Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Look at the cartoon below and explain how it illustrates the difference between formative and summative assessment.


30 comments:

  1. Assessment for learning (formative) are used during instruction to help students see themselves getting better. The cartoon doesn't show him whistling while teaching him, just at the end.

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    1. I've heard many teachers make the same argument as the boy - that education must be a 2-way street.

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  2. The boy in the hat is giving the dog a summative assessment which the dog failed because stripe isn't whistling. Hopefully the other boy knew stripe couldn't whistle because he should of done some formative assessments as he was teaching him.

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    1. I think you got it. Unfortunately, for a few of my students I fear this can happen in my class.

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  3. The boy with had no idea whether Spot could actually whistle since he hadn't done formative assessment. With some formative he could have known the dog couldn't or wouldn't whistle and altered his instruction.

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    1. Exactly! Formative assessments along the way so we will know if students (dogs) are "getting it" and adjust instruction so they will all be able to whistle at the end!

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  4. The boy who taught the dog to whistle did not do any formative assessments.

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    1. Formative assessments are important to check for understanding before doing a summative assessment.

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    2. Right and if we do a formative assessment and adjust learning before giving a summative assessment we can almost predict who will do well and who will not do well on the summative assessment.

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    3. yeah he did not to any check for understanding to make sure the dog would be able to do it. He just gave the information. So he will have to reteach the dog.

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  5. This is a summative assesment which shows that he can't whistle so he failed. He should have done some formative assessments first.

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  6. As teachers we need to consider our role.... are we teaching the content or are we helping students to learning the content? In leaning we stop and check FOR understanding and readjust our learning. In teaching we say it, read it but never check if anything was learned.

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    1. Agreed...I'm ashamed to admit that many times I would ask the question of my class: "Does everyone understand?" and when one student would respond "yes" I would move on. It wasn't until the test at the end that I realized not everyone was with me.

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  7. Was the dog properly motivated to whistle? Did he see that it was purposeful? Did the boy try teaching the dog that whistling can help the dog communicate his desire for treats?

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    1. Off topic, I know--but formative assessment would have identified this problem.

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  8. The boy did not actually see if the student could do it, he just taught it. Or, rather, spoke at the dog and assumed the job was done. I wish!

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  9. The the boy will need to make a formative assessment whether the dog has gained the taught skills before the Iowa Tests of Canine Cognitive Development, which will represent a summative assessment.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. The boy moved straight from teaching to a summative assessment without any practice. If he would have provided a formative evaluation he would of known that he needed to go back and reteach the dog the skill

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  10. If the boy does formative assessment, he will know the dog can't whistle. Understanding prior knowledge is important.

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  11. The boy that was "teaching" did not do a formative assessment. If he had, he would have realized he did not really teach the dog anything. The dog did not have the knowledge, skills, and/ or attitude to perform the task. The other boy did a summative assessment and found that the teacher and dog failed. It was a "ruff" day.

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  12. The second boy is performing the summative assessment, but it is clear that no formative assessment was done.

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  13. Formative assessment was not accomplished by the boy who "taught" Stripe to whistle.

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  14. It's not that he did or didn't do any formative assessment, its that he ignored the results and presented him as ready to publicly perform.

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  15. It's not that he did or didn't do any formative assessment, its that he ignored the results and presented him as ready to publicly perform.

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  16. Just because stripe got taught "how to whistle".. does not mean he was assessed on his whistling skills. Something for the boy to do would be ask stripe how to whistle to make sure that he understands. Hence, formative assessment

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    1. Hello, I have browsed most of your posts. This post is probably where I got the most useful information for my research. Thanks for posting, maybe we can see more on this. Are you aware of any other websites on this subject.
      Can Dogs Eat Bacon

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  17. The message the cartoon conveys is that formative assessment must happen before summative assessment to check whether the dog has learned the skill of whistling the boy with the cap had taught him. so never ever jump directly to summative assessment.

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