#Classroom #Assessment #Techniques

Minute Paper

Ask students to identify the most important things they learned from a lecture, discussion, or assignment by asking one or two questions. Give each student one to two minutes to respond on an index card or piece of paper. Gather their responses and skim through them quickly. Their responses can help you figure out if they're correctly identifying what's most important to you.

 

Muddiest Point

This is similar to the Minute Paper, however, it concentrates on areas of uncertainty. "What was the muddiest point in... (today's lesson, the reading, the homework)?" ask your pupils. Allow one to two minutes for them to write and collect their thoughts.

 

Problem Recognition Tasks

Choose a collection of issues that can be solved most efficiently using only one of the strategies you're presenting in class.  Without actually solving the problems, have students indicate which solutions best fit which difficulties by name. When only one method can be utilized for each problem, this task works well.

Documented Problem Solutions

Ask students to write down all of the steps they would take to solve one to three problems, along with an explanation of each step.  Consider using this method as a pre-course assessment of problem-solving abilities or as a regular part of assigned homework.

 

Directed Paraphrasing

Choose an important idea, topic, or argument that your students have studied in-depth and find a genuine audience to whom your students can explain the material in their own terms (e.g., a grants review board, a city council member, a vice president making a related decision). Set parameters for the length and scope of the paraphrased explanation.

 

Application Cards

Identify a concept or principle that your students are studying and have them come up with one to three examples of how they may apply the idea from their daily lives, current events, or their understanding of specific organizations or systems mentioned in the course.

 

Student-Generated Test Questions

Begin writing general instructions regarding the types of questions you expect to ask on the exam a week or two before the exam. Give your pupils those criteria and have them write and answer one or two questions that are similar to the ones they will face on the exam.

 

Classroom Opinion Polls

Construct a very short two- to four-item questionnaire to help uncover students' perspectives when you suspect they may have pre-existing attitudes regarding course-related subjects.