Lesson 4- Formative Assessment
Using Formative Assessment in PBL
Throughout PBL implementation, student progress is evaluated by multiple forms of formative assessment (Crawford, 2008). Formative assessment in PBL can act as checkpoints through teacher facilitation to ensure that students are mastering content and working productively. By using formative assessment, we create opportunities to measure student learning rather than evaluate (Larson & Lockee, 2013). Teachers use formative assessment in order to determine what has been learned throughout instruction (Larson & Lockee, 2013).
Read the following article and brainstorm on how you can create a "need to know" list for your PBL Unit: Formative Assessment in PBL
Watch the following video to see formative assessment in action: Formative Assessment in Math-PBL
Examples of Formative Assessment
When creating formative assessments, it is important that assessments are aligned to learning objectives, are appropriate for the cognitive level of students, and are then able to cause opportunities for feedback to make informed instructional decisions (Larson & Lockee, 2013). When considering your content area, it is also vital to create formative assessments with a purpose; having students understand how these assessments will help them reach learning goals can help engage them in these tasks (Larson & Lockee, 2013). Darling-Hammond et al. (2008) and Crawford (2008) discuss multiple examples of formative assessment that can be used to measure student learning. The following list are examples of formative assessment:
- Written Journals
- Weekly Reports
- Self-Assessment Reflection
- Quizzes
- Concept Maps
- Teacher Questioning
- Exit Tickets
- Quick Writes
This is only a list of examples. Formative assessment can be used in multiple ways to measure students learning.
Reflection and Feedback
Fill out the following Google Form to reflect on your use of formative assessment in your PBL unit: Lesson 4 PBL Reflection
Make sure to continue to post ideas and questions on the PBL Padlet
Return to: Project Based Learning Instruction for K-12 Educators
References
- Crawford, G.B. (2008). Differentiation for the adolescent learner: Accommodating brain development, language, literacy, and special needs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
- Darling-Hammond, L., Chen, M., Barron, B., & Pearson, D.P. (2008). Powerful learning: What we know about teaching for understanding. San Francisco, CA: Wiley, John 7 Sons.
- Larson, M. B., & Lockee, B.B. (2013). Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design. New York: Routledge.