complete kit

7/28/2019 Complete Kit

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ConstructedResponse in

ScienceToolkit

Developed by: Pete SpencerK-5 Science ConsultantSt. Clair County ISD

[email protected]

For downloadable CR examples go towww.geocities.com/sciencepete


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St. Clair County ISD Page 1

Toolkit Introduction

Any good carpenter knows having the right tools

makes the job at hand easier. Hopefully this toolkit will

make it easier for you to build and use constructed

response assessments in science.The materials in the toolkit are organized so that you

will first get a feel forwhat constructed response

assessment in science is. You will see examples released

directly from past science MEAP tests, actual student responses to those

items, and the scores they received. And, in the toolkit appendix, you will

see several other examples appropriate for various topics from kindergarten

to fifth grade.

You will then be presented with evidence as to why they are

important. You see why constructed response assessmentswarrant the time and energy required to design and use in

your daily teaching; not just as preparation for the MEAP

test.

You will learn how to design constructed response

assessments for students at yourgrade level. There is no

magic to creating a good constructed response assessment, but there

are components that you should try to include in each one. You will find a

template to use to ensure that you consider each of those

components.

Finally, the scoring of constructed response

assessments is addressed. You will see sample rubrics that

can be used by you, your students, or both when scoring the

assessments.

So dig in and find the right tools for job of

teaching and assessing science to students in an interesting, authentic way.


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St. Clair County ISD The What Page 1

What is a

constructed response assessment?

In a nutshell

Here are some characteristics of a constructed response assessment:

Constructed response, as its name implies, asks students to

construct, create, or, in other words, do something to buildtheir answer to a question or problem.

Constructed response does not ask students to choose a correct

answer from several possibilities, match terms with definitions,or decide whether a statement is true or false.

The product asked for in a constructed response assessmentcan take many forms:

Short written response(one or two sentences)

Longer written response(a paragraph or more)

Labeled diagram

Graph

Oral response Model

Justified selectedresponse

Constructed response assessments may take longer for students

to complete than selected response, but the benefits will beworth it.

Turn the page to see a comparison between assessing a benchmarkusing selectedresponse (multiple choice) and constructedresponse.

A constructed responseassessment is one that asks

students toproduce an answer,not justselectone.


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Below is the elementary science benchmark, SCI.III.2.E.5, with the associatedstandard and the specific description of what students should be able to do.

Code Standard Description Key Concepts Real-World Contexts

SCI.III.2.E.5

All students will analyzehow parts of livingthings are adapted tocarry out specificfunctions:

Explainfunctions ofselectedseed plantparts.

Plant partsroots, stems,leaves, flowers,fruits, seeds.

Common edible plantparts, such as bean,cauliflower, carrot,apple, tomato, spinach.

Questions 1 3 below are actual selected response items released from aprior 5th grade science MEAP test. These items assess student knowledgeof the above benchmark.

1. The trunk of an oak tree is like what part of a bean plant?

a. seedb. stemc. beand. root

2. The part of the seed showing growth will develop into the

a. flowers of the plant.b. fruits of the plant.c. leaves of the plantd. roots of the plant.

3. What part of the bean makes food for the rest of the plant?

a. rootsb. stemc. leavesd. flower

You probably got all three items correct (theanswers are page 4).

Review the parts of the benchmark above. Do

you feel these three items adequately assess

your true understanding of the benchmark?

Now try the constructed responseassessment on the next page for comparison.


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The following is an example of a constructed response assessment thatalso assesses the same benchmark assessed by the items on the previous

page.

The item is written like one that would be found on a science MEAP test,however it was notpart of a previous science test.

Randy and Ian were standing in the park talking ona warm spring day. Randy was standing next to asmall tree. As they talked Randy pulled leaves offof the branches. Ian told him he should stop doingthat, because it could hurt the tree.

Using what you know about the function of leaveson a plant, explain why removing the leaves from atree in the springtime could be harmful to it.

The rubric for scoring this item is found on the next page.Before looking at the rubric consider how answering this question

differed from answering the three selected response items on page 2.

Does it better assess your understanding of why leaves are

important to a plant? Does it require a deeper understanding of the

role leaves play than the selected response items? Thats what aconstructed response assessment can do very well.

Now turn to the next page to see how you did!


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Scoring Rubric for Leaf Picking Assessment

Scoring Guide: 2 pts. Total

2 = At least two acceptable responses1 = One acceptable response0 = No acceptable responses

Among the acceptable responses:

- The leaves make food/sugar for the tree.

- Plants get most of their food/energy in the spring and summer.

- Leaves get energy from the sun.

- The stem and roots of the plant need food/sugar made in theleaves.

- New leaves will probably not grow until the next year.

Answers from selected response items on page 2:

#1 B

#2 D

#3 C

The comparison of the two types of assessments and the level

to which they assess a students understanding of the concept is agood example of why constructed response assessments are import.

The next section on The WHY addresses that in more detail.

The following few pages show provide more examples ofwhatconstructed response assessments look like. Some of the items are

copied directly from the released items on the 1999 MEAP test. While

targeted to fifth graders, consider how you could adapt them to yourparticular grade level. Students need experience with these types of

problems prior to fifth grade. You will also find examples from thereleased model of the 2002 MEAP test.

There are many more examples of constructed response items for allgrade levels in the appendix at the end of the toolbox and availableonline at geocities.com/sciencepete/CR/constructed_response_home.htm.


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The following released item asks students to analyze a graph showing

data from an investigation. Ask your students to do the samethroughout the year, whether with data you provide (like this item) or

with data gathered and graphed by your students.

Sometimes students go through the mechanics of graphing data, butdo not take or have the time to analyze what the graph is telling

them.

Here is the rubric the state used to score student responses for this

item:

SCORE POINTS:

2 = Two acceptable scientific observations about the effect of water on plant growth

1 = One acceptable scientific observations about the effect of water on plant growth

0 = No acceptable scientific observations about the effect of water on plant growth

Some acceptable scientific observations include the following:

The amount of water affects plant growth.

Just enough water will help a plant grow.

More water is good to a certain point Too little water can slow growth.

Too little water can dry out a plant.

Too little water can kill/drown a plant.

Forty liters in two months produces the most growth.

NOTE: The above list is not all-inclusive.

Actual studentresponses and the

scores they received forthis item are found in thesection on ScoringConstructed Response.


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Here is an item that asked students to construct or create a graphfrom data provided in a table. This is a skill that students should

learn and practice starting at second or third grade with appropriate

simplification of numbers and scales.

Here is the rubric used to score student responses on this item:

SCORE POINTS:

3 = All three bars drawn correctly with correct labels and scale and an appropriate title2 = At least two bars drawn correctly with correct labels

1 = One bar drawn correctly with correct labels

0 = No bars drawn correctly

NOTES: If grid lines are drawn, the bar for Bark needs to touch the 10-gram line, within

a reasonable margin of error. The other bars need only come between the appropriategrid lines; they need no be exactly midway between the bars. The response must be a bar

graph in order to receive a score other than 0.

Actual student responses and the scores they received for this item arefound in the section on Scoring Constructed Response.


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Actualstudentresponsesand thescores theyreceived forthis item arefound in thesection onScoringConstructedResponse.

This constructed response item from the 99 MEAP test is a good example of

a question built around apromptincluding both writing and diagrams.

When you give constructed response assessments to your studentsoccasionally provide them with prompts that appropriately challenge them in

terms of reading. They will be facing such prompts on the MEAP tests andshould used to them by test time.

Here is the rubric used by the state to score student responses:

SCORE POINTS:1 = A position is taken that either the crayon did or did not change, and an adequate

explanation is provided for this position

0 = A position is NOT taken ORA position is taken but an inadequate explanationis provided for this position.

Some acceptable responses include the following:

Yes/Charlene is right because the crayons shape changed

Yes/Charlene is right because the crayons state of matter changed (changed from solidto liquid when it melted OR changed from liquid to solid when it cooled).

Yes/Charlene is right because the crayons flexibility changed (the original crayon or

hardened puddle would snap but the liquid puddle would not).No/Charlene is wrong because the crayons color did not change.

No/Charlene is wrong because the crayons chemical nature did not change (it remained

wax).No/Charlene is wrong because the crayons flexibility did not change (the hardened

puddle would snap just like the original crayon would).


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Here are some constructed response items from the model of the2002 science MEAP test. One of the big differences is that these

items are worth three points as opposed to two points like the

previous items. They ask students to do a little bit more.

Note that students are asked to do two things: Classify the organismsas producer, consumer, or decomposer and write an explanation of

the role of decomposer.

It is important to give students practice performing more that just

one task based on a particular prompt. For example, give studentsdata on a particular investigation and have them 1) graph the data

and 2) draw a conclusion from the data, or 3) provide them with theconclusion and ask them for evidence from the data that supportsthat conclusion.


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The following item asks the students to perform only one task, but it

is a fairly extensive one.

One more example of what constructed response on the new MEAPmight look like:

Note: The prior examples are what constructed responseassessments on the MEAP test have looked and may look like.

Constructed response assessments can look very different from these

as you will see in some of the examples in the appendix and online.The above examples are provided so you can see the types of CRassessments students must answer on the 5th or 8th grade MEAP

tests. Some of their assessments in the middle and upper elementarygrades should look like these to adequately prepare them for the test.


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Constructed Response at Lower Grades

The previous examples are just some ofwhat constructed responseitems can look like, at fifth grade, in particular. Here are a few ideas

of what they might look like at lower grades. [Remember, you will

find more examples for all grade levels in the appendix.]

At the early elementary grades constructed responsemight involve students being asked to create at histogram

(bar graph) using beans to represent how many of eachtype of bean are in a mix. The students could use limabeans for their bars. Each lima bean might represent 5 or

10 of each type of bean.

Students might be asked to classifyobjects by placingpictures of them on a Venn diagram.

Young students can also be asked to draw their ideas of

certain science concepts. As their vocabulary increasesthey can be asked to label the drawings. An example

might be to ask students to draw three or four picturesshowing the stages of the life cycle of a bean plant.

In the middle elementary grades students can also create

their own graphs and/or be asked to interpret simplegraphs that are given to them.

Also, now that students are able to write down their ideas,

they should be challenged to explain concepts and usetheir knowledge of the science process and concepts tosolve problems.

A constructed response assessment of the elementary

benchmark on simple machines for second or third grade

students might ask them to draw and describe and howthey can use two pulleys, a rope, and some clothes pinsto pass notes and materials across the room. You would

tell them that they must include what they know aboutpulleys that make their design work (i.e., the fact that

pulleys allow you to change the direction of a force).

Next in the toolkit is a look at the many reasons why constructedresponse assessments should be included in good science instruction.


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St. Clair County ISD The Why Page 1

Why useconstructed response assessments?

In a nutshell

The comparison ofselectedand constructedresponseassessment of the SCI.III.2.E.5 benchmark on the function of plant

parts (pages 2 and 3 of the What section) presents a good case for

the benefits of using constructed response assessment in addition toselected response.

Asking students to explain why pulling leaves from a tree in

spring can harm the tree, rather than simply asking which plant partmakes food for the plant offers the following added benefits:

Before answering, students must consider all that they knowabout leaves, trees, and plants. As they struggle to process

what they know and make connections they gain a deeperunderstanding.

Students must demonstrate an understanding that leaves makefood for the entire plantand that food is transported throughthe stem to the roots.

If students include a diagram, that provides another way forthem to think about how plants function and for teachers to

assess their understanding.

During the scoring of the assessment students are presented

with several correct responses; some of which they might nothave considered. This provides new information at the best

time, when they can see the connection and when they have avested interest in it.

Students scoring each others responses can be asked to defendtheir responses to the scorer. This presents a great opportunity

for substantive conversation in supporting their response.

Finally, teachers are given a more accurate assessment of each

students understanding of the function of leaves in a plant.

Constructed response assessment is aquality learning opportunity forstudents and a more authenticassessment tool for teachers.


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St. Clair County ISD The Why Page 2

Writing in science is extremely important for learning. Writing gives

students a chance to think carefully about what they have observed and how they

account for their observations. When held to high expectations for clarity in

writing, students have to think deeply about the terms they choose to express their

thoughts, as well as the logic of their arguments. Writing gives all students achance to think about questions posed in class, rather than just listening to others

descriptions and explanations, providing a valuable forum for expression for those

students who are reluctant to join into class discussions.

Except fromHelping Students with Constructed

Response Items on the HSPT and MEAPs

By Theron Blakeslee

More on the importance of constructed response assessment:

Constructed response often entails asking students to write.

Writing in any content area increases the learning that takes place.Traditionally, science, like mathematics, has been a content area

where students are not expected to write as much or as often as

other content areas.Read what Theron Blakeslee, Director of the Jackson County

Mathematics & Science Center and former MDE Science Consultant,

has to say about writing in science. The complete article is included

at the end of this section.

Here is more information on the benefits of writing in science from thedraft copy ofUser-FriendlyWriting to Learn for Science, by the

Content Literacy Committee of the Michigan Department of Education.

WRITE TO LEARN

SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE IS INCREASED THROUGH WRITINGBECAUSE WRITING

Demands THINKING. Writing is an ACTIVE process. The students cannotremain passive.

ORGANIZES and CLARIFIES a students thought.

Increases RETENTION because an additional learning mode has been employed.The students are not just LISTENING; they are also KINESTHETICALLY involved.

Enables the teacher to SEE immediately WHO doesnt understand and WHAT isntunderstood.

Helps students gain TOTAL PICTURE of concept or process.


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St. Clair County ISD The How Page 1

How to create your ownconstructed response assessments

You have seen whata constructed response assessmentlooks like and whyit is important to use them with your

students.

Now its time to see how to create your own CRassessments for the lessons and units that you teach. Sincethere is no great repository for quality constructed responseitems for all topics at all grade levels, you need to know how tocreate your own.

This section provides:

1)A process to consider when designing and using a

constructed response assessment,2)A list of constructed response products,

3)Key components of a constructed response item,

4)What to include in a scoring rubric, and

5)A template to use to guide the development of your ownconstructed response assessments.

The next page outlines aprocess for the development and useof construct response items. While it may seem lengthy and rather

formal, it is important as you begin to design your own assessmentsthat you consider all of those steps. Soon it will become second

nature to you, and you will not need to consult the process page oruse the template to quickly create high-quality assessments for your

class.


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Constructed Response Assessment

Development & Use Process

Clearly identify the concept or

benchmark you want to assess

Decide what do you want your students toconstruct. What will the product be? Ex.

Written response, labeled graph, diagram, etc.

Design a real-world prompt connected toyour students lives to engage them andprovide a context for the assessment.

Create a scoringrubric.

Give the assessment to your studentsand monitor them as they work on it.

Score the responses using the rubric:Students or teacher or both can score it.

Analyze the responses, and reviseinstructional strategy, if needed.

Create the task you will ask your studentsto complete. Be clear as to what theproduct should look like and include.


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CR Products

Here are some ideas ofproducts you can ask your students tocreate for their assessment. This list is certainly not all-inclusive, but

it will give you some grade-appropriate ideas to get started.

K-2 Ideas

Diagrams/pictures (possibly labeled or explained to you by the

students)

Explanations (oral or written) of simple histograms (bar graphs)

or pictures

Venn Diagrams for comparisons and classifications

Lists (students generate)

Completing a statement or short story either in writing, orally, or

with a picture Construction of a model (with labeled parts) based on something

the students have just learned about; e.g. a spider

Given objects or pictures, ask students to organize them in someway

Any of the following grades 3-5 ideas that you feel can be adapted

for successful use by your students

3-5 Ideas

Written response to a prompt and question(s)

Labeled diagram

Explanation of data provided in a table or graph

Creation of a graph using data that is provided; possibly with anexplanation of what they can conclude from their constructed

graph

Explanation of a photograph or answer to a question based on a

photo.

Solution to a problem: Students are asked how they would solvea problem using the assessed concepts.

Persuasive Letter written to a given audience using the assessedconcepts as evidence to support their position.

Construction of a model that demonstrates understanding of the

assessed concept.

Any of the K-2 ideas that can be adapted to appropriately assess

your students.


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KeyComponents of a Constructed Response

There are four key components of a constructed response

assessment:

1.The Prompt

2.The Product

3.The Task

4.The Rubric

Each of these is described in more detail below.

The Prompt

The prompt should be used to set the stage for theassessment. It should relate to the world of your students, which will

be different depending on their age and background.

It should be interesting

An interesting prompt can capture a students attention and

interest in completing the task. Too often it seems that students just

dont want to write. Maybe it is because we dont ask them to writeabout interesting things.

Think back to the first constructed response assessment in thetoolkit (page 4) on the function of leaves on a tree. Students could

have been asked to, Explain the function of leaves on a plant. Whilesome students would need only that to motivate them to write whatthey know about leaves, many other students need more.

The story about the two boys talking while one picks leaves off

of a tree is something that all students can relate to. Undoubtedly all

have picked at least some leaves off of a plant at least once. Thismay engage them and encourage them to think about how that might

have impacted the plant. That prompt does not give them theknowledge needed to answer the question, but it motivates them tothink about and try to answer it.


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It should be local

Use local geographical features, landmarks, and industries in

your prompts when they apply. For example, in St. Clair County ifyou are assessing your students understanding of expansion and

contraction of matter caused by changing temperatures, include theBlue Water Bridge in your prompt. If you are assessing students

understanding of the water cycle, mention Lake Huron or the St. ClairRiver in your prompt.

It should require reading (grade appropriate amounts)

Fourth and fifth grade students should occasionally be exposed

to paragraph-length prompts. Longer prompts let you set a more-detailed scene andgive students practice with the types of prompts

they will see on the science MEAP test. Here is a prompt from aprototype of the 2002 5th grade science MEAP.

Here is the constructed response question that they ask based

on the above prompt:

Shannon decided that the regular yellow popcorn was the BEST popcorn. Identify

two pieces of evidence from the chart that support her decision.

Students are required to read the entire paragraph andunderstand the chart in order to answer the question. That prompt

would be used for several other selected response questions in thecluster. Students need to be challenged by such prompts before theMEAP to be used to them by the fifth grade test.


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Not all prompts need to be paragraphs, though. At the lower

grades they will need to be short and to the point. You can orallyexplain the prompts in greater detail to better set the scene, but

young students should not have to wade through so much writing that

they lose track of the task.

It should be relevant

The prompt should relate to the task asked of your students.

An interesting, local story that does not relate to the task may justserve to confuse them.

The Product

The types of products your students to produce have beendiscussed. When choosing the type of product you should consider:

What type best helps students show me what I really

want to see that they know and understand? In otherwords, a bar graph might be a good product to help

assess changes in populations in an ecosystem over time,but would probably not be a good one to assess students

understanding of simple machines.

What is developmentally appropriate for your students?

What type of product have I not used in a while. To

accommodate various learning styles and to give studentspractice with several types, you should mix up the product

types.

The Task

The task, as defined here, refers to the actual directions to your

students as to what they should do, such as

Create a bar graph using the data in the table and explain

Using what you have learned about gravity and frictionexplain why the car had difficulty stopping

Draw and label the parts of the plant used for the intake andtransport of water and minerals throughout the plant.


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Here are some guidelines for evaluating your tasks:

A well-written constructed response task should:

9 Clearly tell students what they are to do.

9 Clearly tell students where they are to write their

response. If the students are to write their response onthe assessment page, there should be sufficient space for

them to respond completely.

9 Use simple, but authentic, vocabulary and good sentence

structure.

9 Identify the information or material that the studentsshould use when preparing their response (data chart,

graph, lab activity report, etc.)

9 Clearly indicate the process that should be demonstrated(identify, explain, predict, describe, etc.)

9 Provide cues to students as to what the finished productmight look like. (Write aparagraph, list two pieces of

evidence, draw a diagram and label etc.)

The Rubric

The rubric is an important part of the constructed responseassessment. It is addressed in detail in the following section onScoring Constructed Response Assessment.

Evaluating The Assessment

It is important to observe your students while they are

completing the assessment to see if they understand the directionsand know what is expected of them.


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If, upon scoring the responses, a large percentage of your

students score poorly on the assessment, it may be because of one oftwo reasons: 1) They do not have a good understanding of the

science content and concepts you are assessing, or 2) the assessment

is not designed to allow them to show their understanding.

You need to be the judge which of the above is occurring. It is

likely that by evaluating where their mistakes or omissions are youwill be able to tell whether the assessment needs to be modified the

next time or whether you may need to go back and teach theconcepts in a different way so that more students master them to the

desired level.

On the other hand, if a large percentage of your students do

very well on the assessment it may be because 1) they have a strongunderstanding of the concepts being assessed, or 2) the assessment

is not challenging them sufficiently to express a deep understanding

of the concept. If the latter is the case, the constructed responseassessment is not much different than a selected responseassessment that assesses at a very low level.

In either of the above cases, do not be afraid to evaluate the

assessment and modify it for re-administering to your currentstudents or make notes so that you will not use it again next year in

the same form.


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Constructed Response Assessment Template

Use this template to design a well-thought constructed responseassessment. The sections below are suggested considerations only.You might want to consider other factors than these when designingyour assessments.

What is the benchmark, standard, or concept you will be assessing?

State science benchmark: (Include the description and the relevant key concepts and real-world contexts.)

This is to be used as a(n):

____ Pre-assessment ____ Embedded assessment ____ Post-assessment

This assessment will ask students to construct a(n)Product ideas:

9 Short, written response9 Labeled graph or diagram9 Letter or other real-world

product9 List (evidence, procedure

steps, further questions, etc.)9 Oral response

How will the responses be scored?

____ Student (peer) only ____ Student with teacher review ____ Teacher only

How many points will the assessment be worth? _________________

Grade: ______


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Write the complete constructed response assessment here, including all prompts (text, graph,diagram, etc.).

9 Keep in mind the benchmark you want to assess.

The Task: What is it you want the students to do? Analyze data? Write a solution to aproblem? Build something? Evaluate a procedure?9 Provide students with enough cues so they clearly know what is expected of them.

Theprompt: This is the setup to the assessment. It should engage your students.Connect it to the lives of your students. Keep it local, if possible.


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Other:Any miscellaneous notes about time or materials needed, scheduling theassessments, follow-ups, regular teacher involvement/responsibilities, etc.

The Rubric: If possible, write the rubric so students can use it to score the assessment.Use sample rubrics to help you.


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St. Clair County ISD Scoring Page 1

Scoringconstructedresponse assessments

A great benefit of constructed response assessments comesduring the scoring of them. Your students should be involved in some

way in that process. Whether they score their own product, aneighbors, or just get a chance to review how you scored their work,they should be involved. It provides yet another learningopportunity for the concepts being assessed.

Such an opportunity occurs when students use a scoring rubricto score their own or their classmates responses. In doing so they

see what the correct response(s) are and why they did or did not getit correct. Maybe they just did not know the science concepts, ormaybe it was just because they did not include the appropriate

evidence or write down all that they know about the question.

There will be times when you will want to score your studentsresponses. In those cases you should make the students aware of the

rubric either right after they have completed the assessment or when

you return their papers. It is best to do it when you will have time todiscuss the correct responses.

A Rubric

Constructed response assessments should be scored using somekind ofrubric, or written scoring criteria. Rubrics do not need to be

large, complicated tables like you sometimes see, but they shouldaddress the concepts and skills you wanted to assess with the given

student tasks.

The rubric is an important part of the constructed response

assessment for a couple of reasons.

First of all, unlike selected response, true/false, or matchingassessments, a constructed response will not always be clearly right

or wrong. A well-designed rubric makes the job of scoring CRassessments quicker and easier. The more specific the rubric, the

less room there will be for arguments if students are scoring theirown or their classmates responses.


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Secondly, you can never predict all possible responses and with

some responses it will be difficult to determine whether the studentreally understands the concept or not. Some of the arguments

mentioned in the previous paragraph can prompt excellentsubstantive conversation that requires students to defend theiranswers with further explanation and evidence. That makes for atremendous learning opportunity.

Here are some steps you can take when creating a rubric:

1. As you did when you were creating the assessment, you

should consider the concept, benchmark, or standard thatyou are assessing.

2. You need to decide what important contentideas you wantyour students to know and express in their response. You

might give one point for each one or decide if two or threeout of all possible ideas are enough. For an example, in the

rubric for the leaf function assessment in the Whatsection,there are five acceptable responses. Students receive a

score of 2 (the maximum score) if they include two or moreof them in their response.

3. Also, consider any science skills being assessed; i.e.

graphing, diagramming, etc. You might want to assign apoint(s) for details such as a title, appropriate scale, and axis

labels on a graph, or correct labels on a diagram or model. Awritten response would probably not have such a score as

part of the rubric.

4. Evidence: Along with the content components in the

response, you might want to give a point(s) for the inclusionofevidence in their answer. Not all assessments will require

supporting the response with evidence, but when evidence isrequired, at least a point should be assigned to it.

5. Then list as many possible correct responses/products for

your assessment as you can. As mentioned above, you willlikely not list all possible correct responses, but that is okay.

In fact, discussions about responses not in the rubric makefor excellent scientific conversations.

6. You must then decide how many points the assessment will

be worth overall and how many and/or which of the possiblecorrect responses the student must include for a top score, a

medium score, and so on.


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Constructed response items on the MEAP tests range

anywhere from two to three points. All constructed responseitems on the 2002 5th and 8th grade science tests were worth

three points each. You can use whatever scale you would

like, though, when designing your rubric; i.e., 100%, 90%,etc., or 20 pts., 15 pts., 10 pts.)

7. Try not to make the rubric so complicated that your studentscannot understand how the item was scored or cannot use

the rubric to score their own responses or those of theirpeers.

For the lower elementary grades peer scoring might not bewise to do often, but exposing them to it based on simple

criteria is good practice. For example, if a model of a spideris the assessed product, students can check each others to

see if they have eight legs, two eyes, etc.

For examples of upper elementary rubrics, see the released

items from the 1999 MEAP included in this section. Rubrics for lower

elementary grade assessments would need to be appropriatelymodified. Each item includes the scoring rubric used by the state as

well as actual student responses and the scores they received foreach. For the most part, you will see that the state rubrics are notvery complicated. Also, several other examples of rubrics are found

throughout the toolkit and online (see website listed on front cover ofthe toolkit) with the constructed response examples.

General Scoring Rubric

There is not a generic scoring rubric that can be used for everyscience constructed response assessment, because each one assessesdifferent concepts and skills. However, the state did come up with a

General Scoring Guide that can be used to help your studentsconstruct good, complete responses. You will find the scoring guide

and a much simplified poster version of it included in this section.

You can enlarge or re-draw the mini-poster and post it up in

your room. When students indicate they are finished with theirresponse you can point to the poster and ask them:

Are you sure your answer is scientifically correct?

Is it complete? Did you answer all that it asked of you?


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Is it clear? Will someone know exactly what you are showing

or explaining in your response?

Have you included evidence for your response, if

appropriate?

If students get in the habit of thinking of these four things when they

complete constructed response assessments, they will be more likelyto include those things that they know, but often do not get down on

paper.

Substantive Conversation

Substantive conversation is one of the four Teaching and

Learning Standards that should be part of every lesson according tothe Michigan Curriculum Framework. Learning for children and adults

is much deeper when the new ideas are discussed with others.

Constructed response assessment lends itself to such discussionsmuch more than selected response assessments like True/False or

multiple-choice items. The scoring of constructed response provides awonderful opportunity for good, substantive conversation betweenstudents and between teacher and students. Here are some

suggestions to use during the scoring process:

If students are scoring their peers responses, students can be

allowed to defend responses that are not on the list of correctresponses in the rubric. (There will always be some justifiable

ones that you do not think of).

If you have scored the responses and returned them to the

students with they rubric, they should be allowed to defend anyresponses they think should be accepted. You can set

appropriate guidelines for how they can appeal their case; i.e.the answer must be scientifically correct, they must defend it

with evidence and/or examples, and their defense must be inwriting.

You can have the class brainstorm a list of acceptable responses

that will be used in the scoring. Students should be required todefend the responses they provide and others should have an

opportunity to challenge the correctness of them. The teacherwill act as the final judge of what answers are scientifically

correct and appropriate for the assessment.


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When theproductof the assessment is something other than a

written response, such as pictures, models, or graphs, they

should be posted or displayed so that students can look at howothers addressed the problem. Students should have anopportunity to ask questions of other students about their

product and compliment or challenge them on their work.

Examples from the MEAP

Included in this section are several constructed response itemsused in the 1999 science MEAP and sample student responses. They

have been released for use by teachers and students. Look themover to see what is expected of students at a fifth grade level.

Teachers at all grade levels have a role to play in preparing studentsto complete successful constructed response items.

Fourth and fifth grade teachers could even copy the studentresponses and the rubric and ask their students to score them

(without including the state score). Then students can see how their

scoring compared with the state. This will give them another way ofseeing what is required of them.

Eighth grade test released items and more elementary released

constructed response items can be downloaded from this site:

http://www.meritaward.state.mi.us/mma/released.htm


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Constructed Response Examples

The following pages have examples of constructed response

assessments that are to be used at a variety of grades (K-5). Someinclude rubrics that can be used with them or you can create your

own. A brief explanation of them is below.

Please contact Pete Spencer at [email protected] or810-364-8990 x 264 if would like more explanations on any of these or

would like them emailed to you in Word format so you can modify them toyour needs.

Informal

Title

# of

pages

Grade

LevelsDescription

Melting IceCream

1 K-2

Shows understanding of melting in a context otherthan ice and water.

Assesses understanding of how solids retain theirshape while liquids take the shape of their

container.

Students can first color the scoops then show howthey might mix.

Fresh

Water/SaltWater

2 K-2

Uses Venn diagram to assess studentsunderstanding of how uses of fresh water can differ

from that of salt water.

Students are to glue the pictures in the appropriateare on the diagram, My Water Venn. Example:Swimming should be in the both area.

Depending on level pictures must be cut out aheadof time (there are two sets on each page) or youcan give a half page to each student and have

them cut out the pictures, as they need them.

A HelpingHand

1 1 5

Need to provide a few different types of patternedmaterial (~ 1 square yard each) and hang around

the room.

For lower elementary, your students can beprovided with just the butterfly diagram and be

given oral instructions. Older students can be

given the entire sheet and can cut out thebutterfly.

Once all butterflies have been taped to thehabitats have the class look at all of them anddiscuss which ones would be most likely to survive.

Seeds Pre-

Assessment2 2-4

To be given prior to starting a plant unit. Asks students to predict what a seed needs to

begin growing and what the seed will look like

when it starts to grow.


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Informal

Title

# of

pages

Grade

LevelsDescription

Seeds Post-

Assessment3 2-4

Similar to above pre-assessment, but this assumesthat students have observed germination in theform of baggie gardens or something similar.

Also assumes that students have weighed acollection of 100 dry beans and 100 that were

soaked overnight. Rubric included.

Puddle 1 2-4 Good pre-assessment on evaporation and water

cycle concepts.

May need to edit due to reference to spring.Soccer

puddles1 2-4

Similar to previous assessment, but expects morefrom the students.

A better post-assessment than the previous one.Energy and

Tree House1 3-4

This address forms of energy. Students are asked to design their dream tree

house. They must label how they would use eachof five forms of energy in or near the tree house.

SandboxMixture

2 3-4

Students are asked to consider how they wouldclean a sandbox in the springtime.

They must consider the properties of severalmaterials that fell into the sandbox during thewinter.

They are asked to draw and label a SandboxCleaner.

Lever

Assessment

3 3-5

Simple Machines assessment focusing on leversand one other one.

Students must free a stuck four-wheeler then get iton the back of a pickup truck.

Rubric included.

Beetle

Survival2 3-5

Assesses characteristics for survival (camouflage)concept.

Students must interpret a bar graph and useunderstanding of camouflage to determine whathappened to a beetle population.

Rubric included.

WetClothes 3 3-5

This is a fairly detailed assessment in that itrequires students to refer to three different bar

graphs to completely answer the second question.

Also, there must have been some discussion ofhow clothes driers work for students to understandthe first question.

A rubric is included with this that can be used byyour students for peer scoring.

SoundsCool

4 3-5 Assesses many of sound-related concepts. The context is a high school band. Rubric included.


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Informal

Title

# of

pages

Grade

LevelsDescription

No-Slip

Socks2 3-5

Friction assessment Students must explain forces at work when

someone slips and falls.

They must consider how to invent a pair of socksthat will minimize such slipping.

Rubric included.

Food Web 3 4-5

Students are given a collection of about 7 toyanimals (insects, snake, frog, etc.) along with the

assessment. Could use a set of animals pictures orcould do it without the critters, too.

Key terms are assessed. A rubric is included.

Clues are inthe

Shadows

5 4-5

Assesses concepts related to shadows. Students must analyze a diagram showing a cookie

jar crime scene to see Who dunnit?

Must demonstrate understanding of most shadowconcepts.

Some data graphing included. Rubric included. Good summative assessment of shadows.

complete kit

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