Assessing What Students Know

The author presents several examples of graphic organizers that she uses to help students express their understanding of a sequence of events. These organizers are a visual representation o... See More

The author presents several examples of graphic organizers that she uses to help students express their understanding of a sequence of events. These organizers are a visual representation of knowledge. The author explains that there are four kinds of graphic organizers: conceptual, hierarchical, cyclical and sequential. She then states that for assessing student knowledge the a sequence of events one should use graphic organized such as Cause/Effect, Problem/Solution, T-Chart, Story Board, and Sequencing Chart. For someone unfamiliar with formative assessment and graphic organizers this is a good article.

Using Graphic Organizers for Formative Assessment

Although many teachers instinctively know how to use formative assessment, they may lack a concrete method of implementing such assessment on a regular basis. This article gives numerous exa... See More

Although many teachers instinctively know how to use formative assessment, they may lack a concrete method of implementing such assessment on a regular basis. This article gives numerous examples of the four types of graphic organizers, conceptual, hierarchal, cyclical, and sequential and makes the argument for their inclusion. Their ease of implementation in an ongoing manner is particularly effective for students with learning disabilities or students with limited language skills.

Article Review #1

Collection: Assessment Article: “Science Sampler: Using graphic organizers as formative assessment” by Janet Struble 1. Why did you choose to put this article in your collection? Be specif... See More

Collection: Assessment Article: “Science Sampler: Using graphic organizers as formative assessment” by Janet Struble 1. Why did you choose to put this article in your collection? Be specific...."because it looked interesting" is not sufficient. I chose this article because I love to use graphic organizers in my teaching. Assessment is an important part of teaching and using a graphic organizer is a great tool to apply to teaching. Graphic organizers can be used as formidable tools for examining and evaluating student thinking and learning. 2. What new information did you learn? I learned that graphic organizers can be a good alternative to long written assessments for students. This is important to consider, especially if you have students that are ESL or have limited language proficiency. I also learned about the four categories of graphic organizers: conceptual, hierarchical, cyclical, and sequential. I also learned about various ways each of these could be used in formative assessment.

Useful

I found this article to be extremely helpful when examining portfolios in the classroom. Furthermore, it includes helpful tips that I plan on using for future student based assessment. Altho... See More

I found this article to be extremely helpful when examining portfolios in the classroom. Furthermore, it includes helpful tips that I plan on using for future student based assessment. Although graphic organizers may not be the best form of assessment for all scenarios, I definitely plan on using portfolios for summative assessment for a variety of projects.

Four Different Graphic Organizers

Very good resource which outlinesfour different graphic organizers for use as formative assessment tools; discusses each type in terms of application, variations, and potential application.

Using Graphic Organizers as a Formative Assessmen

In a time of standards-based science curriculum, assessment has become an important part of science teaching and learning. Teachers are being asked to assess their students knowledge and oft... See More

In a time of standards-based science curriculum, assessment has become an important part of science teaching and learning. Teachers are being asked to assess their students knowledge and often do not know of any ways other than the traditional end of unit sumnative test. More and more research is pointing to the advantages of using formative assessments to assit in designing and implimenting curriculum that helps their students in their conceptual development of the topic being studied. This article provides just one of many possible ways, in the form of a graphic organizer, to use formative assessments. (In order for this article to have earned 5 stars, I would have liked to have seen more examples of graphic organizers.)

Graphic Organizers as Formative Assessment Tools

There are four categories of graphic organizers: conceptual, hierarchical, cyclical and sequential. This article gives examples of each and how they can be used effectively as formative as... See More

There are four categories of graphic organizers: conceptual, hierarchical, cyclical and sequential. This article gives examples of each and how they can be used effectively as formative assessment tools within the Science classroom. These organizers tend to be effective for students struggling with language and concept organization. I would have liked to see a few more advanced examples as organizers are of benefit to students that are not struggling as well.