Jocelyn Zhang - Dark Boxes

Performance Assessment

-Dark Boxes

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This study was conducted at HD Ningbo School, a private K-12 bilingual school in Zhejiang Province, China. The school is open to students from diverse backgrounds, but due to the high tuition fee, all the students come from upper-middle- class families. It offers students a world-class education, preparing them for university study throughout the world. The population of the primary division is about 400. Local Chinese students mainly make up the student body, while around 5% of the students hold overseas passports from USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Peru. Approximately one-quarter of the students can use English fluently in daily life and study.

Currently, I am the Head of Science for the primary division and the science specialist teacher for all the Year One and Two students. Our unique science curriculum combines the Chinese National Standard with Cambridge Primary Science Framework. I am also a member of the School ICT Committee and provide training for teachers and parents on educational technology integration.

Two weeks ago, I conducted this Performance Assessment throughout three class periods with my Year Two classes. It required the students to demonstrate what they learned by designing dark boxes and then solving the questions of other students' dark boxes. I have been teaching this class for one and a half years, so students are familiar with my teaching methods and philosophy. This class is made up of 10 girls and 14 boys with two non-Chinese native speakers. All 24 students participated in the performance assessment. One student missed half of the second class period but she was able to catch up and finish on time.

Before the performance assessment, we spent three weeks learning about Light and Dark. Our focused questions include: What are light sources?, How they make us see things?, and How shadows are made? For the fourth and last week of the unit, I told the students that we would use a performance assessment as the summative assessment of the unit and every student needed to bring a medium size cardboard box. Although two of the students didn't bring their own boxes, I gave them extra cardboard boxes I collected in the science room.

The first part of the performance assessment is that every student needs to build a dark box which has two small wholes on two different sides of the box. They should write a code on the paper inside across one of the whole. They also needed to cut several shapes using different colored paper and stick them in different places inside the box. In addition, they could add one object in the middle of the box which would create a shadow when the light source shines through the hole. They needed to make sure it would't block the code and shapes.

After they finished designing their own dark boxes, they needed to write two questions on the outside of the boxes: "What is the code in the box?" and "How many [shapes] are in the box?" For example, "How many stars are in the box?" After I did a final check inside the box I used clear tape to seal the box and gave it a number. I put all the correct answers into my computer. At the same time, I used the checklist I created on Google sheets, which had been shared with them at the beginning of the week, to record how many requirements they met.

The second part of the performance assessment required every student to check two boxes made by other students. They need to write down the number of the box and the answers of the two questions on their notebook. For one box they could only use natural light or the big light in the classroom, while for the other one they were allowed to use a torch. After they finish checking both boxes, they showed me their notes and I recorded their achievements on another checklist.

Next week after the performance assessment was done, I interviewed five students(two girls and three boys) one by one during recess time. Each interview lasted about seven to ten minutes. I explained the season of the interview is for my MSSE assignment, and it would not be used for any grading process for them. All the interviews except one were in Chinese and I recorded them using my iPad. Finally, I used Google sheets to analyze the data from the assessment and the interviews and uploaded the English interview video to Youtube.

DATA ANALYSIS

The results of the Performance Assessment indicated that 100% of the students were able to make a dark box with two holes on two different sides of the boxes (N=24). Two students did not put the code across one of the holes correctly, three students did not have the shapes in the box and two students forgot to put down the questions on the box . However, I asked them to improve the box before I sealed the boxes to make sure it is fair for other students to use in the next step. Only 21% of the students successfully added an object in the box that can create a shadow but not block the information and they earned one extra point for that (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Checklist Results for the Making the Dark Boxes, (N=24).

When they were trying the find out the answers in other students boxes, all the students used natural light or big light in the classroom while all except one used the torch for the second box they were checking. Seventeen percent of the students did not write down all the information including box numbers and answers in their notebooks. One of them had writing difficulty but he told me what he saw in the boxed. Within the twenty students who wrote down their answers, five students missed at least one question (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Checklist Results for Checking Other Students' Boxes, (N=24).

During the interview, all five students said it is easier to use the torch than using other lights. Two of them explained why light source is important for us to see, while one student said "The holes are too small so the light cannot get into the box. When being asked, "Do you think this assessment is good for demonstrating what you have learned?" three students gave confirmed answers. All five students likes the fact that they could make their own dark boxes. One boy shared how he used different ways to find the answers excitedly. Four students agreed with that it was related to what we have learned about light and darkness. One girl mentioned she "enjoyed doing the assessment but felt it was more like artwork than science." Another boy stated that he was getting distracted by other students during the performance assessment.

CLOSING THE LOOP

After the performance assessment, I asked the students to reflect on the dark boxes they made. Student groups discussed what they learned from other students' projects and how they could improve their own. I also shared my data analysis. This included parts of videos of their classmates' interviews. In addition, I taught them how to check my research reports online. They were very excited to see that what they did is posted on my website. My students have been using this science website at school and home which means they can share the information with their friends and family members. Many students told me they were happy to contribute to my research and they felt it was meaningful.

We also discussed the reasons for doing performance assessment. Why it is good for learning science and how we can make it practical and fair. Almost all the students said they liked the performance assessment more than paper assessment. They didn't feel they were being assessed during the whole week and they actually enjoyed the process. Students who usually don't do well on writing tests impressed me the most. This positive feedback gave me confidence in promoting my teaching philosophy that assessment should be used as part of the learning and the more students enjoy doing the assessment they more they learn from it.

VALUES AND CLAIMS REFLECTION

Compared to previously used classroom assessment techniques, this performance assessment took a longer time to finish. However, both my students and I had a lot of fun during the process. I love learning with my students and I improved my understanding of how to design a better performance assessment while my students learned how to show what they know through practices. Next time, I will more clearly explain expectations before they start the project so everyone understands what they need to do to demonstrate their skills and knowledge.

When I was designing the report of this assessment, I also got the idea of making it into a webpage which made my personal website more informational and professional. In the next few months I will be training all the international teachers who will be teaching science in my current school for the next school year. I will share these webpages and the research I have done with the head masters and the teachers so they can have a better idea about how I am running the science program. After I move to the next school at August 2018, I will be the head of science for the whole school. I believe this information will be useful for me in the future.

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