Authentic Assessment

The teacher begins the lessons talking about the various farm animals that the class has studied thus far such as cows, pigs, chickens and horses. The class reviews the information about their relative size, diet and living conditions. Then the teacher begins to introduce a new animal to the class – elephants. The teacher gives basic information about elephants and compares the elephant’s size to other animals the children already know and asks the children to compare the relative weight of the elephant with the other animals they know in small groups. After this, the teacher puts the children into pairs and encourages them to do research on elephants on their own either during computer hour or by going to interview zoologists at the local zoo or science museum. As a summative assessment, the teacher puts the students into pairs and asks them to select one variety of elephant, create a diorama of the elephant in one of its native habitats, and then prepare a short verbal presentation of their chosen elephant to read aloud in front of the class by the following week.

 

By comparing the elephant to animals that the children already know, the teacher is activating the children’s schemata about animals in general, and then introducing the elephants in order for the children to better understand the animal and also to accommodate a new animal into their existing schemata (Nickerson, 2021). When comparing the elephant’s size and weight to other known animals with other children, they are demonstrating social constructivism because together they are sharing knowledge and building upon their own preexisting knowledge. By asking the students to do research during computer hour, the students are practicing connectivism in searching for other nodes of information such as educational websites or expert blogs. The teacher’s summative assessment is a project-based learning activity which helps the “students to be self-sufficient, creative, and critical thinkers” (Powerschool, 2021) and to truly understand the elephant’s native habitat, size and shape by performing their own investigation/research and designing a habitat for their elephants based on what they think is best for the type of animal they have studied.