A discussion
The minimal level is "hand out DVDs for parents and kids to watch at
home on TV."
The next level up is "hand out CDs to watch on computers."
The third level up is "bring in cameras and make short videos with the
students."
Fourth level: "videotape oral exams." Howard Gardner defines this
method of evaluation as "performances of understanding." Here is a
short quote.
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When it comes to probing a student's understanding of evolution, the
shrewd pedagogue looks beyond the mastery of dictionary definitions or
the recitation of textbook examples. A student demonstrates or
"performs" his understanding when he can examine a range of species
found in different ecological niches and speculate about the reasons for
their particular ensemble of traits. A student performs her
understanding of the Holocaust when she can compare events in a Nazi
concentration camp to such contemporary genocidal events as those in
Bosnia, Kosovo or Rwanda in the 1990s.
"Measures of understanding" may seem demanding, particularly in
contract to current, often superficial, efforts to measure what students
know and are able to do. And, indeed, recourse to performing one's
understanding is likely to stress students, teachers, and parents, who
have grown accustomed to traditional ways of doing(or NOT doing)
things. Nonetheless, a performance approach to understanding is
justified. Instead of mastering content, one thinks about the reason
why a particular content is being taught and how best to display one's
comprehension of this content in a publicly accessible way. When
students realize they will have to apply knowledge and demonstrate
insights in a public form, they assume a more active stance to the
material, seeking to exercise their "performance muscles" whenever
possible.
Page 160 to 161 Intelligence Reframed by Howard Gardner
Pages 162..
But it is likely that we have avoided assessing understanding because
doing so takes time and because we have lacked confidence that we will
actually find clear evidence of understanding. Thanks to hundreds of
studies during the past few decades by psychologists and educators, we
now know one truth about understanding: Most students in most schools,
cannot exhibit appreciable understandings of important ideas.
Teachers need to assess students' understanding not simply at the end of
the course but through regular interim practice performances.
If individuals indeed have different kinds of minds, with varied
strengths, interests and strategies, then it is worth considering
whether pivotal curricular materials like biology could be taught AND
ASSESSED in a variety of ways.
p. 167
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Teachers would do well to use cameras to capture the students'
understandings. Review of those performances by parents would help
teachers communicate to parents and students what is seen in the
classroom.
S McCrea, www.VisualandActive.com
http://www.geocities.com/teachers2teachers/newfcatexpand.html
