Pennies - formative assessment probe

The "chapter" is actually the preface, introduction, formative assessment probe and how to use the probe with students at different grade levels. The introductory material offers information... See More

The "chapter" is actually the preface, introduction, formative assessment probe and how to use the probe with students at different grade levels. The introductory material offers information about the importance of formative assessment, how to conduct formative assessment using the probes and what additional information and resources are associated with each probe. This particular probe helps to assess students' conceptions and misconceptions about the structure of atoms. The formative assessment probes should be a standard part of the science teaching repertoire of teachers of science elementary through college.

Atoms Assessment Probe / Pennies

This probe is exactly what I was looking for. I will be administering the assessment prior to beginning my States of Matter / Atoms unit with 7th-8th grade. I specifically like the layout ... See More

This probe is exactly what I was looking for. I will be administering the assessment prior to beginning my States of Matter / Atoms unit with 7th-8th grade. I specifically like the layout of NSTA probes with their detailed analysis of grade level conceptual understanding and common misconceptions. Ideas are stated to make this a kinesthetic experience for our special needs students.

Great Advice

This book introduction chapter addressed the issue of student generalization of a topic. Students do generalize, however, teachers in this instance found students did not generalize about li... See More

This book introduction chapter addressed the issue of student generalization of a topic. Students do generalize, however, teachers in this instance found students did not generalize about life cycles. The teachers and administrators found that students neglected to apply their knowledge to all plants and animals after conducting an inquiry investigation. The chapter goes on to introduce how teachers can use probes can be used in the classroom to avoid this scenario in future lessons. The chapter suggests nine pointers that will help the implementation of probes in a classroom and for use of formative assessment. I liked this introduction to the book because of how in depth it goes into each suggestion. There are examples for most of the suggestion probes, which are directly applicable to teachers and easy to read and comprehend. This file also provides readers with access to a few probes that can be directly used in their classrooms, and provides readers with pointers for curriculum and instruction. Overall, this book introduction is rather useful to teachers and easy to follow for implementation.

Why and How to Use Formative Probes

I was a bit mislead by the title and caption for this resource, as I believed it would have some ready-to-use formative probes that would help me as I assess my middle school students' possi... See More

I was a bit mislead by the title and caption for this resource, as I believed it would have some ready-to-use formative probes that would help me as I assess my middle school students' possible misconceptions in the realm of chemistry. However, most of the book chapter build the case for using probes as formative assessments, and there is only one probe that is available in this chapter. It is at the very end of the rather long book chapter. While the information is interesting, many inservice etchers may be looking for ideas to put into practice rather than a fairly long article about the ins and outs of using probes as formative assessments.