http://www.geocities.com/teachers2teachers/newfcatexpand.html
Bringing Technology into the Classroom
A discussion
The minimal level is "hand out DVDs for parents and kids to watch at home on TV."
the next level up is "hand out CDs to watch on computers."
The third level up is "bring in cameras and make short videos with the students."
Fourth level: “videotape oral exams.” Howard Gardner defines this method of evaluation as "performances of understanding." Here is a short quote.
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When it comes to probing a student’s understanding of evolution, the shrewd pedagogue looks beyond the mastery of dictionary definitions or the recitation of textbook examples. A student demonstrates or “performs” his understanding when he can examine a range of species found in different ecological niches and speculate about the reasons for their particular ensemble of traits. A student performs her understanding of the Holocaust when she can compare events in a Nazi concentration camp to such contemporary genocidal events as those in Bosnia, Kosovo or Rwanda in the 1990s. “Measures of understanding” may seem demanding, particularly in contract to current, often superficial, efforts to measure what students know and are able to do. And, indeed, recourse to performing one’s understanding is likely to stress students, teachers, and parents, who have grown accustomed to traditional ways of doing(or NOT doing) things. Nonetheless, a performance approach to understanding is justified. Instead of mastering content, one thinks about the reason why a particular content is being taught and how best to display one’s comprehension of this content in a publicly accessible way. When students realize they will have to apply knowledge and demonstrate insights in a public form, they assume a more active stance to the material, seeking to exercise their “performance muscles” whenever possible. Page 160 to 161 Intelligence Reframed by Howard Gardner Pages 162.. But it is likely that we have avoided assessing understanding because doing so takes time and because we have lacked confidence that we will actually find clear evidence of understanding. Thanks to hundreds of studies during the past few decades by psychologists and educators, we now know one truth about understanding: Most students in most schools, cannot exhibit appreciable understandings of important ideas. Teachers need to assess students' understanding not simply at the end of the course but through regular interim practice performances. If individuals indeed have different kinds of minds, with varied strengths, interests and strategies, then it is worth considering whether pivotal curricular materials like biology could be taught AND ASSESSED in a variety of ways. p. 167
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Teachers would do well to use cameras to capture the students’ understandings. Review of those performances by parents would help teachers communicate to parents and students what is seen in the classroom.
S McCrea, www.VisualandActive.com