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How can you ensure students understanding in science?
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You can check their understanding through formative and summative assessment. See if they can provide explanations for phenomena (using the language of science). Remember that science is not merely a collection of facts to be memorized and regurgitated. Science is a process — a process for learning about the world — and the universe.
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Hi Chryssa,
I am a 4th-year majoring in Elementary Education at Wartburg College. There are many ways we can ensure student understanding in science. It can be as simple as a check for understanding or as complex as a lab/test. Throughout my field experience, I have found the use of the 'Partner Talk' or 'Turn and Talk' strategy extremely useful. Periodically throughout a lesson students can turn to their partner and discuss what is going on so far. This gives them a place to explain their thinking and ask any questions in a safe environment before turning to the entire class. If neither student understands the lesson, they can then turn to the teacher or class for help. Throughout my time at Wartburg College, I have been taught the importance of fostering a classroom community. Once students feel as if they have a learning community, they are more likely to ask questions and have more learning opportunities. I hope this helped!
Happy learning!
-Micah Decker
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Chryssa,
You can ensure students are understanding the science by looking at the data from formative assessments. A formative assessment could be anything that you have the students do. If they aren't physically turning in something to be graded, take notes on what they are doing so you can assess them. Based on the data you get from the assessments, you'll know what the majority of the class needs remediation on, what they understand, and what specific students' needs are.
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Adding more to what Matt said about formative assessment, You can assess during an activity that you may be teaching. I am a pre-serivce teacher and when we are lesson planning we have a strong emphasis on an objective that has clear expectations of what you want the students to have walking away from the lesson or activity. Having a checklist of the ideas that connect back to the objective and then checking those boxes for each student as you work through a lesson can be helpful. Having a classroom environment that supports questions asking is helpful when checking for understanding. If a student feels like they do not know something they should feel comfortable enough to ask question about the content. This can also relate to the emphasis of phenomena in science education and having those students become curious of the world around them and show you what they know through the process used when observing phenomena
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HI Chryssa,
One way you can assess your students’ understanding is by having them perform the skill they are learning. This shows they are not only understanding the concept but are also able to do it. For example, if you are talking about force and motion, have students create ramps. This will help you to see who understands the topic and who does not by the explanation they give for force and motion.
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