The data used for this curriculum assessment was a pre and post test on a Science Mudflats Unit

that went along with the grade level field trip. The unit was part of the students Science Textbook Series and was also from part of a pamphlet the whole class received on our field trip to the Mudflats. Not only were the students familiar with the names of underwater life, they were able to study the realia up close and kinesthetically learn about the Mudflats Unit. The students learned about important factors that affect the Mudflats estuary and all of the life forms that live there. I used one of the 15 multiple-choice question test from the Unit based on the skills they needed to learn from the Mudflats. The multiple choice questions that were on the quiz are: A food chain can show you? A Mudflat is? A producer is a living thing that? A consumer is a living thing that? A decomposer is a living thing that? Most plants are? Most animals are? Most decomposers are? A food web is? When something decomposes? The energy that is used in the food web comes from the? Bacteria are? Algae are? The milk we drink comes from? And a sausage and mushroom pizza comes from? The Pre-test was given to the students before the field trip and before I taught the Unit and the highest score received was a 86 percent and the class average was 52 percent. As you can see from this score, the students had a small area of prior knowledge but in order to receive higher scores I would need to use that to teach them the new information. I realized for my instruction, I would need to focus my teaching on the key areas of difficulty from my pre test and give the students the opportunity to learn from the realia on the field trip for the best information retention.

During the Unit, I noticed that students did not realize that I was teaching them content from the pre test that they took beforehand. But, once we went on the field trip I had students running up to me with seaweed in their hands saying, Look, look its a producer! That made me so happy and smile so big because they were using vocabulary from my pre-test on our field trip at the Mudflats. The next day it was time for the post test, and the students were confident in what I had taught them and from what they leaned on their field trip. Every student, except two, received a better score on their post test and the class average was 69%. I believe this assessment data shows a great impact on student learning from my teaching and the realia form the field trip. One student received a 100% and seven students got an 80% or better on the post test, which I saw as a huge improvement on test scores. I was pleased with the students test scores and I know they tried their very best, even the two students who received a lower grade on their post test than their pre-test. I understand their point of view because I was once that student who would try my very best and test scores didnt show my potential all the time. If I were to make any improvements, I would say that I would talk with my class as whole group and share with them my experiences with testing and some strategies I used that helped me be a little less nervous when taking assessments. I would instruct the students to read the questions carefully and more than once so they know what it is asking for. I would tell them to eliminate the more obvious wrong multiple choice questions. And also I would remind them to just take a deep breath and stay calm because that is the best thing you can do on a test. I am thrilled with the rest of the students post test scores because all of the students scored higher and showed great gains from the pre- to post test. The students really enjoyed the

field trip, I did as well and I think they really learned a lot from me and the Mudflats as you can clearly see in my data. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to teach this lesson and expand on the key events of the lesson on the field trip. I really believe that the test scores would have looked a lot different if we did not participate in the Mudflats trip.