Reflecting on Unit 2 Assessment 2

This assessment posed a challenge. It is about the universe and gravity, while there are some physical activities that can be done, most of the activities must be theoretical to an extent...which made the assessment drag. 

Don't get me wrong, I feel like my students had a good understanding of what I wanted them to at the end, but in the day to day there was a lot of just sitting at desks and completing assignments using simulations. I felt like the students took longer than needed to finish the parts because they weren't engaged in the same way they were with the previous assessment.

To look at the parts individually:

Part 1:
In this part of the assessment the students used a PhET simulation that related mass and force. The two main aspects this simulation showed were that when mass increased, force increased, and that the force is equal between the two objects even if one is more massive than the other. The simulation is great and to the point, but was also a little hard from some students to apply the information of to the task. It was a hard first part of the assessment to some students. That being said with feedback and me readjusting my expectations of their work, given that it was a difficult start to the assessment made the task one that all could accomplish. (I will also say my evaluation of this part of the assessment is a little biased because I was out sick when they started the task. I think they could have had a clearer idea of what was expected if I were there. Though that does tell me that the instructions may need to give them more initial support, such as an example of what a model of the forces between a planet and its moon might look like.)

Part 2:
This was one of my favorite parts of the assessment, while also being the one I would change for next year. This part of the assessment used an interactive website from the Smithsonian. It is create for showing scale in the solar system and beyond. We had the students use this website to answer questions on a worksheet. Next year, since I think the students need more out of their seats time, I would structure this part of the assessment differently. I would likely still begin with the website, it is easy, interactive, and supplies information. Then I would challenge the students to make their own model of the solar system. This model could be a physical thing, like a diorama, but it could also have them calculating distances, spreading their friends across a the field as planets, and taking a picture. Something creative or interactive. I would also like to tie in the idea of gravity into this part of the assessment specifically, by discussing how gravity affects things even when they are so hugely spread out.

Part 3:
This part of the assessment used a PhET simulation that was thankfully translated recently into HTML5 and suitable for use on the iPad. The simulation looks at gravity and orbits of a few different systems. The students used the simulation to answer questions in a Google Slideshow, using screenshots of the simulation to support their thoughts. The simulation worked well, the students showed the understanding I wanted, and it was all create. (As a note, there is a question that uses the term 'hierarchy" this was difficult for some of the students, but a quick explanation of hierarchy meant there made the question accessible for any that needed help.) 

Part 4:
The last part of the assessment has the students explaining how gravity keeps objects (such as satellites and the space station) in orbit or how gravitational assist works. While I liked this part of the assessment, it was difficult for many students. I have to say, though, I give my students a lot of credit. The vast majority of my students always try to reach and conquer the last part of the assessment and this assessment part 4 was no exception to that rule. However, it was difficult for many to really describe how gravity kept it in orbit, they had trouble applying the information from part 3. The biggest challenge was addressing that it was gravity pulling it down plus the forward motion that kept it in orbit. 

Overall:
I feel like this reflection sounds more critical of this part of the unit than it should. It was overall great, it used simulations and resources to try to make real something that is often abstract and for the most part to success. But, the parts were in their way similar in their expectations of student interaction with the material (play with the simulation, complete the worksheet/assignment...play with the simulation, complete the worksheet/assignment...). Some of that is likely the fault of my own in not bringing in more interactive elements to enhance the assessment and go beyond. Though not intended as an excuse, being out sick and having not much of a voice, did influence how much I was able to discuss to go beyond the assessment requirements. I only note that because in reflection I also need to think, for next year, what I can do with the assessment to bring in more engagement and interactivity. 

Reflecting on Unit 2 Assessment 1

(I am way behind on writing up my reflections, to get caught up, for the moment, I am just writing reflections on the entire assessment.)

Unit 2 has been very different from unit 1. Due to the structure of the standards and how we are approaching them, they are going by much quicker. This has been its own challenge. A quicker timeline has meant less time for me to grade each part, which has admittedly left me exhausted at times. To help me out, for some assignments, I really focus on just grading the part that matters. Take the third part of this assessment, the investigation stations, I focused my time in looking at the end of the assessment, their claim with evidence. Yes, I skimmed for completion on the station observations and questions, but I honestly don't have time to read through 250 complete lab reports. What I care about is that they can use evidence to support the claim that action at a distance forces do that, act at a distance, so I used my time to see if they met that understanding.

This assessment, as they all do, had four parts.

Part 1:

The first part was a thinking map comparing electric and magnetic forces. This was a very easy start to the assignment, which I like. I want all my students to be able to be successful in completing part 1 of the assessment. The one challenge with this was that the articles themselves were not great. They are on two slightly different topics which made comparing them a bit weird. Next year I want to find different articles or just write my own.

Part 2:

Do you ever have labs you overly worry about and overly prepare for? This was mine. I've done electromagnets before, but never to this scale and I just wasn't sure what I could need. I think I have enough material for the next few years. 

I gave a rundown of this in that week's reflection, but once again this is what I used:

D Batteries (I was worried about how well these would last, but each of the batteries held out for the whole day so I have plenty left for next year)
Electrical Tape (Helps hold down the wires to the end of the batteries and stop the students from getting shocked)
Nails (I got a 5lb box of 10d 3" Galvanized Nails. I don't think the nails you get really matter, but you do want steel nails. This is enough nails to last forever, because there is no reason to not just keep using them)
Sandpaper (The students need to sand off the insulation from the wire)
Paper Clips (To test the strength, though really anything with steel, even other nails, would work)
Wire (This is what I got from Amazon I gave each group about 4' and they were able to use it for all their different tests. I bought 2 rolls, but one was well more than enough. If you look closely the dimensions of the spool are not right on Amazon, this thing 3 inches high)

That is by no means the definitive list of materials, but it was successful for my students. 

The main challenge I had with this assignment was that it is hard to complete in a class period (let alone the short Wednesday schedule, which I placed the lab on without thinking about until 1st period ended before I expected). The problem is if they don't finish testing in the class period then they will have a different set of material the next day which could skew their testing. The time isn't necessarily a problem, but some groups had more challenge getting their electromagnets working in the first place, which gave them less time to test their proposed changes. 

The other challenge I had was some students had trouble applying their findings to the lab to the conclusion, that being said this is part 2 of the assessment. While most students should be able to complete it, it may start to be a challenge to some. The main problems were students suggesting things in the conclusion such as more electricity (which might work, but they didn't test) or using magnetic material, which suggested they just tried to Google an answer or just guess something. 

Part 3:
This part of the assessment was a rotation lab about action at a distance forces using electric and magnetic forces as examples. Generally this went well, a downside is that I think this is easier than part 2, but I really wanted all the students to engage with the electromagnet (and it is much easier to do as a whole group) so it needed to go first. 

My main challenge with this part of the assessment was that I couldn't get one of the rotation stations to work (the one where they were supposed to get a circle of paper to float). It just stuck to my hand or flipped off the balloon and onto the table. No idea what was going wrong so I scrapped it and related it with a demo of the Van de Graaff generator to add another electric example. I was planning on doing the demo anyways, but just as a demo.

One change I might make is instead of having written observations, have the students take pictures that show the non-contact interaction. I had some students that did this and I felt like taking a picture that showed it was just as effective, if not more so, than trying to describe it. Plus, they do need to describe it overall at the end of the assessment.

Part 4:
The last part of the assessment was drawing models showing how any of the phenomena they observed worked. This was easy for some students, but really a challenge for many of them. It felt accessible to most of my students, which was great as most of them tried to create the models. But I still have students trying to revise their models with increasingly specific feedback from me. 

I did give my students a model of the type of information their models should show. Since we didn't cover field lines in a lot of detail, but they were important for the model, I felt like an example was needed.

Overall:
I liked this assessment. The lab activities were good. Some of the parts were a bit easier than they could have been, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. And most of my students felt like they could tackle all the parts, which is great. The small problems I had in parts 1 and 3 were minor and are just something to think about for small revisions next year. 

Week 19 Agenda and Assessment 4.1 Overview

Below you can find a link to the Week 19 Agenda. This will be updated as the week passes and at the end of the week a reflection will be shared in a different post. 

Week 19 Agenda

Also, as a general resource, this is what my preliminary plan for this whole assessment will look like. (Things will certainly change as I see what my students need extra support with, but I find it really helpful to have a very general idea of how I might want to approach the whole task.)

Assessment Overview

(As a note, we are skipping unit 3 for the time being. The topics in unit 3 were covered for this group of students in 7th grade, so they are not critical to be covered this year. If there is time at the end of Unit 4 we may return to unit 3.)

Week 18 Agenda

Below you can find a link to the Week 18 Agenda. This will be updated as the week passes and at the end of the week a reflection will be shared in a different post. 

Week 18 Agenda

Week 17 Agenda and Assessment 2.3 Overview

Below you can find a link to the Week 17 Agenda. This will be updated as the week passes and at the end of the week a reflection will be shared in a different post. 

Week 17 Agenda

Also, as a general resource, this is what my preliminary plan for this whole assessment will look like. (Things will certainly change as I see what my students need extra support with, but I find it really helpful to have a very general idea of how I might want to approach the whole task.)

Assessment Overview

Week 16 Agenda

Below you can find a link to the Week 16 Agenda. This will be updated as the week passes and at the end of the week a reflection will be shared in a different post. 

Week 16 Agenda