[Image Credit: OpenSciEd Science teacher, Gretchen Brinza, @gretchenmilary on Twitter]

Assessing Student Learning Post-Pandemic

They’re back and their brains are (still!) absorbing science like a sponge!

It’s official. The 2022/2023 school year is off to a rousing start! Yes, children experienced significant learning loss throughout the pandemic, but the latest research shows that students are already recovering learning loss (and in many cases they’re testing at pre-pandemic levels!).

Can we just take a moment to celebrate the students and teachers for the hard work and dedication they put into getting back on track after a devastating two and a half years? 👏 👏 👏

OpenSciEd teachers, especially, have much to celebrate. We’re only two months into the new school year and we’re already seeing exceptional results from teachers at our Professional Learning workshops.

The @OpenSciEd Twitter feed is flooded daily with teachers excitedly sharing how their students are not only grasping their science lessons like science rockstars, but that students are loving that OpenSciEd allows them to shine, to be themselves, and to lead their own learning journey!

This month, we’re exploring how science teachers are using OpenSciEd assessments to offer deeper learning experiences for students and to engage parents in the learning journey.

Here’s to keeping the energy high and the learning strong as we head into the third month of the post-pandemic school year. You’ve got this! 🙌

The Activate Learning Team

[Image Credit: Students working on OpenSciEd bath bombs in Mrs. Price’s Class, @Alma_APrice]

How 3-Dimensional Learning Gives Teachers a Powerful Set of Tools for Assessing Student Development

In our most recent post on our Deeper Learning blog, we delve into how student assessment has changed as a result of the pandemic, what the future of assessments will be, and how the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) 3-dimensional learning is empowering teachers to go beyond the limitations of traditional assessments.



With a 3D approach to science education, teachers are empowered to design learning experiences in the classroom (whether virtual or in person) that take into consideration the true creativity and thinking skills of the whole student. Students learn how to question phenomena, gather data, deliberate with classmates, and present findings like real scientists. The result is a deeply engaging learning experience that provides teachers with a more nuanced, accurate and insightful assessment of the student’s true development.

READ MORE

Beginners START HERE: A Thorough Overview of OpenSciEd’s Assessments

If you’re new to OpenSciEd assessments and want to understand how OpenSciEd structures its 3-dimensional framework, this webinar, Assessments Across an OpenSciEd Unit, is a great start. The session covers: (1) What is OpenSciEd?, (2) Why Assess?, (3) What Makes Up OpenSciEd’s Assessment System, (4) What does assessment look like throughout an OpenSciEd unit?, and (5) What support exists for educators?

Download all handouts and slides for this webinar here:  https://bit.ly/OSE-Assess-Webinar

WATCH REPLAY

William Bauer’s Strategy and Resources for Engaging Families and the Community in OpenSciEd

Middle-school science teacher and OpenSciEd facilitator, William Bauer, shared his experiences and resources for engaging families and the broader community in OpenSciEd. Here’s how he engages parents and the community:

1.    He uses the project tracker make it easy for the student to share progress with a family member: “I made a @MicrosoftFlip for students to share their progress tracker with a family member. After posting their video, students and guardians could watch the progress tracker reflections of their classmates. A great way to engage students and families in science learning.”

2.    Transparency with parents is key: “I also posted information about NGSS and the @OpenSciEd curriculum I was field testing on my classroom website for parents who were interested. Feel free to borrow anything from my old website.”

3.    Inviting the community to see students in action encourages engagement: “I also invited community members to share their experience as special guests to our scientist circles.”

Finally, Bauer shares easy-to-access OpenSciEd resources for parents from his website. Watch his webinar with OpenSciEd from September, Back to School - Parent & Home Communication.

Assessment Rockstars!

If you’re using OpenSciEd in your science classroom, you’re already a rockstar! But here’s a short roundup of teachers who have shared their awesome assessment strategies and successes publicly to inspire other teachers (follow them on Twitter):

• “Today 7th Grade completed their first OpenSciEd Assessment. Having a lab with zero talking was AMAZING!!! And they all did great! A fun hands-on test is the way to go. The students loved it especially getting to be REAL scientists with lab coats and goggles!” – Mrs. Price’s Class [view tweet]

• “Today students received personalized, voice recorded feedback on their first summative assessment. But first we read and analyzed the rubric, used the rubric to score anonymous work and provide feedback. 100% of students wanted to make revisions” – Samantha Stickley [view tweet]

• Helping substitutes with assessments: “Honestly, I use that time to let students take turns teaching (and showing) the sub what they have learned thus far (if in the middle of the unit). Give sub a Progress Tracker and bunch of open-ended questions for students to turn, talk and teach. Students WANT to shine. The big thing is to just let the sub know their only job is to ask open-ended questions like, “But, HOW do you know that?” Or, “WHY did you choose that investigation?” Or, “WHAT is your evidence?” -- Horus Gilgamesh [view tweet]

Rock on! 🤘

Big Idea of the Month: Evidence on Hangers (Mind Blown!)

Assessment Resources & Research

• Criteria for Procuring and Evaluating High-Quality and NGSS-Aligned Summative Science Assessments: As states and districts across the country have begun to implement new science standards in classrooms, they have turned to the question of how to best assess student learning in order to provide actionable information to student, teachers, and families. The criteria described here are intended to be a useful resource for anyone developing and/or evaluating statewide summative assessments aligned to their Framework-based three-dimensional science standards. [read more]

• Science Assessment Task Screening Tools: These two tools are intended to assist educators in evaluating science assessment tasks to determine whether they are designed for three-dimensional science standards based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education, such as the Next Generation Science Standards. [read more]

• Transforming Science Assessment: Challenges and Recommendations for States: This brief describes some key challenges associated with developing assessments for these new standards, and recommendations for states to consider. [read more]

• You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities: How do teachers account for homework-related inequalities? Despite awareness of structural inequalities in their students’ lives, elementary- and middle-school teachers’ practices centered the myth of meritocracy. They treat struggles with math homework as products of students’ and (particularly in elementary grades) parents’ insufficient responsibility, effort, and motivation. [read more]

• ‘I Don’t Know that the Tests Would Survive’: As Students Enter Third Pandemic School Year, Researchers Make Case for Assessments. The researchers looked at testing policies nationwide and found that in most states, educators use tests either for diagnostics, for research and evaluation, or as the basis for accountability systems. But they might also be better used to provide “actionable and timely information” about how to help individual students do better in the subjects tested. [read more]

Meet Our Curriculum Experts This Fall at These Science Conferences

We would love to connect and hear about your OpenSciEd implementation or answer questions as you consider this curriculum for your school.

Take a look at our Fall 2022 Conference Schedule to see where we’ll be and how you can connect with our team of curriculum and professional learning experts. 

We hope to see you soon!

At Activate Learning, we believe there is a better way to engage students in STEM. Our K-12, interactive curriculum engages students with authentic learning and phenomena that are relevant and meaningful. We inspire teachers with research-based curricula that support three-dimensional learning and prepare students for the careers of tomorrow.

To learn more about how we can help bring transformational learning to your classroom, submit your info below and one of our curriculum specialists will contact you.