ST 1.5

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

Exploring, Elaborating, and Explaining

The students at Munford Elementary School have multiple opportunities to demonstrate their STEAM learning through project-based learning experiences while presenting to a range of stakeholders within and outside of the school. Students are able to present their projects and products during school leadership celebrations, STEAM showcase, school tours, parent events, and during student-led conferences. Through these opportunities, our students are learning to clarify, elaborate, and defend their thoughts and conclusions about their learning. They are skilled at communicating not only about their products, but also the process they took to find their solution. Parents are often given discussion stems to use with the students during the presentations so all parents can be supported in equally particpating with the students. In addition, teachers and students use rubrics for performance-based assessments for PBL projects to assess student knowledge.

Showing What We Know

Students enjoy the opportunity to use a variety of methods to express their ideas and imagine a variety of solutions. In all grade levels, we help students find various ways to show what they know through journal entries, Flipgrid and SeeSaw videos, and verbal explanations. Presentation of these ideas and projects are shared with a range of stakeholders through many venues such as competitions, radio broadcasts, web pages, the local newspaper, parent meetings, tours with educators from other schools, school presentations for community members, and hallway presentations.

In first grade, students communicate their work through a variety of learning opportunities. For example, students often utilize a “Four Square” math strategy to communicate their individual ways of thinking and how they found solutions. Addtionally, when students researched sound waves they used their knowledge to construct a drum out of classroom and household materials. The drums were used to perform a music video of Jingle Bell Rock.

Third grade students discovered how and why pollination is so important to flowers. Students created their own flower and bees, then used corn meal and coffee grinds to practice pollinating each other's flower. Students had to determine if their stigma had enough pollen on it from another flower to make a seed. Students worked in their groups using SeeSaw to video their pollination process, how it worked, and explain if their flower had enough pollen on their stigma from the other flower to create a seed.

In fifth grade, several classes use Flipgrid to explain concepts. For example, students explained concepts of Earth’s spheres in science. They were prompted with higher-order thinking questions and asked to respond with their conclusions and explanations in a video response. Other examples include working together to explain math concepts and different strategies to one another, as well as, collaborating and communicating using the Four Square/STAR math strategy.

Communication

Critical Thinking

Creativity

Collaboration

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