STEM Indicator ST1.5

Students demonstrate their learning through performance-based assessments and express their conclusions through elaborated explanations of their thinking.

Self-Assessment Rating: 3

All students have multiple opportunities to demonstrate their STEM learning through performance assessments. Many students have opportunities to present their STEM learning to a range of stakeholders within and outside of the school. Most students have multiple opportunities to clarify, elaborate on, and defend their thinking and conclusions using verbal, symbolic, and visual means.

ST1.5 Narrative

What were the areas of strength noted in the Self Assessment?

Students have multiple opportunities to present their STEM learning through performance based assessments to a range of stakeholders within and outside of the school. Students have multiple opportunities to clarify, elaborate, and defend their thinking and conclusions using verbal, symbolic, and visual means.

Christian Academy provides multiple ways for students to show they have thought about, explained, evaluated, and re-evaluated their thinking. Students are given ways to illustrate or explain and/or present this information to one another, teachers, and other stakeholders. Students are confident in their work and learning, recognizing that the educational journey is full of effort, trials, mistakes, and redos. They are aware that mistakes are part of the process, and excellent effort honors God, even if the outcomes are not perfect. The school has noted several specific examples of how learning is demonstrated across grade levels. One Christian Academy strength for student STEM learning is the utilization of a school-wide rubric. This rubric is modified to be age-appropriate and is helpful when scaffolding and notating specific STEM skills being used, demonstrated, and developed in STEM learning. The use of the rubric helps produce a more cohesive K-12 program.

In the earliest grade levels, children are given open-ended projects on which to work and collaborate as regular practice. Kindergarten through second grade are all physically arranged in small table groups to promote and encourage discussion, problem-solving, and collaboration on continuing work. Teacher-guided questioning and student interactions provide opportunities for students to explain their thinking. Results of the collaborative process can be seen in the classrooms, hallways, and in special projects, such as the Faith with Feet program in which classes serve the community. Also in the earlier grades, research is done with a purpose in order to help students understand and be able to apply new ideas and content to their already-formed schema. Examples are noted in several places.

In kindergarten, the Egg Drop project has been done for many years. The aim of this project is to design a carrier to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from a certain height. The project must fit within the specifications given. Learning goals include students working in teams to design an egg-protective device, exploring different materials available, and learning to apply concepts of momentum, gravity, force, and energy. First graders enjoyed building an igloo out of recycled materials. In second grade during the weather unit, students spent time making functional anemometers having seen and discussed examples to learn more about and apply learning in the area of weather forecasting. Students were given a predetermined set of materials, shown some examples and set to work on building their anemometers. Students work independently and also help each other during various stages of design and engineering. In the second grade, students designed and presented storyboards from the novel Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and much of this project was performance based and included parents and other classes who visited.

In efforts to strengthen and scaffold the metacognitive STEM thinking process in grades 3-5, students are encouraged to demonstrate their thinking in a variety of ways: hands-on projects, presentations of their work, small group assignments that allow for choice, new ideas, symbolic representations, and engineered projects which model or mirror real-world issues or problems. This age group becomes more comfortable researching and presenting digitally as well, with many times the specific STEM rubric being used by the students themselves. Third graders participate in a Mock Trial at the local courthouse after reading the book Shiloh. Students portray a character and act out the trial and give a verdict in a real-life example. Another example includes the fifth grade “Living Wax Museum” project that brought history, writing, and STEM together for the school, parents, and community members to come into the classroom and see new ways to understand history. While studying and researching both in class and at home, students learned about exemplary STEM lives of historical people. They were then challenged to bring a historical person to life using their classroom learning in the subjects of history, poetry, art, writing, the engineering design process, and presentation. Students worked for several weeks creating a description of their historical figure in poetry, designing a historically-accurate backdrop and costume, and writing and practicing their biographical description which would be relayed during the presentation. Students worked together and gave each other ideas and feedback as part of the process. They also completed a peer evaluation of one another prior to the school and stakeholder presentations, including a time for visitors to come to the class and learn from the “Living Wax Museum.”

The middle school, which includes grades 6, 7, and 8 is a time of great work and discovery in our classrooms as teachers and students are partners in learning and demonstrating work that spans cross-curricular content and includes multiple grades. Students work to present their ideas and prototypes to younger grades or older students, understanding they are part of the school community as learners and contributors. Middle school students are also able to begin to unpack and unravel theoretical understandings of academic and biblical content. They also begin to apply their work to the world around them by generating possible solutions that can be used in the community. Many examples exist of their ability to clarify, elaborate, and defend their thinking at this level, including an involved long-range and performance-based science fair in which students compete at the school and state levels.

One creative and caring example was seen during the Dr. Seuss Reading Boat project. This eighth grade class was challenged to share God’s love and also encourage second graders to love reading. Elementary students celebrate the life and work of Dr. Seuss in late February or early March as part of “Read Across America Day,” and middle school students discovered an opportunity just down the hallway to encourage literacy. The students brainstormed, shared ideas, and chose to design and build a reading boat for the second grade. They created a model mathematically based on their calculated dimensions which were used to design and build the boat. Construction of the boat included building, sanding, and painting, with the final product large enough to hold six students. As part of the celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday and to inspire a love of reading and build community, the eighth graders invited parents of the second graders and administrators to come to the “launching” of the Reading Boat. This involved eighth graders dressed as Seuss characters, a presentation of the finished boat, and spending time together reading in pairs of 8th and 2nd graders, and designed, made and enjoyed “Seuss-themed” cupcakes as a treat.

The Colosseum is another middle school learning experience in which students are given the opportunity to demonstrate and explain their thinking. Christian Academy’s Bible curriculum in middle school includes a study of church history. Within this content area, students research Christian martyrs associated with Ancient Rome. As part of this unit, and from the viewpoint of STEM, students digitally create a colosseum using the Sketch Up computer program with the help of a local parent and architect. Following their research and computer-aided design, groups create a three-dimensional colosseum based upon their computer models. Students also calculate a mathematical scale model of the actual colosseum, present their work, and evaluate the project using rubrics. Mrs. Wood, a math teacher in the upper school, joins the classroom to teach students specifically how to design a scale drawing. Students also complete a self-evaluation of this project, and explain in writing and verbally how they would design or construct differently as part of the redesign process.

Another specific example is seen in the seventh grade English Language Arts classroom, where students are connecting their learning to locally-focused, relevant, and current culture. The project is based on the reading of fiction and nonfiction texts about Native American culture and history. In this class, students learn about the positive impacts of local Native Americans which is connected to the South Carolina history standards of study. Learning objectives include the opportunity to identify, research, and explain a current Native American issue or concern. After students identify a problem, students collaboratively write a research paper documenting and identifying their proposed solution to this problem with evidence. In addition, they create a digital documentary using iMovie to share their research and solution with others. Another component of this project that connects content to science, math, and visual arts is when students design and build a prototype of mini-greenhouses to understand Native American methods of agriculture. They are also introduced to the use of Early Native American Mayan math systems built upon non-placement base 20 number system. To bring a community connection to this project, the local Waccamaw Tribe is invited to a luncheon at the school to hear what students learned from this project, to see what the students have created, and to build connections from school to the local Native American community. To prepare students for understanding local history and people groups, the 3rd and 4th grades also took a field trip to the Waccamaw Tribal Grounds this year. In addition, middle school students were made aware of and invited to attend the local Waccamaw tribe Pau Wau on a Saturday to learn more. Developing empathy is one 21st century skill noted in the Christian Academy Growth and Goals Notebook, and this specific learning goal allows for many students to understand more about others and engage with new people.

In our high school setting, performance-based assessments such as projects and presentations allow students to demonstrate not only mastery of content, but also new ideas, solutions, and original creations. Through collaboration, students become aware of the daily lessons that connect and prepare them to be productive citizens. One example includes student participation in the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy. This is a national high school leadership program that focuses on “impact through action.” Participating in the program creates opportunities for student-led Community Impact Projects and engagement in “leader labs.” Approximately 30 high school students meet monthly as they learn about, demonstrate, and present their original ideas to administration or other groups for approval and implementation.

Another example is in the British Literature class where students study the classic frame story of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, with a modern spin. Students study, read, analyze, and review all necessary parts of this timeless classic. They then plan and complete an entirely STEM-based project which involves planning, mapping, budgeting, and/or creating a travel brochure for any tourist who may be interested in taking a modern-day tour of this real location in England. Other variations of this assignment include an artistic display of the students’ assigned character, an oral or digital presentation, and a specific writing assignment. Students see, understand, and illustrate for one another STEM-linked ways to comprehend classic literature and its connections to today.

In addition to the above examples, Christian Academy is also proud to be able to offer several Advanced Placement (AP) courses which gives multiple and varied opportunities for students to express the depth and breadth of knowledge and application through elaborated explanations and/or demonstrations of their thinking. Much of the AP United States History, AP Calculus, and AP Economics frameworks ask students to fully rationalize and support conclusions drawn and develop their thinking in a host of ways. For example, in the AP United States History class, nine periods of history are studied and evaluated, and within and between each of the times studied, students are required to relate people, places, and events through several themes, including American and national identity; politics and power; work, exchange and technology; culture and society; mitigation and settlement; geography and the environment; and America in the world. Exams are largely performance-based, as students defend and connect their thinking in a variety of essays and demonstrations. This work is evaluated by certified AP instructors, and taking the AP exam is part of the expectations for learners.

In addition to classroom opportunities to demonstrate learning, options for school-wide performance-based measures include student participation in many activities. For example, the school and SCISA science fair in grades 3-12 in the “Invention and Engineering” category; student participation in the SCISA middle school math meet and high school math meet; the Robotics/FLL Team; the Reading Fair; and elementary, middle and high school Quiz Bowl competitions are all performance-based.

What actions are being implemented to sustain the areas of strength?

Administrators and building level leaders have and will continue to be encouraging, supportive, and solutions-oriented when assisting teachers and developing future plans related to performance-based assessments. The school also plans to sustain current activities which promote performance-based assessment in K-12.

What were areas in need of improvement? What plans are being made to improve the area of need?

Christian Academy intends to improve the student-to-stakeholder evaluation and redesign process by inviting members of the CA STEM Advisory Council, parents, and business partners into evaluations of students’ performance-based assessments. The school intends to accomplish this by building a student-teacher-adminstrator-stakeholder bridge that allows for review, evaluation, and reconstruction of student work using the Christian Academy STEM rubric.

ST1.5 a) Performance-Based Learning

ST1.5 b) Science Fair