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Assessment approaches
There are many different types of tasks which can be used to assess student understanding, enrich student learning and provide direction for future instruction. These tasks include:
- practical activities
- playing or creating a game
- engaging in group discussion
- investigations
- working collaboratively to solve problems
- creating a virtual model
- providing a verbal or written explanation
- writing a solution in a pen-and-paper test.
Similar strategies can be used to assess learning at the end of a unit of work.
It is important to include a variety of activities which assess a broad range of levels of understanding. Summative assessment tasks should allow students to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge. Clear information about student progress and achievement helps shape more useful follow-up support.
Practical tasks
When students engage in a practical activity their strategies and techniques often reveal far more about their understanding than their final solution does.
Working collaboratively
Although some students can be reluctant to participate in collaborative tasks, working together in small groups to solve problems in geometry can be rewarding and stimulating.
Pen and paper
A pen-and-paper task must have variety in the types of questions so that students can demonstrate the breadth and depth of their understanding.
Creative construction
Higher order thinking skills can be assessed using tasks which provide opportunities for students to analyse, evaluate or create.
