living things assessment

8/2/2019 Living Things Assessment

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1. OverviewA. Course Description:

This assessment is designed as part of a Kindergarten Science Unit.Overall, the Virginia Standards of Learning for Kindergarten Sciencerequire students to use basic scientific inquiry skills to explore commonmaterials and living things. They are expected to hone observationalskills by developing awareness of their five senses. They are alsoexpected to develop their ability to generate questions, usenonstandard and standard measurement, classify objects and livingthings, and communicate information about the observable naturalworld. Through observation of a variety of natural phenomena,students will also develop a basic concept of change. The overall goalof the Kindergarten Science curriculum is that students will develop afoundational understanding that scientific knowledge is based onobservational evidence.

B. Unit Description:

This unit for which this assessment is designed is a three-week inquiryunit on living things. The unit is shaped around the guiding question,How do plants and animals grow and change? In the first lesson ofthis unit, students begin their investigation of this question byexamining what it means to be alive and developing a concept forliving things. Students will investigate the parts of plants, tracing theflow of water through a plant, thereby developing concepts of howwater sustains plant life. After students develop basic understanding

of plant structure and anatomy, students will apply what they havelearned to make seeds grow. As their seeds grow, students willdevelop strategies for measuring their plants growth and improvingtheir plants growth Equipped with knowledge gained from this


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their plant s growth Equipped with knowledge gained from this

b) observations are made from multiple positions toachieve different perspectives;

c) objects are described both pictorially and verbally;d) a set of objects is sequenced according to size;e) a set of objects is separated into two groups basedon a single physical attribute;f) nonstandard units are used to measure commonobjects;g) a question is developed from one or moreobservations;h) picture graphs are constructed using 10 or fewerunits;i) an unseen member in a sequence of objects ispredicted; and j) unusual or unexpected results in anactivity are recognized.

B. Life ProcessesK.6 The student will investigate and understand basic

needs and life processes of plants and animals. Keyconcepts includea) living things change as they grow, and they needfood, water, and air to survive;b) plants and animals live and die (go through a lifecycle); and c) offspring of plants and animals aresimilar but not identical to their parents and to oneanother

C. Earth Patterns, Cycles, and ChangeK.8 The student will investigate and understand simplepatterns in his/her daily life. Key concepts include

a) weather observations;


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animal. Students should understand the basic properties of food,water, and air.

2. Predict what will happen to animals and plants if life needs arenot met (Science K.6) Implied: Students have an understanding of cause and effect.

Students should be able to make and explain a prediction in relation tolife needs. Students recognize that when life needs are not met, livingthings will not be able to perform basic life functions and willeventually die.

3. Describe some simple changes animals and plants undergoduring the life cycle. For animals this may include changes in

color, body covering, and overall size. For plants this may includesize, presence of leaves and branches, and ability to produceflowers and fruits (Science K.6)

Implied: Students understand the meaning of change. Students areable to identify features and parts of animals and plants. Studentsunderstand the meaning of a life cycle.

4. Compare and contrast young plants and animals with theirparents, using pictures and/or live organisms. (Science K.6)

Implied: Students can apply concepts of same and different. Studentsunderstand that living things come from other living things.

5. Identify simple patterns in natural objects e.g veins in a leaf,spiral patterns in cones, shapes and colors of common seeds.(Science K.8)

Implied: Students know the meaning of pattern. Students should beable to identify a vein and recognize cones and seeds. Student needshould have a vocabulary for discussing shapes and colors. Studentsshould know the meaning of spiral.

6. Describe how animals and plants change as they grow (ScienceK.8)

Implied: Students know the meaning of grow and change. Studentshave a basic understanding of how animals and plants progress


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Implied:Students should have a basic understanding of concepts ofcause and effect.

Intended Learning Outcome 5 will not be evaluated by thisassessment.


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Table of Specifications

Content Blooms Taxonomy

Knowledge Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Describe the life needs of animalsand plants. The life needs are food,water, and air. (Science K.6)

XS8Guidedportfolio

Predict what will happen to animalsand plants if life

needs are not met(Science K.6)

XS

9Guidedportfolio

Describe some simple changesanimals and plants undergo duringthe life cycle. For animals this mayinclude changes in color, bodycovering, and overall size. Forplants this may include size,presence of leaves and branches,

and ability to produce flowers andfruits (Science K.6)

XM6Guidedportfolio.

Compare and contrast youngplants and animals with theirparents, using pictures and/or liveorganisms. (Science K.6)

XS4,10


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Identify simple patterns in naturalobjects e.g. veins in a leaf, spiralpatterns in cones, shapes and

colors of common seeds. (ScienceK.8)

XLGuided

portfolioNotassessed ontest

Describe how animals and plantschange as they grow (Science K.8)

XS1, 9Guidedportfolio

Describe how things change

naturally. This includes seasonalchanges, the growth in seeds andcommon plants, common animals,including the butterfly, and theweather. (Science K.9)

X

S2, 7Guidedportfolio

Identify examples of fast changesand slow changes. Slow changesshould be the kinds of familiarchanges that occur over weeks,months, or seasons. Students are

not responsible for long-termchanges (Science K.9)

XL5

Describe how people cause thingsto change e.g., demolition ofbuildings, construction of buildings,cutting down trees, planting trees,and building highways

XL3


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Indicate the emphasis of the instructional content and importance for each item. S= StrongM=Moderate L=Low

Comprehensive Unit Assessment:Student performance on this assessment will be evaluated alongside behaviors during classroom investigationsand completion of a guided portfolio throughout the unit. The rubric on the following page shows how in-classperformance and guided portfolio will be evaluated. The use of multiple assessment mechanisms enablesstudents more opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned about living things. The classroombehavior and guided portfolio rubric provides a more holistic measurement of students knowledge about plantsand animals by measuring their ability to generate relevant questions, investigate questions scientifically, andcommunicate and explain results. The Standards of Learning upon which the Intending Learning Outcomes

(ILOs) for this unit are based all begin with, The student will investigate and understand, suggesting that theskills referenced in K.1 should be the students primary means of accessing the content of these ILOs. As such,evaluating student behaviors as they acquire the content assessed on this paper-and-pencil test is a keycomponent in determining if the student has fully mastered the targeted Standards of Learning.

D. Description of students and school context:This assessment was designed for a class of twenty-two Kindergarteners at Clara Byrd Baker. The majority ofthe class is in the Emergent or Beginning stages of literacy. In this class, there are two high-level EnglishLanguage Learners, one of which has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) to address speech difficulties. Theclass also includes a student with an IEP for autism and another student with an IEP for stuttering. In order toenable all of my students to demonstrate what they know, I have designed a highly visual test. It is my hope

that this will prevent students developing decoding and encoding skills from inhibiting their demonstration oflearning. Rather than requiring written responses, all supply response questions are oral and most have avisual support for students to reference. While the four exceptional learners in the class struggle with orallanguage, their oral language abilities are more developed than their written language abilities. It is my hopethat with additional support from the English as a Second Language coordinator and the Resource SpecialEducation Teacher prior to the assessment, these students will have extensive practice rehearsing use ofrelevant unit vocabulary. In addition, I plan to allow additional response time for these students. Given these


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accommodations and supports, I feel that the oral/visual format of this test is the best way for them tocommunicate their knowledge.

E. Intended Use of Test Results: Students who score 80% or above on this assessment and Proficient or onInvestigative Skills and the Guided Portfolio will be marked as Consistently Demonstrating the targeted SOLs.Those who score 80% or above on the assessment but do not score Proficient or above on the InvestigativeSkills and Guided Portfolio component or vice versa will be marked as Developing for the targeted SOLs. Thosewho score between 70-79% on the assessment and Developing on the Investigative Skills and Guided Portfoliocomponent will also be marked as Developing. Students scoring below 70% on either of component of thisunits assessments will be marked as Needs More Time or Support for the targeted SOLs. If more than 15% ofthe class is marked as Developing, I will reteach and retest the content.

Rubric: Investigative Skills and Guided Portfolio

Beginning (1) Developing (2) Proficient (3) Advanced (4)

Responses to

questions posed by

the teacher/other

students

The student

responded to less

than two questions

posed by the

teacher/ other

students or

responses were

frequently not

relevant to the

question posed.

The student

responded to two

or three questions

posed by the

teacher/ other

students, but some

contributions were

irrelevant or

unoriginal.

The student

responded to two

or three questions

posed by the

teacher/ other

students with

relevant and

orignial

contributions.

The student

responded to

three or more

questions posed

by the

teacher/other

students with

relevant and

orignal

contributions that

the student

supported with

observational


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evidence.

Initiation of

questions relevant

to the topics ofstudy

The student did

not generate

questions relevantto the topic of

study

The student

generated one to

two questionsrelevant to the

topic of study, but

at least on of the

questions had

already been

answered or were

unorignal

The student

generated one to

two originalquestions relevant

to the topic of

study. At least

one of these

questions was

based on in-class

observations.

The student

generated two to

three original andinsightful

questions relevant

to the topic of

study. At least

one of these

questions was

based on in-class

observations.

Use of materials The studentdamages the

materials, usesmaterials for

purposes other

than scientific

investiagtion, or

does not follow

safety guidelines

on more than one

occasion.

The student

generally follows

safety guidelinesand uses materials

for their directed

purposes, but

occasionally

requires

redirection by a

teacher or

classmate.

The student

consistently

follows safetyguidelines and

uses materials for

directed purposes.

The student

consistently

follows safetyguidelines and

uses materials for

directed purposes,

and reminds their

classmates to do

the same.

Cooperative work The student

struggles to taketurns in group and

rarely contributes

to group

discussion

The student

generally takesturns in a group

and makes some

contributions to

group discussions,

but ocassionally

requires additional

prompting from

The student

consistently takesturns in a group

and contributes to

group

discussions.

The student

consistently takesturns in a group,

contributes to

group

discsussion, and

shows leadership

by delegating

reponsibility or


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group members or

the teacher.

involving group

members in

discussion.

Time on task The student isfrequently off taskand needs frequent

redirection in order

to accomplish

assigned work.

The student isgenerally on task,

but needs

ocassional

redirection to

accomplish

assigned work in a

timely manner.

The student isconsistently on

task and

accomplishes

work in a timely

manner.

The student isconsistently on

task and

completes work

with great detail

and accuracy in a

timely manner.

Guided portfolio Five or more itemsin the students

guided portfolio

are incomplete,illegible. Five or

more observational

drawings or

measurements do

not adequately

reflect the

designated object.

Three or four

items in the

students guided

portfolio areincomplete or

illegible. Three or

four observational

drawings or

measurements in

the students

guided portfolio

do not adequately

reflect the

designated object.

All but one or

two of the items

in the students

guided portfolioare complete and

legible. All but

one or two of the

students

observational

drawings and

measurements

reflect the

designated object.

The students

observational

drawings are

frequently highlydetailed or

labeled. All but

one or two of the

items in the

students guided

portfolio are

complete and

legible. All but

one or two of the

studentsobservational

drawings and

measurements

reflect the

designated object.

Communication and

explanation of

When asked by the

teacher to verbally

When asked by the

teacher to verbally

When asked by

the teacher to

When asked by

the teacher to


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results explain

observations

during and after

investigations, thestudent is often

unable or

unwilling .

explain

observations

during and after

investigations, thestudent is able to

tells what they

observed but

struggles to

develop

explanations for

what occurred.

verbally explain

observations

during and after


tell what they

observe and

develop basic

explanations for

what occurred.

verbally explain

observations

during and after


tell what they

observe, develop

basic

explanations, and

justify their

explanations,

linking

observations to

concepts

developed inclass.

2. Design Elements

A. Intended Learning Outcomes:

The ILOs for this assessment are the same as the unit ILOs. The only one that is excluded is number 5. See pages 1-3.

B. Table of Specifications.

The TOS for this assessment is the same as the unit TOS. The only ILO that is not assessed is number 5. See pages 1-3.

C. Construct Validity:I carefully considered the cognitive level and the explicit, implicit, and conditional content of the ILOs in

designing my test questions. I began by unpacking the curriculum, and critically analyzing these features for


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each of my target ILOs. As I was unpacking my targeted ILOs, I found that the ILOs for my targeted SOLs arelargely ambiguous about what plants and animals the students should know. Butterflies are the only plantsthat are mentioned in specific. As such, I made the instructional choice to present plants and animals that the

students would already have some familiarity with so that they could build on this background knowledge todevelop the broader concepts of change and growth, which are emphasized strongly in the curriculumframework. The use of pictures and diagrams that will be familiar to the students helps to ensure that I amassessing their conceptual understandings rather than their familiarity with a vast array of plants and animals.My choice to use a highly visual and oral format was guided by my desire to ensure that my students stilldeveloping literacy skills would not interfere with their ability to demonstrate their science knowledge. This, Ihope, will promote the construct validity of the test by ensuring it is assessing their science knowledge ratherthan their developing literacy. My use of oral supply response questions also promoted construct validity byenable students to demonstrate higher levels on Blooms taxonomy thinking without being inhibited by theliteracy skills.

D. Content Validity:In planning this assessment, I considered my unit plan and the relative areas of emphasis within my unit

plan. Using a table of specifications, I marked the relative of emphasis I would place on each ILO with a S forStrong, M for Medium, and L for Low. In designing the test, I ensured that the components that were leastemphasized in my instruction were also least represented on the assessment and vice versa. The items withlow instructional emphasis were only represented on the test by one select response item each.

F. Threats to reliability:In my classroom, my cooperating teacher and I have found that that our students tend to do better onassessments when they are given in small groups or individually rather than to the whole class. It enables us

to better redirect children who are losing attention and support students who need repetition or greaterchunking of directions. As such, I am planning on giving the select-response portion of the test at a centerduring morning table rotations. While the small group administration has some benefits for reliability, it alsomeans that the noise level of the rest of the class is a variable that could impact the test results. Myadministration of oral directions could also impact the test results. I will be having to administer the selectresponse portion of the test three times, and while I hope to be consistent across administrations, I may varyslightly. These variables all pose systematic threats to reliability. I plan to minimize these threats by beingvery firm with the class prior to administration about noise level and providing the same directions to each


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group. The individual oral supply response component of the assessment also has some threats to reliability.Because this is done individually, students are pulled throughout the day to take the test. Often this is whileother class activities are occurring, so again, noise level is a variable as is the students desire to be

participating in the activity the class is doing. Another variable is the adult administering the test. Often mycooperating teacher, the teachers assistant, and I all pull students to administer the test. On pastassessments, I have noticed each of us administers tests slightly differently, using different prompts, differentwait times, and different evaluative criteria. I have controlled for evaluative criteria by providing rubrics, butprompting and wait time may still be variables. While these systematic variables still pose a threat, I have triedto control for other systematic threats by having my cooperating teacher proofread the test for both wordingand design elements

G. Predictive validityIn the era of standardized testing accountability, teachers frequently try to design their tests to carry

predictive validity for state mandated tests. This is not necessarily the case for Kindergarten assessments.Aside from Phonemic Awareness Literacy Screening and Reading ad Math benchmarks, teacher generatedassessments are the primary means of assessment for students in Kindergarten. I would caution against usingthis assessment for predicting students scores on Science SOLs in the upper grades. While the Sciencestandards in the upper grades certainly build upon understandings of Kindergarten standards, there are manyvariables that would threaten the validity of predicting performance on third, fourth, or fifth grade SOLs fromKindergarten assessments, including teacher efficacy in first and second grade and development of literacy andmath skills in these grades, and familiarity with the test format.

The test may carry some predictive validity for students performance on the teacher-designedassessment for Natural Resources unit that follows this unit, as that unit builds upon foundationalunderstandings from this unit and the assessment will utilize aa format quite similar to this one. The test may

also carry some predictive validity for students performance on teacher-designed assessments in first andsecond grade. Again, teacher efficacy, development of literacy and math skills, and familiarity with the testformat are potential threats to the tests predictive validity for these measures.

H. Scoring and grading procedures.Scoring will be guided by the answer key for select response items and the rubrics for oral supply responseitems. For the select response items, if the students work matches the answer key, full credit will be given.For the oral supply response component, transcription of oral items will be scored by myself and a co-rater and


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averaged to promote greater reliability. After administering the test, if I analyze the results and see thatparticular items were problematic for a majority of students, I will consider giving all students credit for thisproblem or eliminating the item from grading considerations. In Kindergarten, students are only marked as

CD(Consistently Demonstrates), DV (Developing), or NI (Needs improvement) on standards. This test inconjunction with student classroom behavior throughout the unit and the guided portfolio will determinewhether a student receives a CD, DV, or NI for these standards. See 1e.


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Name:

____________________________________________

Living Things Test

1. Cut out the pictures below and glue them in order toshow a plant life cycle.


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2. Which set of pictures shows a butterflys life cycle in the right order?

A

B

C


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A B

3. Which picture shows a change that was probably caused by humans?


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4. Draw a line from each baby living thing to the grown-up that matches.

C


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5. Which set of pictures shows the fastestchange?

A

B

A

B

C

Winter Summer


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C

Oral supply responseTeacher Administration Directions: Read each question aloud. Prompt studentsto look at corresponding select response questions as necessary. Recordstudents response.

Winter Summer


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6. Prompt student to look at their response to number 1. Say Tell me how theplant is changing in each picture (4 points)

7. Prompt student to look at their response to number 2. Say Tell me about a

butterflys life cycle. (4 points)

8. What three things do all living things need? (4 points)

9. What would happen if a living thing did not have the three things it needs?(4 points)


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10. Prompt the student to pick a baby and grown-up pair they matched onnumber #4.a. Tell me two things that are the same about the baby and grown up. (2

points)

b. Tell me two things that are different. (2 points)

10. Tell me some of the changes that happen when winter becomes Spring. (4points)


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Answer Key and Scoring Rubrics:

1.


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4 points -1 for each misplaced

2. A (3 points)

3. C (3 points)


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4. Cub- lion; Tadpole- frog; Egg-bird; Sunflower seed- sunflower(4 points 1 for each mismatched)

5. C (3 points)


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6. (4 points)Needs Improvement(0-1)

Developing (2) Meets Expectations (3-4) Exemplary (4)

Identificationof changes

The student is unableto independentlyidentify physicalchanges the plantundergoes or needsprompting more thantwice to identify onephysical change theplant has undergone ineach picture.

The studentindependentlyidentifies somephysical changes theplant undergoes, butneeds prompting onceor twice to identifyone physical changethe plant hasundergone in eachpicture. The studentsdescriptions are narrow

in focus and referencefewer than two of thefollowing: the growthof leaves, theproduction of flowers,the growth of roots, orthe increase in size.

The student identifiesat least one physicalchange the plant hasundergone in eachpicture withoutprompting. Theirdescriptions of thesechanges reference atleast two following: thegrowth of leaves, theproduction of flowers,the growth of roots, or

the increase in size.

The studentindependentlyidentifies more thanone physical changethe plant hasundergone for eachpicture withoutprompting. Theirdescriptions of thesechanges referencethree or more of thefollowing: the growth

of leaves, theproduction of flowers,the growth of roots, orthe increase in size.The student mayexpand on theirdescriptions byproviding explanationsfor the changes.

Vocabulary The student does notreference or misuses

several of followingbasic plant terms:leaves, roots, stems,seeds.

The student misuses abasic plant term or

uses less than two ofthe following basicplant terms: leaves,roots, stems, seeds.

The studentsexplanation includes

accurate uses of twoaccurate uses of thefollowing basic plantterms: leaves, roots,stems, seeds.

The studentsexplanation includes

accurate uses of atleast three of thefollwing basic plantterms: leaves, roots,stems, seeds. Thechild includes moredetailed vocabularyrelated to a plants lifecycle, such as wordslike sprout and


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budding.

7. (4 points)Needs Improvement (0-1)


Description oflife cycle

The student is unableto independentlyidentify or describe any

of the basic features ofthe stages of abutterflys life cycle.The child needsprompting more thanthree times to identifythe stages ofbutterflys life ccle.

The student identifiesand describes basicfeatures of one or two

stages of thebutterflys lfie cyclebut needs promptingonce or twice.

The student identifiesat least three stages ofthe butterflys life cycle

and describes thesestaes withoutprompting.

The studentindependentlyidentifies all of the

stages of a butterflyslife cycle. The studentmay use more specificscientific vocabularyincluding larva, pupa,or crysallis.



Identificationof water, food,and air asthree lifeneeds

The student is unableto independentlyidentify any of thethree life needs. Thestudent identifies oneor two life needindependently but

The student identifiestwo of the basic lifeneeds independently,but needs promptingonce or twice toidentify the last.

The student identifiesthe three life needsindependently or thestudent identifies atleast two of the lifeneeds independentlyand needs minimal

The studentindependentlyidentifies all three lifeneeds. The studentmay explain why livingthings need thesethings. The students


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student is unable toidentify more or needsprompting more thantwice to identify theremaining life needs.

prompting once toidentify the last.

may mention thatplants need sunlight tomake food.

9. ( 4 points)Needs Improvement (0-1)


Prediction The student is unableto independentlyidentify that a livingthing would die if itslife needs are not met.

The student needsprompting to identifythat a living thingswould die if its lifeneeds are not met.

The studentindependentlyidentifies that a livingthings would die if itslife needs are not me.

The studentindependentlyidentifies that a livingthings would die if itslife needs are not met.The student explains

that living things wouldnot be able to eat,drink, grow, or breathe,without their life needs.



Identificationof similaritiesand

differences.

The student is unableto independentlyidentify any similarites

or differences. Thestudent identifies oneof two similiarities ordifferences but needsprompting more thantwice to identify more.

The studentindependentlyidentifies at least 2

similarities ordifferences but needsprompting once ortwice to identify more.

The studentindependentlyidentifies two

similarities and twodifferences. Thestudent identifies threesimiliarities ordifferences but needsprompting once ortwice to identify two ofeach.

The studentindependentlyidentifies two

similarities and twodifferences. Thestudent identifiesadditional similaritiesor differences.Students identificationof differences utilizesrelevant scientificvocabulary ordemonstrates insightful


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observation.

11. (4 points)Needs Improvement(0-1)


Identificationof changes

The student is unableto independentlyidentify any changesthat occur as Winterchanges to Spring.

The studentindependentlyidentifies one or twochanges that occurwhen Winter becomesSpring but needsprompting once ortwice to identify more.The studentsdescriptions are narrowin focus and referencefewer than two of thefollowing: thetemperature, animalbehavior, plant growth,sunlight, clothing.

The student identifiesat least three changeswithout prompting.Their descriptions ofthese changesreference at least twofollowing: thetemperature, animalbehavior, plant growth,sunlight, clothing.

The student identifiesat least three changeswithout prompting.Their descriptions ofthese changesreference at least twofollowing: thetemperature, animalbehavior, plant growth,sunlight, clothing. Thestudent may expandon their descriptions byproviding explanationsfor the changes.

living things assessment

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