Many of schools get caught up with making sure the students can pass a standardized test and leave the creativity of a student behind. As educators, we need to rethink our intelligence. This includes understand the student’s ability and capability. Students should be assessed but using different learning styles to fit their need. Learning styles is a way a person perceives information educational using one or more methods. For instance, learning through auditory, visual, kinetics or tactile methods is a way to help children understand. You could use oral assessment for verbal learners, and for visual students use symbol such as graphic organizers. As educators, you have to accept each child learns differently, and we must adapt. For assessment, another convenient tool would be to incorporate examples from the child's environment. When you can bring good exterior experiences to the students, they seem more interest in what they are learning and understand. I think you can reach students with different muti-intelligence is to use more variety of assessments.
In South Africa, School Age children take an assessment in informal assessment such as observing oral, practical and written activities that the learner does independently. Also, formal assessment is a written test. All assessment is suiting the different learning styles and ability levels of all learners. The form(s) of assessment should also be grade and age-appropriate.
In addition, assessing young children should meet the student’s needs, not what the teacher’s manual tells us what to do.
Department: Basic Education Republic of South Africa (2011) Retrieved November 20,2011, from http://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/CurriculumStatements/tabid/166/Default.aspx
R.M. Felder and R. Brent, "Understanding Student Differences." J. Engr. Education, 94(1), 57-72 (2005). An exploration of differences in student learning styles, approaches to learning (deep, surface, and strategic), and levels of intellectual development, with recommended teaching practices to address all three categories
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about the way children are assessed in Africa. I believe that we try to put children in a “cookie cutter” test format that is unfair to many that take the test. If we could start to look at the individual child, then maybe we could start to assess them in a manner that is more suited to their personality. The pressure that is put on the children of the United States is unbelievable and it starts at such a young age. In our school district, teachers are forced to make sure that the children in their classroom are doing well on the test that they are unable to teach to the individual child. We need to be able to have a variety of assessments for each individual child to really understand their knowledge.
Thank you for your post,
Rhonda
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI also discussed learning styles on my blog this week. I had the opportunity to become familiar with learning styles and Howard Gardner's multiple intellegences in my undergraduate studies. To make sure that I was addressing each learning style I would label my outcomes according to the intellegences. This made my lessons reflect the diversity of my students. It also encouraged fun and exciting activites that foster learning.
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteYour comment about missing the element of creativity when standardized tests are used is well taken. It seems we all agree on the importance of assessing a child's progress, the current methods used with school-age children is certainly a topic for discussion. I agree with your comments about children having different learning styles. By not taking that in to account when we assess them only using standradized tests , I feel we are missing important elements of intelligence outside of the academic realm.
It was interesting to read about the methods used in South Africa. It seems that by using various types of testing , they are better able to realistically measure the child's ability.
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers are teaching to the test and fogetting about creativity. Somewhere along the line we have forgotten about Gardner and his multi-intelligences and learning through all modalities of visual, auditory, and kinestetics. We are having a difficult time in our society of appropriately putting into practice what we know.