week 5 8.5: Evolution of Australian Biota

 WEEK 5: Describe one assessment tool you would use in the Biology classroom- examples of good practice.

8.5: Evolution of Australian Biota

Any form of assessment is significant in order to obtain both objective and subjective information that a student understands the knowledge of the concepts and the content being taught and learnt. The standard of assessment should be of equal measurement to each individual in the classroom and should not stereotype one student over the other.

There are three main types of assessment: diagnostic, formative and summative assessment.
In the case for a preliminary biology class, diagnostic assessment will be necessary at the beginning of the unit to evaluate previous content knowledge from prior years and then to work on building knowledge and skills from there. Formative assessment is constantly occuring in the biology classroom and is significant to see whether or not a student is understanding the content being taught and learnt. Formative assessment can be both subjective (what the teacher observes) or objective (answering the questions the teacher has specifically set to see if the students understand the concept being taught). Formative assessment is also very significant becuase it allows direct feedback to the students which is critical in the learning process for a student becuase this is where their own misconception can be directly altered. Summative assessment is objective and its main aim is to assess student's knowledge with teh BOS syllabus dotpoints. It's main aim is to look out for what students understand about the question and how the students go about answering the question. Once this is established, it looks at giving students grades and reports of their acheivement.

One assessment tool I would use is formative assessment, this is because it will be most frequesntly used in teh classroom on a daily basis. An example of using formative assessment for a preliminary biology class would be 8.5.2.2.1: discuss examples of variation between members of a species.
Before any formative assessment is done, a goal should be first established and then the assessment can be thought of. Teh goal for this dot point is simple. It will be students will define variation and species and examples. During the class, the teacher may ask students what their knowledge of species and variation are. Instead of stopping with one student, the teacher should ask other students too to see if their interpretation of variation and species are unified or are slitghtly different. Once this is establisehd, ask students to provide some examples.