Reflecting on Unit 4 Assessment 1

This assessment was somewhat influenced with my students' practice with the example CAST questions online. Beyond the obvious need to incorporate more math (something I am a bit unsure where to incorporate as the SEP for mathematical and computational thinking is not really covered much in the standards about motion and force, but tested using that standard in the practice questions), I felt like my students needed more practice analyzing given data dn interpreting models or diagrams that were given to them, forcing them to make assumptions about the data. This assessment heavily looked at those two skills.

This unit was somewhat tricky to me, I am used to incorporating light boxes, lenses, and mirrors into any unit on waves, but our school doesn't have any supplies for that, so I approached it differently. This made the unit less interactive than I would have liked. Getting something for the students to interact with in this assessment is something we need to factor into the budget. 

Introduction

We started with a Pear Deck about how we can use wave interactions to understand the layers of the Earth and as part of that introduced the types of waves. This allowed me to bring in more Earth Science (on the Earth, not space, level to this unit). As one of my goals I am trying to make all the phenomena and introductions have another science domain tied in. 

Part 1

There is really not much to say about part one, it was designed to introduce the key vocabulary and basic concepts for the unit and did that. It wasn't particularly interesting, but it was functional.

Part 2

For part two the students worked with provided data about Tsunamis, with our focus in this part being about ocean waves. As part of this I used Google MyMaps to plot out the locations, which worked well and was a familiar interface for the students, so they had no trouble using it. The students has to use the provided data to create a graph or other visual representation and form a claim based on that data. The open ended nature of the graphs allowed me to assess which students better understood how to represent data in a graph. 

Some examples of their graphs and other representations are presented below. Although they were all different, there was value in each one. 

Part 3
In part 3 the students were presented with about 7 models and a data table to complete looking at the waves of the electromagnetic spectrum and how they are absorbed, reflected, or transmitted through the layers of the atmosphere. This one was, obviously, focused on light waves. 

This assessment was a struggle for many of the students. The models are not always specific, and it is not as if one picture gave them all the content for a single row or column of the table: they had to put it all together and make assumptions. For their conclusion they discussed how the interaction of EM waves and the atmosphere supported life on Each (bringing a bit more about life science and earth science.) Their answers were great an varied between the protection from Gamma and UV rays, to the greenhouse effect, and to visible light.

Part 4
Part 4 was the part of the assessment I was most worried about going in. They were looking at one of a few scenarios and discussing how soundproofing could be used in that situation. This part of the assessment focused on sound. 

I gave them three options to look at, sound walls by a freeway, sound proofing in the band room, and sound proofing to practice their drums in the garage. They students research materials, discussed benefits and costs, and wrote up a formal proposal. The biggest issue was that, while I want how they present the material to up to them, I want to add more structure in specifying the expectations. 

Overall
I thought the assessment went well, though part 3 was rather challenging for some students. I liked having the focus on the different parts being about different categories of waves. I would like to bring in an interactive element, which could go in part 1, though part 1 still needs to have them working on constructing a basic model of a wave, so it would have to allow for that as well.