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1. Description of the program

The consideration of students who are to be assessed remains important for the purpose

of developing the assessment design. I believe it is imperative to select a year level that

suits the learning areas based on the curriculum. Therefore, I plan to choose the

Foundation year for this particular assessment assignment. The assessments must

always be designed while keeping in mind the characteristics of the students along with

the underlying consideration of the context. The basic characteristics like year levels,

ages, gender and the context of curriculum is important to develop the assessment.

The ages relevant to this year level is around 5-6, gender of the learners includes both

males and females and the location of the school is Brisbane, Australia. The socio

economic status of the families of learners is middle class with ASD, visually impaired

and sequential memory learning issues within the classroom. The diversity of the

learning group is significant because we live in a society where people from different

nations come in order to earn their livelihood in a more appropriate manner. I believe

that the assessment must focus on the aspect of diversity strongly enough so that no

student have to face any sort of discrimination. The program being referred for this

assessment is related to the course of science. The curriculum source selected for the

purpose of developing this assessment is the Australian National Mathematics

Curriculum. I have selected this curriculum because I believe science is important for

students. The educational environment is such that teachers value educating the

children and assisting them to reach their full potential.

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2. Adapted Backward Design Backward Design Plan

Stage 1 - Desired ResultsSubject / KLA – Year Level -Established Goals (Syllabus / Essential Learnings/National Curriculum, VELS …):

Foundation Year Achievement Standard

By the end of the Foundation year, students describe the properties and behaviour of familiar objects. They

suggest how the environment affects them and other living things.

Students share observations of familiar objects and events.

Content Descriptions

Science Understanding

Biological sciences

Living things have basic needs, including food and water (ACSSU002)

Chemical sciences

Objects are made of materials that have observable properties (ACSSU003)

Earth and space sciences

Daily and seasonal changes in our environment, including the weather, affect everyday life (ACSSU004)

way objects move depends on a variety of factors, including their size and shape (ACSSU005)

exploring and observing the world using the senses (ACSHE013)

Respond to questions about familiar objects and events (ACSIS014)

Explore and make observations by using the senses (ACSIS011)

Engage in discussions about observations and use methods such as drawing to represent ideas (ACSIS233)

Share observations and ideas (ACSIS012)

Understandings: Students will understand that . . .

This unit will assist students to understand how movement occurs in different ways and what

are the different factors involved to cause this movement. Students will learn how to respond

to questions about familiar objects and events. Explore and make observations by using their

senses thus improving their thinking skills and help them to make more informed choices.

Engage in discussions about observations and represent ideas through different methods such

as drawing. Communicate their ideas through sharing these observations and ideas.

Specific Learning Outcome Statements

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This unit will assist students to understand how humans and animals move.

Students will also look at a range of information and analyse this information thus

improving their thinking skills and help them to make informed choices when

designing their toy.

Students will gain a deeper understanding of movement and demonstrate-show this

understanding.

Students will investigate all factors that could influence movement.

Students will apply previous learnt knowledge to construct their own toy.

Students will explain how weight, surface affect movement thus impacting on their

toy design.

Reflect upon experiments by identifying the force used and how they move.

Reflect upon experiments by identifying the factors that cause movement.

Stage 2 – Assessment EvidenceACTION: Children will individually design a moving toy. They need to support their model

with a design and do a presentation explaining how it moves, what parts work together to

make it move and what force/s is/are used to make it move. Three components – Design,

Construct & Present model by using investigation, journal entries, research and oral

presentation.

Students will be supplied with a Class Science Journal where they will be required to record

their discoveries throughout the six week unit. Written feedback will be given on a weekly

basis individually to assist students on their knowledge of the key concepts. Students will

present their toy design and discoveries as an oral presentation on completion of the six week

unit with visual aids.

Through what formative assessment tasks will students receive feedback to highlight what

they have learnt and how they can improve their future performance?

Students will be given a variety of activities to assess their knowledge on movement:

Match pictures of moving things to action words.

Identify what force is required in various activities.

Fill in the Venn diagram with pictures of things that are pushed, pulled or both.

Match pictures of moving objects to factors that help them move in a certain way –

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shape, surface, etc…

Design:

Students will design their toy after looking at a range of information and analyse this

information engaging thinking skills, then construct and present this orally.

Development of ideas will be recorded in each student’s Class Science Journal.

Evaluate:

Students through reflection upon experiments by identifying the force used and how

they move. The observations, strategy and data collection and analysis will be

recorded in each student’s Class Science Journal.

Analyse

Students will investigate all factors that could influence movement: Class Science

Journal (individual) and add to word wall (whole class).

Apply:

Students will apply their understanding of movement by conducting a variety of

scientific experiments- bouncy balls, racing cars, climbing toy, water trough (floating

and sinking), marble painting magnets. Discoveries will be compiled and recorded in

each student’s Class Science Journal.

Understand:

Students will be given a timeline for the completion of the main elements of the Toy

Design assessment.

Students will be asked to predict, based on two different surfaces, the effect they will

have on how far and object will roll. Complete the experiment and record results in

student’s Class Science Journal.

Remember :

Students will shared with the class in collaborative groups weekly what it is they have

learnt about movement. Groups of students will be identified for specific review

activities based on their results on these collaborations.

Stage 3 – Hidden Skills and how they are addressed.1. Time Management

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2. Group-work skills

3. Journal writing

4. Science Understanding

5. Giving effective and constructive feedback

6. Presentation Skills

Hidden skills-

1. Students will be given the task sheet and rubric at the same time to prepare them for

the assessment, the teacher will monitor progress on a weekly basis by checking the

students work in class and revisit these sheets weekly to provided support and re-

establish assessment criteria for a two week class science investigation unit prior to

this task.

2. Students will review group skills before the start of the unit and practised in other

subjects, group work skills will be displayed on the wall and monitored by the teacher

3. A practice science investigation will be carried out by the class as a whole and

students will give structured feedback to each other as to strengths and weaknesses as

well as get feedback from the teacher while also establishing how to record data in a

variety of ways.

4. Through the practice science investigation students will develop an understanding of

science concepts and terminology needed for this unit.

5. Before the feedback on the class investigation students will be instructed what

constitutes good constructive feedback and practise this when discussing each other’s

Class Science Journal’s.

6. Through show and tell before this unit begins students will develop self-confidence in

public speaking skills with the support of visual aids.

Adapted from:

Wiggins, Grant. Understanding by Design (Expanded Second Edition).Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2005. p 22.http://site.ebrary.com/lib/unisouthernqld/Doc?id=10081770&ppg=34

3. Assessment Instrument : Task Sheet and Rubric

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TOY DESIGN SUMMATIVE TASK

FOUNDATION YEAR

GReal-world Goal

Your task is to design and create a toy that moves.

RReal-world Role

Your role is to be the “TOYMAKER”.

AReal-world Audience

You are to present this to your class.

SReal-world Situation

This challenge involves: Exploring the way objects move depends their size and shape Exploring and observing the world using your senses Explain how your toy moves Share observations and ideas about movement with your peers

PReal-world Products or

Performances

Once you create your toy, you will : confidently orally present it to your peers confidently explain how your toy moves and functions.

SStandards

Present confidently as an oral presentation with brief explanation how objects move and function show a clear understanding of the toy that was created.

Due Date

*Adapted From Wiggins, Grant and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 2004. March 2011

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SUMMATIVE TASK RUBRIC

STUDENT NAME:____________________________ TEACHERS NAME:_________________________________

DATE:_______________________ Indicates year level expectation

Term FourFoundation Year Achievement Standard

By the end of Foundation Year, students will be able to describe the properties and behaviour of familiar objects in how they move and function.

Students will be also able to share observations of familiar objects and events.

E D C B ABeginning to work towards the achievement standard

Working towards the achievement standard

Demonstrating the achievement standard

Working beyond the achievement standard

Extending with depth beyond the achievement standard

Knowledge With explicit prompts, they: explain how things move around

us..

With prompts, they: explain how things move

around us.

They independently: explain how objects move

around us.

They: explain with brief explanation

how things move around us..

They: explain with detailed explanation

how things move around us..

Understanding With explicit prompts, students: Explain movement depends on

factors including size and shape..

With prompts, they: Explain movement depends on

factors including size and shape.

They independently: Explain movement depends on

factors including size and shape.

They: Explain with brief explanation

movement depends on factors including size and shape.

They: Explain with detailed explanation

movement depends on factors including size and shape.

Skills With explicit prompts, they were able to:

Plan- design-present toyexplain how toy moves and

functions.

With prompts, they were able to:Plan- design-present toyexplain how toy moves and

functions.

They independently were able to:Plan- design-present toyexplain how toy moves and

functions.

They confidently were able to:Plan- design-present toyexplain how toy moves and

functions.

They were able to with extreme confidence:

Plan- design-present toyexplain how toy moves and functions

with extreme confidence.

What you did well: What you needs to work on:

Indicates the level that the student is attaining.

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4. Educational Justification

Foundation Year students, are required to produce an assessment item that draws

from the students prior knowledge and skills relating to movement, as well as previous

science investigations within the classroom. As a result students are able to link the familiar,

through this prior knowledge, to their new discoveries via these observations and group

discussions. Thus allowing for validity, reliability and authenticity within the strategy.

When taking a closer look at this assessment I feel it is valid as it demonstrates the

content descriptions I have selected from the Australian National Curriculum. To make an

assessment valid it needs to measure exactly what it is claiming it measures and I feel my

assessment task does this. It utilises strategies that demonstrate validity by measuring the

content descriptions I have selected from the Australian Curriculum and showing its clear

alignment with the assessment task.

Over the six week period, students will learn about how things move, making clear

connections to real world objects that surround them every day. Students will engage in

research skills throughout the task by making careful observations when conducting scientific

experiments to explore and build on prior knowledge. This will involve taking a closer look at

“what force is used?”, “how does it move?” and “factors that affect its movement?”. Planning

skills will be further developed throughout this unit to reach the end goal of designing a toy

and assist in developing knowledge on the three previous ideas on force. This unit will

conclude with students presenting findings and recognising what is relevant to the experiment

with their peers and class as well as clarifying any misconceptions they may have encountered

along the way. Validity is exercised by providing as much emphasis to the curriculum content

required to be taught with each lesson focusing on teaching relative concepts prior to students

being asked to complete the assessment tasks thus assuring assessment on what is taught.

Formative assessment where students will be required to add to their Class Science

Journal as they complete tasks will be revisited several times a week, thus giving the teacher

frequent opportunities to check student work for understanding.  Feedback is given to all

students through this method consequently making it a valid method of not only facilitating

student work but also allowing for flexibility to alter lesson content if necessary to ensure

students are learning the required skills and knowledge that are essential for proficient

performance.

For summative assessment, children will individually design a moving toy. They need to

support their model with a design and do a presentation explaining how it moves, what parts

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work together to make it move and what force/s is/are used to make it move. Three

components will be used– Design, Construct & Present model by using investigation, journal

entries, research and oral presentation. Students will be supplied with a Class Science Journal

where they will be required to record their discoveries throughout the six week unit and

include any worksheets relating to movement-forces. Written feedback will be given on a

weekly basis individually to assist students on their knowledge of the key concepts. Students

will present their toy design and discoveries as an oral presentation on completion of the six

week unit with visual aids. The oral presentation must demonstrate the knowledge the

students have gain through explaining how things moves around us whilst also show a clear

understanding of how movement can be affected depending on factors such as shape and

size. The students also need to demonstrate their skills such as confidence when presenting

the plan and design as well as when explaining how their toy moves and functions. Student’s

performance will be measured on a five point scale relevant to the level of skills necessary to

fulfil the requirements of the learning outcomes.

Reliability is consistent judgements, it is repeatable and gives clear indication. For a

test to be reliable it needs to have a clear and concise marking rubric that can be understood

by all markers so as to avoid confusion. The rubric needs to have clear differentiated levels

that allow for all possible answer combinations. Rubrics have the potential of promoting

learning and/or improve instruction. The main reason for this potential lies in the fact that

rubrics make expectations and criteria explicit, which facilitates feedback and self-assessment

(Jonsson, 2007). The rubric used in the Foundation year task, defines clear and consistent

expectations for each task specific descriptor making both students and teachers aware of the

expectations for each part. My assessment strategy will be reliable as the results are unlikely

to change exponentially if assessed in another time and place or by another assessor

(Churchill et al., 2011, p408).

Authenticity is the belief that knowledge is constructed from what students already

know. To develop authentic activities within the classroom you need to utilise a student’s

prior and constructed knowledge, understanding and skills so they can apply them to real

world situations. In a classroom setting, this can be achieved by using many different

approaches; real world, open ended, complex tasks over time, use multi-perspectives and

resources, collaborative groups, opportunity to reflect while assessment is still embedded.

This task given to Foundation year students offers authentic learning experiences are

enhanced by having a complex task over time where the students get to work collaboratively

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and reflect on what they have done. It allows diverse solutions and outcomes whilst giving the

students’ time to create something worthwhile in their own right.

Due to student dynamics and location, I have attempted to set an assessment task that

requires the students to develop skills that they can use for their life outside of school.

Students will become inquirers asking and clarifying any questions or doubts whilst engaging

in activities and discussions- what, why, how, when. They will develop knowledge through

sharing ideas and information, and supporting others with queries and doubts. Lastly they will

become thinkers stopping to think carefully before analysing and presenting data and therefor

engaging to think about why does it happen and how does it happen. When you add this to

scaffolding student learning through linking prior knowledge to new learnings and tasks that

relate to students life both in and out of school, in particular aiding in preparing them for life

after school, the assessment item used displays valid, reliable and authentic features.

Progressive assessment such as the Foundation year task is beneficial because it tests

student’s abilities far more than your remembered knowledge, and abilities are more

important. This task does have some positives and negatives when comparing it to the 5

principles “Characteristics of Good Assessment”. A student’s ability to research, analyse,

dissect and communicate with peers is utilised during this task. They are able to bring forward

information derived from a set of data-activities. These kind of analytical abilities are

important in day to day life. As a result, the students will succeed far more with progressive

assessment than in exams regardless what learning difficulties they may possess! They may

even have fun along the way!

5. Provision for 3 students with Special Needs The concept of “full inclusion” is that students with special needs can and should be

educated in the same settings as their normally developing peers with appropriate support

services, rather than being placed in special education classrooms or schools. According to

advocates the benefits of full inclusion are increased expectations by teachers, behavioral

modeling of normally developing peers, more learning, and greater self-esteem. Although

the notion of full inclusion has appeal, especially for parents concerned about their

children's rights, there is very little empirical evidence for this approach. Three Learning

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issues within this class are ASD, sequential memory and visual impairment I would adjust

the task offering full inclusion to all needs.

A student with ASD is defined as one that has impaired social functioning so the group

work and oral presentation in this unit may raise some concerns for this student within a

classroom context. Although this task culminates with an oral presentation it allows a vast

amount of flexibility along the way to support ASD students to make it fair for a child with

these learning needs. “Although the task may seem daunting to teachers, students with

ASD can and do learn.” (Flynn, S.) A child with ASD may struggle presenting to the class

so this task could be modified so they could record the presentation at home and display on

the interactive whiteboard to the class. Utilising support throughout the school such as

teacher aides to engage this child in experiencing the hands on science experiments and

engaging actively in group discussions would form a solid foundation; as well as

consulting with the parents so they understand the criteria clearly to support the child’s

understanding further at home would reinforce this foundation. Links such as ASD Bright

ideas ( http://www.asdbrightideas.com/shop/ ) and Teaching ideas (

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/more/specialneeds/moreasdideas.htm ) offer a wide variety

of classroom ideas through positive inclusion.

A student with Sequential Memory issues is defined as one that has a poor ability to

perceive things in sequence and then remember the sequence leading to then inability to

retain ideas and concepts. These students also normally display poor auditory sequential

memory, and therefore are unable to repeat longer words orally without getting the

syllables in the wrong order. To ensure this task is fair for a students with these needs

providing them with a graphic organizer and visual cues would benefit them greatly. These

simple tools along with the support of a teacher aide could be used prior to experiments to

remind the student of what we are looking for in development of our toy design. Engaging

with visual cue whilst discussing observations would further support this.

(http://www.livestrong.com/article/181788-activities-for-people-with-sequential-memory-

problems/ ). “Given that analytical thinking – analysis, synthesis, understanding of cause

and effect, order of operations, etc. requires that students remember sequential

information” (Fitzell ,2014) this unit would require visual support to be put into place.

Cue card along with PowerPoint presentation would also be offered to the student for the

oral presentation for further support.

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A student with Visual Impairment is defined as having “unique educational needs which

are most effectively met using a team approach of professionals, parents and students”.

(Taylor, J) Engaging a visually impair child in the task to offer them the same

opportunities as their classmates requires the teacher to provide adequate preparation to the

program. Allocating a teacher aide or support staff to read through the task one-on-one will

ensure thus fairness along with further support by engaging the parents. Simple things such

as enlarging A4 sheet to A3 will also assist and placing the student to a position in the

room where they can see what is happening in experiments and discussions.

References

Australian Curriculum http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/curriculum.html

Minister for Education, Training and the Arts, Mr Rod Welford (December, 2008).

Code of Ethics for Teachers in Queensland.

https://www.qct.edu.au/conduct/codeofethics.html

  Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2008). Programming

and planning in early childhood settings (4th Ed.). South Melbourne, Vic.: Cengage Learning

Australia.

Charlesworth, R. (2011). Understanding child development (8th ed). Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Fetherston, T. (2006). Becoming an effective teacher. South Melbourne, Vic.:

Thomson Learning

Michaelson, Fink, and Knight. (1997) Speaking of Teaching (Newsletter)

http://web.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/Newsletter/cooperative.pdf

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Kay Sambell, Liz McDowell, Sally Brown. (1997) “But is it fair?”: An exploratory

study of student perceptions of the consequential validity of assessment.

Studies in Educational Evaluation, Volume 23, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 349–371

Fetherston, T (2007) Becoming an Effective Teacher, Thomson: South

Melbourne, Victoria.

Jonsson, Anders (2007) Educational Research Review,

Volume 2, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 130–144 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X07000188

RL Linn, EL Baker, SB Dunbar. (1991) Complex, performance-based

assessment: Expectations and validation criteria http://edr.sagepub.com/content/20/8/15.short

Wright, M. (2014). Blackboard: Assignment 1. Toowoomba: USQ

Example Student Report.pdf.  (2013). Student Report 2013.  Summary of skills

assessed. Retrieved on September 2, 2014

http://usqstudydesk.usq.edu.au/m2/mod/folder/view.php?id=248950

Don't worry, this is only a test. By: Cutshall, Sandy, Techniques: Connecting

Education & Careers, 15271803, Apr2001, Vol. 76, Issue 4

http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?

hl=en&q=authentic+assessment+and+cutshall+2001&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp

ASD Links

Flynn, Susan., Inclusion strategies for students with autism spectrum disorders

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6692

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Smith Myles, B. and R. L Simpson, (2001). "Effective practices for students with Asperger

syndrome," in Focus on Exceptional Children

Sherer, M., Pierce, K., Parades, S., Kisacky, K., Ingersoll, B., & Schreibman, L.,(2001).

"Enhancing conversation skills in children with autism via video technology: Which is better,

"self" or "other" as a model?" in Behavior Modification 25, 140-158

Sequential Memory Links

Fitzell, Susan.(2014). How to Remember the Sequence of Events, Cycles in Science, or

Timeline in History! (http://susanfitzell.com/remember-the-sequence-of-events/ )

Visual Sequential Memory learning activities

http://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/visual-sequential-memory.html

Sequential-memory

http://www.thereadingclinic.co.za/e/sequential-memory.htm

Visual Impairment Links

Taylor, Josephine L. The American Foundation for the Blind's Leadership Institute, Education

Work Group E ducating Students With Visual Impairments for Inclusion in Society

http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/teachers/inclusive-

education/1235

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