Week 2 Assessment

1) Bloom's Taxonomy is six categories of cognitive skills or rather six ways that students can demonstrate their knowledge.
1) Remember: Students recall or recognize information, ideas, or principles. It is basic memorization and regurgitation but in the same form in which it was given.
2) Understand: Students make sense of information based on prior learning. This information is taken a step further, the student can regurgitated it too but in their own words and give explanations if need be.
3) Apply: Students use data and principles to solve problems
4) Analyze: Students are able to break things down and classify them as well as make assumptions and hypothesis.
5)Evaluate: Students judge the value of materials methods and ideas. They are able to critique information.
6) Create: Students combine ideas into a plan. This goes beyond regurgitation.

2) Validity is the degree in which a test measures what it is supposed to be measuring. Like if you study Africa the test should be on Africa and not Asia. A valid test gives questions about what was talked about in class and covers the topic broadly. So if African animals were studied the test would not just be on the zebra. To be valid a test must also be understandable. The test and its parts must be clear both in appearance and phrasing. That sort of leads into reliability. Reliability refers to the consistency of a test. A test might be unreliable because of the test layout. If directions are unclear in a test it might cause confusion and if the test is taken multiple times cause a varied outcome. a reliable test should receive the same outcome after the test is taken a second or third time without additional instruction. Both of these are important in administering a fair and reliable test. With out them a child's skills knowledge and understanding cannot be reliably assessed.

3) A process performance assessment would be for a teacher to observe a student playing an instrument and grading and commenting on the performance. A product performance assessment would be for a student to create a scale model of a castle for art class and to be grades on the final product.

4) Three different ways to evaluate performance are:
1) Portfolios: a portfolio is a collection of students work from a variaty of subject. (I took a statistics class in high school and the teacher had us do a portfolio every 9 weeks. We had to write a paper on something...I don't remember what right now...we had to do a piece of art work like a comic strip or cartoon, a mathamatician trading card, poetry, and so on but it was all related to statistics.
2) Presentations: The students can demonstrate skills and knowledge they have gained. Create an experiment where they can plan, conduct and interpret the results of their own research (This doesn't work however if the parent conducts the experiment for them. He he he!!! JK). They can do an oral presentation such as a speech, debate, or play. Students can also put on a public performance like or exhibition like a concert or spelling bee.
3) Projects: A project is a long term activity that results in a product of some kind like a dioramo or a map.

5) It is important I think, especially in an elementery school setting because the students are so young. When a teacher becomes bias they lose some of their vision and are not able to see what theri students need and can ultimately harm the students.