Assessment

Our learning approach, eco-solutioning, emphasizes learning 3D environmental content through the construction of solutions that have an impact with and on the local environment. Project goals include the design, implementation, and evaluation of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) curricular unit delivered through Gooru’s Learning Navigator data backbone system where middle school student learning is used towards local environmental solutions such as increasing local populations of native insects.

Co-PI(s): Michelle Newstadt, Gooru.org

With the increasing use of online interactive environments for science and engineering education in grades K-12, there is a growing need for detailed automatic analysis of student explanations to provide targeted and individualized guidance. In this work we describe a process of human annotation of student ideas based on deconstructed holistic scoring rubrics for knowledge integration in science learning and develop new NLP methods for identifying diverse expressions of student ideas and reasoning.

The MMaRS project is designing classroom assessment resources of numeric relational reasoning and spatial reasoning for students in grades K-2. During the pandemic, SMU researchers worked virtually with teachers and K-2 students to develop resources that are responsive to their needs and accurately elicit their reasoning. This poster will highlight the virtual data collection methods and techniques, including think aloud video interviews with students and prototype co-design work sessions with teachers.

In this project, we developed, piloted, and studied the use of a set of performance-based tasks delivered within a simulated classroom environment in order to improve preservice elementary teachers' ability to facilitate argumentation-focused discussions in mathematics and science. We conceptualized these simulated discussions as formative assessment opportunities, and studied how teacher educators made use of them within methods courses to support preservice teachers' learning. We also examined evidence of preservice teacher learning via pre/post measures.

Our team works with high school chemistry teachers to co-develop a suite of curricular materials that engage students in making sense of chemical phenomena in terms of atomic/molecular behavior. This suite of materials undergoes a regular cycle of development and refinement, guided by teachers’ sense of “what works” when implementing the materials and observations of classroom discourse practices. Our work investigates how to best support teachers as they design learning environments to promote student sensemaking.

STRIDES supports teachers to customize the curriculum to address diverse students' evolving ideas and achieve the multi-dimensional proficiency called for by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). STRIDES catalyzes a new approach to teachers' curriculum customization. STRIDES will improve the evidence teachers have to make customization decisions by collaborating with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to advance natural language processing (NLP) methods.

The SDLC project has developed and studied curriculum modules for non-AP high school statistics to promote interest and skills in statistical thinking and data analysis among diverse high school populations. Modules engage students with social-justice-themed data investigations using large-scale socioeconomic data from the U.S. Census Bureau and student-friendly online data visualization tools. Current study findings show growth in student interest and skills in statistical thinking and data analysis following module use.