5.1.1

Meaningful Assessment

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Meaningful Assessment

When the curriculum is defined and sequenced with care and attention paid to the types of knowledge in our subject, assessment design can be far more precise.

Fragile and inert knowledge

Fragile and inert knowledge

  • Fragile knowledge refers to when students do not understand, remember or consistently use what they have been taught.
    • This results in an inability to successfully apply this knowledge independently and in different contexts.
  • Inert knowledge refers to students remembering information when tested, but not being able to apply it outside of those limited test conditions.
  • Meaningful assessment design can help avoid fragile and inert knowledge.
Effective assessment

Effective assessment

  • Effective assessment:
    • Identifies the specific knowledge students have learnt and can apply.
    • Pinpoints misconceptions.
    • Is incremental.
Fine tuning

Fine tuning

  • Assessment needs to be finely tuned to identify:
    • How far each aspect of the curriculum has been mastered.
    • Where misconceptions must be addressed before moving to the next stage.
Identifying misconceptions

Identifying misconceptions

  • Multiple-choice quizzes (MCQs) have become increasingly popular in schools.
  • A well-structured MCQ can be extremely powerful, both in terms of identifying what students know and in addressing misconceptions.
  • Daisy Christodoulou suggests avoiding using answers that are obviously incorrect and instead designing questions with answers that are plausible but still unambiguously wrong.
Jump to other topics
1

Introduction

1.1

Introduction

1.1.1Shaping the Curriculum
2

Curriculum Rationale

2.1

Curriculum Rationale

2.1.1The Role of Subject Leaders2.1.2Curriculum Rationale
3

Curriculum Knowledge

3.1

Curriculum Knowledge

3.1.1Core Knowledge3.1.2Hinterland Knowledge3.1.3Substantive Knowledge3.1.4Disciplinary Knowledge3.1.5Declarative & Procedural Knowledge
4

Curriculum Sequencing

4.1

Curriculum Sequencing

4.1.1Cognitive Load Theory4.1.2Threshold Concepts
5

Assessment

5.1

Assessment

5.1.1Meaningful Assessment
6

Instruments of the Curriculum

6.1

Instruments of the Curriculum

6.1.1Instruments of the Curriculum

Practice questions on Meaningful Assessment

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  1. 1
    Effective assessment:Fill in the list
  2. 2
    Which type of knowledge refers to when students do not understand, remember or consistently use what they have been taught?Multiple choice
Answer all questions on Meaningful Assessment

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Threshold Concepts

Instruments of the Curriculum