other to determine whether they had reached their goal. After a few minutes, she prompted them to assess their own learning by ask-ing, “Look in your science notebook; do you see evidence that you used two science words to describe what you observed?” Many of the students responded by saying, “Yes, we used ‘A’ and ‘R’!” Mrs. Cornell asked, “What do those letters mean?” Several voices shouted, “Absorb and repel!” By asking her students to review their own work, Mrs. Cornell encouraged them to practice another formative assessment strategy—self-assessment. The class determined they had met the criteria for success and had ultimately reached their goal. It was at this time that one student was asked to place the soccer ball in the goal to show that the students had met the learning intention (Figure 5, p. 41).

The following day, the students used their notebooks to reflect on what they had learned over the previous two days. Once again, Mrs. Cornell had them self-assess their learning using a check mark system. As they re-viewed their reflections, the students could give them-selves two check marks if they thought they did a good job by adding details, using nice handwriting, and ap-propriately labeling any drawings. If they thought they could have done a better job, they gave themselves one check mark (see Figure 6, p. 41). Throughout the entire lesson, Mrs. Cornell was able to gather several products of student understanding to inform her instruction and move on to the next lesson.

ConclusionIn Mrs. Cornell’s classroom, an environment has been created that encourages students to take an active role in their learning. Through the use of a soccer ball and goal, the students were able to see themselves as a team of learners engaging in a learning experience as a collabora-tive group. She used WALT and WILF as tools to estab-lish learning intentions and criteria for success; planned questions to gauge student understanding; consistently connected oral, descriptive feedback to the stated learn-ing intention; and engaged the students in self-assess-ment. The students produced evidence of their learning through recording and reflecting on their observations in their notebooks, as well as working and discussing col-laboratively in their groups. Mrs. Cornell used that evi-dence to make her instructional decisions.

Introducing formative assessment practices as early as kindergarten paves the way for successful learning out-comes. Formative assessment increases motivation and promotes learning that directly impacts student achieve-ment (Brookhart and D’Arcangelo 2008). n

Renee Williams Graham ([email protected]) is manager of research and development; Emily Dennis is manager of professional development; and Jan Ko-renich is coordinator of curriculum and assessment, all at ASSET STEM Education in Pittsburgh, Pennsylva-nia. Marilyn Cornell is a kindergarten teacher at Berlin Brothersvalley School District in Berlin, Pennsylvania.

referencesAchieve Inc. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For states,

by states. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Black, P., and D. Wiliam. 2010. Inside the black box: Raising

standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan 92 (1): 81–90.

Brookhart, S.M., and M. D’Arcangelo. 2008. The power of formative assessment to advance learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Clarke, S. 2001. Unlocking formative assessment strategies for enhancing pupils’ learning in the primary classroom. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Lawrence Hall of Science. 2005. FOSS wood and paper module, teacher guide. Nashua, NH: Delta Education.

Leahy, S., C. Lyon, M. Thompson, and D. William. 2005. Classroom assessment: Minute by minute, day by day. Educational Leadership 63 (3): 19–24.

Wiliam, D. 2011. Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Connecting to the StandardsStandard: 2-PS1 Matter and Its Inter-actions

Performance expectations: 2-PS1-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.2-PS1-2 Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.K-2-ETS1-3 Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each perform.

Science and engineering Practice:Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Disciplinary Core Idea:PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter

NGSS Table: 2-PS1 Matter and Its Interactions www.nextgenscience.org/2ps1-matter-interactions

NGSS Table: K-2-ETS1 Engineering Design www.nextgenscience.org/k-2ets1-engineering-design

Science and Children42