Assessment

= Independent/Dependent Variables Assessment  = ===Abstract: This assessment was for the current unit in my science class which is the Scientific Method. While there are a few different standards and essential learnings for the students to master, the most important one is for students to be able to identify the independent and dependent variables (IV/DV) in any experiment or situation. I used a 16 question Quizstar assessment a couple of weeks into the unit. While the kids had some exposure to determining the IV and DV, they had limited experience and practice with it. I plan on giving them the same assessment after a couple of weeks of work, near the end of the unit, to see how much they’ve grown. === ===Overall I found the quiz to be a fairly good indicator of their present knowledge. There were a wide variety of scores from 1 out of 16 to several students that got 16 out of 16. Since there were many scores below 50%, I believe the lessons regarding this subject will be necessary, and will lead to higher scores. A nice aspect of Quizstar was that the students could review the test after they took it. I set it up so they could find out which problems they missed and although it wouldn’t give them the correct answer, it did give them some feedback to help them figure out what the answer should have been. === ===I did wonder whether the quiz was difficult enough since some students did get perfect scores already. I wasn’t surprised as to which students did get the perfect scores, but I want to make sure they are also challenged. All of the questions were multiple choice as Quizstar cannot grade short answer questions. I was thinking that although I’d have to grade them, it would probably be good to include a couple problems where the students have to determine the answer without the assistance of multiple choice questions. === ===The reports offered in Quizstar are designed in a good way that made it easy to see how both individual students and the class in general did on the quiz. From these reports I have learned not only that further instruction will be necessary, but I can focus in on certain students that really needed help. If there are still students that do poorly after the second test, I may do some individualized instruction for them. === ===In the end, I believe this was a good use of online assessment. Both the kids and I got some immediate feedback which will hopefully help us improve for the future. I think it should be good motivation for the kids to see their scores improve. ===

Assessment Results


 * Screenshots of Quiz and reports**