1. Webinar:
Classroom Assessment Strategies for
NGSS Earth and Space Sciences
Organizers:
Susan Sullivan, CIRES, CU Boulder & NAGT Past President
Aida Awad, Maine East H.S. & NAGT Past President
Ed Robeck, AGI
John McDaris, SERC/NAGT

2. Webinar overview:
➢ Welcome and introductions
➢Presenters
William Penuel (University of Colorado)
Kathy Comfort (West Ed)
 Discussion and Q&A
➢Future Events

3. Common questions
 Why is NGSS 3-D Assessment
important?
 What are some good ways to get
started?
 Is there anything I should watch out
for?

4. Upcoming Events:
 Webinars: 2nd Thursdays, 1p PT/4p ET
March 10, 2016
April 14, 2016
May 12, 2016 Ed Geary, “Building a State Coalition for
NGSS-ESS”
 7/18-22/16 Earth Educators Rendezvous-abstract deadline
March 1. Workshop, travel stipend
➢ Email list:
http://nagt.org/nagt/profdev/workshops/ngss_summit/index.html

5. Presenters
William Penuel (University of Colorado)
Kathy Comfort (West Ed)

6. “3D” Assessment in Earth
and Space Science Education
Bill Penuel, University of Colorado Boulder

7. + Outlines a set of
recommendations for
3D Assessment
+ Makes strong argument
for beginning with
classroom assessment
National Research Council (2014)

8. + To adequately cover the three dimensions of
proficiency, assessment tasks will need to contain
multiple components (e.g., a set of interrelated
questions).
+ Specific components may focus on individual
practices, core ideas, or crosscutting concepts, but,
together, the components need to support inferences
about students’ three-dimensional science learning as
described in a given performance expectation.
Multi-Component Tasks

9. Example 1
The picture below shows a place on the ocean floor where two plates are moving apart. At this plate
boundary (shown at the dotted line), rock material is rising to the surface.
A. Draw on the picture to show what is happening in the mantle that causes the plates to move apart.
B. What is happening in the mantle that helps to explain why the two plates are moving apart?
C. Put an X on the places in the picture above where the oldest rock can be found in the crust.
D. Explain your answer.

10. + Example of a multi-component task developed to
support formative use of assessment evidence to
inform instruction.
+ Can take place in 1 or 2 class sessions, depending on
the results of the assessment
+ Co-developed with Denver Public Schools teachers to
fit within Investigating Earth Systems curriculum
Example 2: Movement of Water

11. + Pose question
+ Students discuss in pairs and small groups
+ Teacher asks why each response might be
reasonable
+ Teacher’s orchestration of discussion is
supported by a set of talk moves: e.g., “Say
more,” “Why do you think that?”
+ Students re-answer the question
Pedagogical Pattern

12. + Comes from work of Jim Minstrell of Facet
Innovations
+ Guide to help interpret student responses
(“listen fors”)
+ Not misconceptions, but different ideas
students have to build on and challenge
Developmental Theory: Facets

13. Contingent Activity:
Developing and Using Models
Here’s a picture showing where a river enters a larger body of water.
Draw on the picture to show where you would expect to find gravel, sand, and
clay.
Write a final explanation why you would expect to find gravel, sand, and clay at
the locations you have marked in your diagram.
Student groups write their explanations and submit it to the teacher at the end
of the lesson.

14. + Multiple components
+ Clicker question
+ Pedagogical pattern
+ Contingent activity
+ Integrates the three dimensions across tasks
+ Disciplinary core idea: Clicker question
+ Practices of argumentation, modeling:
Class discussion, contingent activity
+ Crosscutting concept: Models and System
Models in contingent activity
Analyzing the Task

15. + Tasks are required for all kinds of assessment
(classroom, interim, state, etc.).
+ Good task design is good task design.
+ When lots of people need to design tasks, a
template can facilitate consistency and
understanding.
Creating Templates for Task Design

16. DCI Components Scenario / Prompt
(SEP, CCC connection)
Sample Student Work
Most continental and ocean
floor features are the result of
geological activity and
earthquakes along plate
boundaries.
The exact patterns depend on
whether the plates are being
pushed together to create
mountains or deep ocean
trenches, being pulled apart to
form new ocean floor at mid-
ocean ridges, or sliding past
each other along surface faults.
Most distributions of rocks within
Earth’s crust, including minerals,
fossil fuels, and energy
resources, are a direct result of
the history
of plate motions and collisions
and the corresponding changes
in the configurations of the
continents and ocean basins.
Present students with an
illustration or drawing of volcano
formation at a subduction zone,
then:
Ask students to create a
“storyboard” of 3-4 drawings
showing what will happen in the
future at the zone, labeling the
plates and directions of
movement in each picture and
writing text to describe what is
causing the changes
[developing/using models;
cause and effect].
“The oceanic plate is moving
underneath the continental
plate. The plate is moving
toward the continent because
mantle convection from an
ocean trench somewhere is
driving it that way. It moves
underneath because it is denser
than the continental plate.”

17. Developing and Using a Model
Present students with an illustration or drawing of a
scientific process, then:
Ask students to label the components, interactions, and
mechanisms in the model, and
Write a prediction about something that might happen in
the future that could be explained by the model
http://tinyurl.com/NGSSTaskTypes
Task Types for Integrating Practices

18. More NGSS Assessment Resources
NRC (2014): Designing Assessments for the
NGSS
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/18409/developing-
assessments-for-the-next-generation-science-
standards
Achieve’s Classroom Sample Tasks
http://www.nextgenscience.org/classroom-
sample-assessment-tasks

19. More NGSS Assessment Resources
NSTA PDI on NGSS and Assessment
http://learndbir.org/talks-and-papers/nsta-2015-
pdi-developing-next-generation-science-
assessments
STEM Teaching Tools
http://stemteachingtools.org

20. National Science Teachers Association
NSTA Session: How to Make Science Instruction Compelling to
Students: Designing Formative Assessments to Build on
Learners' Interests AND Knowledge
Thursday, March 31 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Renaissance Nashville Hotel, Fisk Two
Learn formative assessment approaches for discovering and
building on students' interests and knowledge in support of 3-D
science learning.
Presenter(s): Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA),
William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), Katie
Van Horne (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)
FORMAT: Hands-On Workshop
GRADE LEVEL: 1 - 12
SUBJECT: General Science Education

21. Learn more at:
researchandpractice.org

22. A Continuum of Assessments
Assessment of Student Learning
Kathy Comfort, WestEd
221.

23. Why Do We Assess?
Assessment is the primary feedback mechanism in the educational system…
Provides information to students on how well they are performing
Provides information to teachers about how well students are learning and if
modifications to instruction are needed
Provides information to parents, districts, and policymakers
No single assessment can serve all of these needs
2.

24. A Continuum of Assessments
A range of different assessment strategies are necessary at the classroom,
district and state levels to measure 3-D learning
New assessment systems will need to include a continuum of components:
Short Cycle or Formative Assessments: Assessments designed to inform day-
to-day teaching
Medium Cycle or Interim/Benchmark Assessments: To ensure that students are
provided adequate opportunities to learn science
Long Cycle or Summative Assessments: Including end-of-course tests and
state summative assessments—designed to monitor student learning on a
broader scale
3.

25. A Continuum of Assessments
Short Cycle
Medium
Cycle Long Cycle
Formative/Diagnostic
Benchmark/Interim
Summative
4.

26. Classroom Assessments
Short
Cycle:
Diagnostic/
Formative
• May focus on individual DCIs, SEPs, and/or CCCs or combinations
• Assess students’ prior understanding—what students know and can do before instruction
• Help teachers plan appropriate and engaging instruction
Medium
Cycle:
Continuous/
Formative
• May focus on individual DCIs, SEPs, and/or CCCs or combinations
• Ongoing assessments that provide continuous opportunities for teachers to observe, listen,
question, and provide feedback
• The process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to
decide where learners are in their learning, where they need to go, and the best way of
getting there (ARG 2002)
Long Cycle:
Summative
• Focus on measuring DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs through interrelated tasks or assessments
with multiple components
• Designed to measure what students have learned after a period of time—at the end of an
instructional segment
Classroom Assessments Supporting 3-D
Learning
5.

27. Strategy: Formative Assessment Probes
(Keeley, Eberle & Farrin 2007)
Probe: Mountaintop Fossil
4-ESS1-1: Identify evidence from
patterns in rock formations and fossils
in rock layers to support an explanation
for changes in a landscape over time.
(Evidence Statement 1a.)
Diagnostic/Formative Assessments
6.

28. 7.

29. Key Strategies and Example Techniques for Effective Formative Assessment
(Wiliam 2007, Ch. 9)
MS-ESS1-1: Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to
describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and
seasons.
Evidence Statement 1a.i,ii,iii
Continuous/Formative Assessments
Strategy Technique Example
Structuring Effective Classroom
Discussions, Questions, and
Learning Tasks that Elicit Evidence
of Learning
Individual Whiteboards During a middle school lesson on Earth’s, Place in the
Universe, the teacher asks the class to draw a model of
the Earth-moon-sun system in which they identify the
relevant components on their white boards. He asks the
class to hold them up on the count of three. Using this kind
of “all student response system” helps the teacher to get a
sense of what students understand while requiring all
students to engage in the task. If all models are correct,
the teacher moves on. If none are correct, the teacher may
choose to re-teach the concept in another way.
8.

30. 9.

31. Can consist of multiple measures such as performance tasks, constructed response
investigations, portfolios, and interactive computer tasks
Takes place through 5-12 class periods over the course of a unit (10 components)
HS-ESS1-6: Apply scientific reasoning and evidence from ancient Earth materials,
meteorites, and other planetary surfaces to construct an account of Earth’s formation and
early history.
Unraveling Earth’s Early History — High School Classroom Task (Achieve 2015)
In this task, students plot and interpret the same observations and data used by
scientists to create their own evidence-based narrative that chronicles the early history of
Earth. Specifically, students plot and interpret radiometric age dates, tungsten isotope
data and oxygen isotope data from surface samples and meteorites as well as surface
lunar crater count data to build evidence for the occurrence and/or timing of planetary
accretion, planetary cooling, Earth core formation, formation of the Moon and the end of
the “heavy bombardment” period.
http://www.nextgenscience.org/classroom-sample-assessment-tasks
Summative Assessments
10.

32. 11.

33. Teacher Student
• Facilitate student growth,
understanding, and learning
• Improve classroom practice
• Plan and adapt curricula
• Develop self-directed learners
• Investigate teaching practices
• Provide effective feedback in a
timely manner referencing a
specific level of skill or knowledge
(Wiliam 2007)
• Partners in the classroom
assessment process
• Opportunity to help define criteria
by which they will be evaluated and
learn how to apply these criteria in
identifying strengths and
weaknesses in their own work
• Self-assessment, peer-assessment,
and self-regulation are research
based strategies that assist
students in improving their own
learning (NRC 1999; Darling
Hammond, et al., 1995)
The Role of the Teacher and the Role of the
Student in Classroom Assessment
12.

34. Characteristics of NGSS-Aligned Classroom
Assessments – NRC Report on NGSS and
Assessment
Measuring 3-D science learning requires assessments that examine students’
performance of scientific and engineering practices (SEP) in the context of
cross cutting concepts (CCC) and disciplinary core ideas (DCI).
Assessments need to contain multiple components—sets of interrelated
questions—to focus on individual SEPs, DCIs and CCCs.
Multi-component tasks can include short and extended answer questions, well-
designed select response, technology enhanced items, and performance tasks
requiring students to conduct an investigation.
Together—the components need to support inferences about students’ three
dimensional science learning as described in the performance expectations.
Teachers need to use a variety of assessment activities that mirror NGSS
aligned instruction
13.

35. Kathy Comfort
STEM Program
WestEd
kcomfor@wested.org
14.

36. Thank you!
Contact information:
Susan Sullivan
susan.sullivan@Colorado.edu, 303-492-5657
Aida Awad
aawad@maine207.org
Edward Robeck
ecrobeck@agiweb.org

37. Upcoming Events:
 Webinars: 2nd Thursdays, 1p PT/4p ET
March 10, 2016
April 14, 2016
May 12, 2016 Ed Geary, “Building a State Coalition for
NGSS-ESS”
 7/18-22/16 Earth Educators Rendezvous-abstract deadline
March 1. Workshop, travel stipend
➢ Email list:
http://nagt.org/nagt/profdev/workshops/ngss_summit/index.html